Is Underpromotion Necessary?

komodochess13

Jul 9, 2020, 3:11 PM | 0

"Every Pawn is a potential Queen" - James Mason

Well, the theme of this blog is every Pawn is a potential Knight or Bishop!

Underpromotion is one of those things that seems mysterious to beginning players.

"Why should I ever promote to a Knight when I can always get a Queen?"

Though rare, underpromotion is sometimes the key that wins or draws a game. And because of this, underpromoting is one of most elegant moves in chess.

Here are examples of when to underpromote:

To avoid stalemate
To support a tactical combination that wouldn't be possible with a Queen

Both are extremely rare cases, and 99% of the time you will always want to trade a Pawn for a Queen. But in today's post, I will show a several cases of when underpromoting is the only winning action!

Combination:

Underpromotion to Bishop:

Underpromoting to a Bishop may be the most rare move in all of chess!

Avoid Stalemate:

Full game with underpromotion:

Exercises:

Underpromotion exists for a reason!

So, every time you are about to grab that Queen, stop! Make sure you aren't about to throw the game but instead check for hidden tactics!

I am offering chess lessons to anyone who is interested (and below my skill level of course!). Just privately message me and we can work things out there.

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Is Underpromotion Necessary?

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