The Everything Chess Basics Book (29 page)

Pawn Majority

We have already met the pawn majority in the last chapter. So we know that a pawn majority is more pawns of one color than of the other color on one side of the board. The strength of such a majority is that after the pawns are traded off, one for another, a lone pawn will emerge. That will be a passed pawn, which means it is a pawn that will eventually threaten to promote.

Pawn majorities, and especially passed pawns, are particularly strong in the endgame, when most of the pieces have been exchanged off and are gone. In such cases, the kings become strong pieces, and can help a pawn to promote or help stop a pawn from promoting.

Candidate

The way to use a pawn majority is to move up the candidate passed pawn first. The candidate is the one with no enemy pawns on the same file.

The entire pawn majority continues to advance up the board, with the candidate leading the way. The b-pawn is the candidate. 1. b5 Kg6 2. a5 Kf6 3. b6 axb6 4. axb6 Ke6 5. b7 Kd6 6. b8=Q.

Outside Passed Pawn

This is a special case that often comes out of an outside pawn majority. The “outside” refers to the side of the board away from the kings. So if the kings are busy on the kingside, a pawn majority on the queenside will produce an outside or distant passed pawn. The way to use such a pawn is to march it forward, forcing the enemy king to come over to stop it. Then your own king can mop up the pawns the enemy king was forced to abandon.

1. b5 Ke6 2. a5 Kd6 3. b6 axb6 4. axb6 Kc6 5. b7 Kxb7 6. Kf5 and the White king dines on Black’s pawns.

Combinations

Here are some combinations in which a passed pawn is created and/or promotes.

Keep in mind the pawn’s ability to underpromote. Probably 99 percent of the time an underpromotion will not be a real threat. But every once in a while a knight or a rook could destroy your position, while a queen won’t make much difference. Take each position on its own merit.

Black to move plays 1. ... a3 and keeps marching the pawn to a1.

White plays 1. Kc5 and mops up the queenside pawns. There is no need to push his passed pawn: The Black king will have to keep a sharp eye on it, so it won’t be able to do any damage.

White breaks through with 1. b6! axb6 2. c6! bxc6 3. a6 and the a-pawn marches through. Or 1. b6! cxb6 2. a6! bxa6 3. c6 and the c-pawn marches through.

Even though there are a few pieces left, the threat of promoting a pawn makes the following combination possible.

Black to move wins with 1. ... h3! And there is no way to stop one of the Black pawns from safely promoting.

Opposition

When only kings and pawns are left, a peculiarity of the kings often comes into play. This is called the
opposition
, and occurs when the kings get as close to each other as they can come. That means there is one rank, file, or diagonal between them.

The nature of chess is such that the kings can’t approach any closer, since that would mean moving into check. This makes the squares between the kings at closest approach an impenetrable barrier. And that being the case, it is a barrier you can use.

Who Is on Move?

When kings face off, the one who is on move will have to give way. Therefore, you want to set up an opposition only when it is your opponent’s turn to move.

White to move results in a draw by stalemate: 1. f7t Kf8 2. Kf6 stalemate. Black to move results in a White win by 1. ... Kf8 2. f7 Kg7 3. Ke7 and the pawn safely promotes.

Opposition can help you checkmate the enemy king or it can help you promote a pawn. We’ll leave the checkmate for the next chapter. Right now, let’s see how using the opposition can help you promote a pawn.

When your king is too far away from the passed pawn to be of any service, you may still get to safely promote it. Just make sure the enemy king is outside the square of the pawn. That means you count the number of squares forward it takes to promote the pawn and draw an imaginary line of the same length along the rank or diagonal leading to your opponent’s king. If that king is outside the line, your pawn will promote safely.

White to move wins with 1. f6 and the pawn cannot be caught. Black to move draws by stepping into the square of the pawn with 1. ... Kc5.