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That is widely accepted today, but Jacob Sarratt, Howard Staunton, and José Capablanca felt that the exchange was worth two pawns. Tigran Petrosian thought that one pawn was the right value. Wilhelm Steinitz said that a rook is slightly better than a knight and two pawns but slightly worse than a bishop and two pawns. [2]
A game can end in various ways besides checkmate: a player can resign, and there are several ways a game can end in a draw. While the exact origins of chess are unclear, modern rules first took form during the Middle Ages. The rules continued to be slightly modified until the early 19th century, when they reached essentially their current form.
Exchanges can appear in connection with practically any kind of attacking or defensive chess tactic or combination of tactics. Such tactics can involve checkmating the opponent, avoiding checkmate, gaining a material advantage, avoid losing more material than necessary, helping a pawn to promote, preventing an opponent's pawn promotion, or setting up a draw by any of a couple methods.
In the ending of a rook and pawn versus a rook, where the pawn is a knight pawn (b- or g-file), the defending king is in front of the pawn, but the defender cannot get his rook to the third rank for the drawing Philidor position, the defending rook draws on its first rank but loses if it is attacking the pawn from behind. [22] [23]
A pawn may move by vertically advancing to a vacant square ahead. The first time a pawn moves, it has the additional option of vertically advancing two squares, provided that both squares are vacant. Unlike other pieces, the pawn can only move forwards. In the second diagram, the pawn on c4 can move to c5; the pawn on e2 can move to either e3 ...
Paradoxically, checkmate with two knights sometimes can be forced if the weaker side has a single extra pawn, but this is a curiosity of little practical value (see two knights endgame). Pawnless endgames are a rarity, and if the stronger side has even a single pawn, an extra knight should give them an easy win. A bishop can trap (although it ...
[24] [25] Despite having only a knight for a rook and pawn, White draws by moving his knight back and forth between b2 and a4. Black's only real winning try is to get his king to c2. However, to do so Black has to move his king so far from the pawn that White can play Ka3–b2 and Nc5xb3, when the rook versus knight ending is an easy draw.
This is generally a draw since the knight can be sacrificed for the pawn, however, the king and knight must be covering squares in the pawn's path. If the pawn reaches the seventh rank and is supported by its king and knight, it usually promotes and wins. In this position, White to move wins: 1. b6 Nb7! 2. Ne6! Na5 3. Kc8! N-any 4. Nc7#. If ...