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The pawn (♙, ♟) is the most numerous and weakest piece in the game of chess. It may move one square directly forward, it may move two squares directly forward on its first move, and it may capture one square diagonally forward.
The first known publication of chess rules was in a book by Luis Ramírez de Lucena about 1497, shortly after the movement of the queen, bishop, and pawn were changed to their modern form. [111] Ruy López de Segura gave rules of chess in his 1561 book Libro de la invencion liberal y arte del juego del axedrez. [112]
A rule of thumb (with exceptions) is: if the king on the side without the pawn can reach the queening square of the pawn, the game is a draw; otherwise it is a win for the opponent (except with a rook pawn, i.e. a- or h-file). [12] The side with the pawn can cut off the opposing king or strive for the Lucena position, which is a win.
[2] [3] This is a special case in the rules of chess. The capturing pawn moves to the square that the enemy pawn passed over, as if the enemy pawn had advanced only one square. The rule ensures that a pawn cannot use its two-square move to safely skip past an enemy pawn.
In a game of chess, the pawn structure (sometimes known as the pawn skeleton) is the configuration of pawns on the chessboard.Because pawns are the least mobile of the chess pieces, the pawn structure is relatively static and thus plays a large role in determining the strategic character of the position.
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]
In particular, if the pawn is on its sixth rank and is a bishop pawn or rook pawn, and the bishop does not control the pawn's promotion square, the position is a draw. [55] See Wrong bishop . A rook versus a minor piece: normally a draw but in some cases the rook wins, see pawnless chess endgame .
Advancing the king's pawn two squares is highly useful because it occupies a center square, attacks the center square d5, and allows the development of White's king's bishop and queen. Chess grandmaster Bobby Fischer said that the King's Pawn Game is "Best by test", [2] and proclaimed that "With 1.e4! I win." [3] [page needed]