Chess lessons › Chess endgames
Queen endings with pawns
Look at checks before pawns: perpetual check, stopping a passed pawn, and a queen that guards two pawns.
The idea
Count the checks as well as the pawns: perpetual check often saves.
- Black is a pawn down, but White’s king has no shelter.
- Qa1+ checks at once along the first rank.
- Neither white pawn stands on the first rank to block a check there.
In a game: In a queen ending, look at the kings and the checks before counting pawns.
How the lesson begins
White has two pawns against one, yet with Black to move it is a draw. In queen endings the kings are exposed, and a queen can check again and again. Count the checks as well as the pawns.
No pawn can shield White’s king from a check along the first rank, and Black’s queen on a8 is ready to give one.
Find the move
Black to move, a pawn down. Find the only move that draws.
A hint
Check first.
Show the answer
1... Qa1+
Qa1+. The queen checks at once, before White’s king can find cover. Every other move loses.
In numbers
In the puzzle bank
850 puzzles in GreyChess’s bank practise it. Half of them are rated between 985 and 2,220.
The piece that makes the first move of the answer: queen 80%, pawn 16%, king 4%, in puzzles from the Lichess puzzle database.