Chess lessons › Chess strategy
Passed pawns
Why an outside passed pawn is so strong in endings, how connected pawns roll, and how to blockade.
The idea
A pawn no enemy pawn can block or capture: only pieces can stop it.
- The a-pawn is an outside passed pawn, far from all the others.
- Black’s king has to go over and stop it.
- Meanwhile White’s king goes after the black pawns.
In a game: Push a passed pawn when the push is safe, and block your opponent’s with a piece.
How the lesson begins
Each side has a king and three pawns on the kingside. The engine rates this position as equal.
Now watch what one change does.
A question
Each side still has three pawns, but White’s h-pawn has been replaced by a pawn on a4, far from the others. White’s a-pawn is passed. Who is better?
Show the answer
White, by a lot.
Right. This is an outside passed pawn. Black’s king has to go and stop it, and then it cannot guard its own pawns. The engine rates White as winning. Only the a-pawn is far enough: the same pawn on b4 or c4 would be level.
In numbers
In the puzzle bank
3,516 puzzles in GreyChess’s bank practise it. Half of them are rated between 1,154 and 2,291.
The piece that makes the first move of the answer: pawn 60%, rook 12%, queen 11%, king 9%, bishop 4%, knight 4%, in puzzles from the Lichess puzzle database.