The advanced pawn
A pawn deep in enemy territory can support a mate or set up a winning trick.
The idea
A pawn deep in enemy territory can support a mate or set up a trick.
- The pawn on f6 has advanced deep into Black’s half.
- It guards e7 and g7 without moving again.
- So the queen can land on those squares, next to the king, and mate.
In a game: Look for a pawn on the sixth or seventh rank that guards a mating square or threatens to promote.
How the lesson begins
A pawn that has reached the sixth or seventh rank is close to becoming a new piece. Even before it promotes it does real work: it guards squares near the enemy king, and the threat to promote can set up tricks.
Here White’s pawn on f6 guards e7 and g7, close to Black’s king on g8.
Find the move
White to move. Find a mate in three. Let the pawn on f6 help you.
A hint
Use the queen to take squares from the king, then land on a square the pawn guards.
Show the answer
1. Qa7 Kh8 2. Qb7 Kg8 3. Qg7#
The pawn on f6 guards e7 and g7, so the queen can stand on those squares next to the king and cannot be taken. There is more than one way to mate, and each one uses that.
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.