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The Pawns:
“The Short Guys With The Bald Heads”
Value: The pawn is the dollar of the chess world in which all other pieces get their value. Pawns have a value of 1.
This piece is considered by many as the weakest of all the chess pieces. Actually it can be quite strong when working with other pawns. It is almost universally accepted in the chess world that pawns are pawns and not pieces. Through out this entire manuscript they will be referred to as pawns and not pieces.
Each side begins with 8 pawns on their second rank. White pawns line up on the a2 to h2 rank while black pawns line up on the a7 to h7 rank.
Pawns have one major flaw in that they are the only piece that cannot move backwards. This makes the decision to move a pawn an especially careful one because once you move your pawn there is no going back.
Pawns only move forward one or two squares on their first move and one square at a time forward only each move afterwards. Above the white pawn who started on e2 moved to e4 on his first move. And the Black pawn on f7 moved only one square to f6.
Restrictions for Pawns:
It is important to remember that pawns may not move forward if there is any piece or pawn in front of them.
Pawns can capture opponents pieces only if the piece is one square diagonally in front of them. A pawn sees diagonally one square only. Basically if your pawn can see a piece on the square diagonally to the right or left then that pawn simply removes that piece and takes that piece's place.
Pawns may not move forward if there is a piece directly in front of them. The black pawn on e6 cannot move to e5 because there is a pawn blocking his way. He sees the squares f5 and d5 (orange) but there are no white pawns or pieces on those squares and the white Bishop is too far away on g4 to be captured. Therefore the e6 pawn cannot move.
The white pawn on b2 has three choices.
1. move forward to b3.
2. move forward to b4.
3. move diagonally and capture the black Knight on c3 taking his place on that square.
Special Rules involving pawns:
1. Pawn Promotion:
One of the redeeming features of pawns is their ability to transform into a more powerful piece when they have reached the other side of the board. This process is called promotion. I call it scoring a touchdown!
Every pawn dreams of greater things such as capturing a piece much bigger than himself. But the real goal in a pawns life is to score a touchdown and grow up to be a piece. The bigger the better. The most common promotion is to a Queen but in some cases it is necessary to promote to a Rook or a minor piece such as a Bishop or Knight. This is known as under promotion.
The one piece you can't promote to is a King. Sorry. To properly promote your pawn; move it to the promotion square and declare its intended piece. (Such as a Queen) Then simply replace that pawn with the desired piece. A pawn can promote to a piece already on the board. For instance if there is already a Queen on the board simply use a Queen from another set to replace the pawn. If no extra Queen is available then lay the pawn on its side and it is played as the new Queen. House of Staunton, makers of fine quality chess sets, include and extra Queen for each color, just for this purpose.
2. En Passant:
This is the other special privilege that help pawns make up for their deficiencies. The rule involves a pawn's ability to capture an opposing pawn. In most cases this is done when a pawn is diagonal to the target pawn as I have already demonstrated above.
For centuries pawns that made it to their 5th rank had to watch opponent's pawns on either side pass right by if they chose to move two squares rather than one which would open them up for capture. Like a double edge sword a new rule was added to the pawn rules and it gave a pawn a chance to catch a passing pawn under some very extra ordinary circumstances.
"Instead of one their pawn goes two!
If your on the fifth, here's what to do,
Take him as if he'd only gone one,
on the very next turn and your job is done."
Above black moved his pawn to c5 instead of c6. Moving his allotted two squares on his first move for that pawn. Had he gone only one square to c6 the pawn on d5 could have captured the pawn. In the old days the black pawn would have gotten away with passing the white pawn without consequence.
Today however, white can on the very next turn and only the next turn, capture the pawn on c5 as if it had only gone to c6.
White simply places his pawn on c6 and removes the black pawn on c5 capturing while passing or En Passant.