Mark Donlan - Pawn Promotion

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Pawn Promotion and Checkmate with theQueen

by Mark Donlan

As mentioned in the second article of this series, the pawns represented thefoot-soldiers in the Indian army. And, as with many soldiers, the pawn canundergo a battlefield promotion. In chess, this is achieved when any pawnreaches the last rank.

If a pawn is advanced to the last rank (the eighth rank for White and the firstrank for Black), it is promoted to either a queen, rook, bishop, or knight. Anew king cannot be chosen; there can never be more than one king of eachcolor on the board. However, theoretically at least, it is possible to have asmany as nine queens, or ten bishops, or ten knights, or ten rooks. Promotingto any piece other than a queen is referred to as underpromotion. No otherpiece can be changed into anything else no matter what square it reaches.

Typically, a new queen is chosen after promotion because this is the strongestpiece. However, as Davidson indicates in A Short History of Chess, theconvention of choosing a queen was a result of the queen once being theweakest piece on the board, and a battlefield promotion is made to the lowestgrade of officer's rank. There were also other conventions that once existedwith regard to pawn promotion. For instance, the pawn could only promote tothe type of piece on which file it stood or started from. It was circa 1600 thata pawn could be promoted to any piece that had been removed from theboard. Indeed, it is said that Philidor subscribed to this practice in his writtenworks.

Murray, in A History of Chess, in referring to Four-Handed Chess notes that"when a player lost all his superior men save his Boat and one Pawn he maypromote this Pawn on any square of the opposite edge to the rank of anypiece, King included." In Hindustani chess, a pawn on its seventh rank wasbarred from advancing unless promotion to "the master-piece of the file" waslegally possible; meaning a pawn reaching a8 could only become a rook andonly if a rook had already been removed from the board. In Parsi chess, apawn that promoted to a knight could immediately make an extra move onthat turn! In Malay chess a pawn could only promote on the corner squares; ifany other pawn reached the last rank, it would need to make additional movesin accordance with a complicated process. In Siamese chess the pawns beganthe game on the third rank and reached promotion on the sixth, where theyimmediately became a queen (Met).

When the queen was considered as a counselor (vizier) there were noobjections to having more than one counselor available to the king. However,when the queen began to be considered as the consort to the king moralobjections were raised about having multiple queens on the board. InEngland, France, and Italy a new queen would be referred to by a differentname than the original queen, apparently in a bid to preserve the uniquenessof the original queen. In some quarters there was debate as to whether it wasallowable for an ostensibly male pawn to change to a female piece.

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It was not until the mid-nineteenth century that promotion to any piecebecame universally accepted. Davidson gives the following dates and authors:

1765, Lambe: Promoted only to a lost piece.1790, Philidor: Promoted only to a lost piece.1814, Saul: Promoted to any piece.1828, Sarratt: Promoted to any piece.

To promote a pawn you advance it to the last rank and then replace it with thenewly promoted piece on that square.

[FEN "8/4P3/8/8/8/8/8/8 w - - 0 1"]

Thus, from the diagrammed position, the white pawn would be moved tosquare e8 and then be removed from the board to be replaced with the newlypromoted piece.

[FEN "8/4P3/8/8/8/8/8/8 w - - 0 1"]

In algebraic notation, if a new queen were chosen, this is written as e8=Q (ore8Q):

[FEN "8/4Q3/8/8/8/8/8/8 w - - 0 1"]

This means that in certain positions a single pawn is all that is needed to winthe game. In this next section we will examine how to checkmate using a kingand queen versus a lone king. A checkmate occurs when a king is underattack and has no subsequent legal move to get out of check (see the third

article in this series).

Let's start with a basic position in which White promotes a pawn to a queenand then delivers checkmate to the black king:

[FEN "4k3/8/3K4/4P3/8/8/8/8 w - - 0 1"]

1.Ke6!

This is the only move that wins. See the opposition game from article three.

1.e6?? is a mistake because of 1...Kd8 and now White cannot control thepromotion square and the game will be a draw. (1...Kf8?? would be a mistakefor Black, because it allows White to gain control of the e8 promotion square.2.Kd7 and now Black cannot stop the pawn from promoting.) 2.e7+ Ke83.Ke6 is stalemate.

1...Kd8

Black has no choice but to give ground. When one side is in a situation inwhich any move worsens their position, it is known as zugzwang. This is aGerman word meaning "compulsion to move."

1...Kf8 is similar; with 2.Kd7 White gains control of the e8 promotion square.

2.Kf7

[FEN "3k4/5K2/8/4P3/8/8/8/8 b - - 0 2"]

The white king controls the e8 promotion square.

2...Kd7

Black is still trying to hold the e8-square.

3.e6+

But now has to move off.

3...Kd6

3...Kd8 is met by 4.e7+ and 5.e8=Q.

4.e7 Kd5

In general the side with the lone ling should try to stay near the center of theboard and not get cornered near the edge.

5.e8=Q Kd4 6.Qe6

[FEN "8/5K2/4Q3/8/3k4/8/8/8 b - - 0 6"]

The simplest method is to place the queen one file (or rank) and two squaresremoved from the black king in an L-shaped pattern. As we shall see laterthis is a knight's move away from the black king.

6...Kc5 7.Qd7

Keeping things simple by staying a knight's move away from the king.

7...Kc4 8.Qd6 Kc3 9.Qd5 Kc2 10.Qd4

[FEN "8/5K2/8/8/3Q4/8/2k5/8 b - - 0 10"]

Notice how with each move the queen corrals the king closer and closer tothe edge of the board.

10...Kb3 11.Qc5 Kb2 12.Qc4 Kb1 13.Qe2

[FEN "8/5K2/8/8/8/8/4Q3/1k6 b - - 0 13"]

Once the king moves to the edge of the board, trap it there by moving the

queen to the adjacent rank or file.

13...Ka1 14.Ke6

[FEN "8/8/4K3/8/8/8/4Q3/k7 b - - 0 14"]

Now the white king can leisurely approach to assist the white queen. It hasnot been necessary to move the white king up until now.

However, note that 14.Qc2?? would be a mistake because it places the blackking in stalemate and this is a draw.

[FEN "8/5K2/8/8/8/8/2Q5/k7 b - - 0 14"]

The black king is not in check and has no legal move on the board. Thisresults in a stalemate, when the game would be declared a draw. Quite anachievement for the losing side! So, once the king is cornered make sure toleave it with legal moves until checkmate can be delivered.

14...Kb1

The black king can only mark time along the first rank.

15.Kd5 Kc1 16.Kc4 Kb1 17.Kb3 Kc1 18.Qc2# 1-0

[FEN "8/8/8/8/8/1K6/2Q5/2k5 b - - 0 18"]

The black king is in check and has no legal move, so it is checkmate. Thewhite queen puts the black king in check, and the queen is protected from

capture by the white king. If the white king were, say, on square c4, then itwould only be a check, because the black king could capture the undefendedwhite queen on c2. This is why the two pieces must work together in acoordinated manner to deliver checkmate.

Here are some playing exercises and puzzles based on the themes of pawnpromotion and checkmate. For the playing exercises, play out the positionsagainst another player, switching colors with each turn, until you think youhave determined the best play from that position, then check the answersprovided below.

Playing Exercises

Panno, O – Najdorf, MArgentina, 1968

[FEN "8/2k5/8/8/6K1/8/7P/8 w - - 0 18"]

White to move and win

Can White promote the pawn or can Black stop it?

Jimenez Zerquera, Eleazar – Ivkov, BorislavHavana, 1962

[FEN "8/8/8/8/3k4/2p5/2K5/8 w - - 0 63"]

White to play and draw

Maroczy, Geza – Marshall, Frank JamesMonte Carlo (11), 24.02.1903

[FEN "8/8/8/6p1/7k/8/6K1/8 b - - 0 58"]

Black to move and win

Berger, Johann – Mason, JamesDSB–06.Kongress Breslau (16), 26.07.1889

[FEN "8/p7/8/k7/5K2/8/8/8 w - - 0 67"]

White to move and draw

Puzzles

1. White mates in two

[FEN "4k3/8/4K3/8/8/8/4Q3/8 w - - 0 1"]


[FEN "8/8/8/8/8/k2K4/7Q/8 w - - 0 1"]


[FEN "8/8/2p5/2Q5/7k/5K2/8/8 w - - 0 1"]

4. White mate in two

[FEN "8/6p1/6P1/8/6Q1/4K3/8/5k2 w - - 0 1"]


[FEN "8/P5Q1/1k6/8/3K4/8/8/8 w - - 0 1"]


[FEN "8/8/8/8/7Q/8/3P2p1/4K1k1 w - - 0 1"]

7. White mates in six moves

[FEN "K1k5/P1Pp4/1p1P4/8/p7/P2P4/8/8 w - - 0 1"]

Here is an advanced puzzle that should given even seasoned players a hardtime:

8. White mates in maximum of eleven moves

[FEN "8/8/5K2/8/8/8/4Q3/7k w - - 0 1"]

White to play and checkmate in maximum of eleven moves without movingthe king.

9. Construction Task

John Nunn posed this construction task: White has a king, queen, and twopawns against a lone black king. Create a position in which White to movecannot win and the game is a draw.

Playing Exercises Answers

Panno, O – Najdorf, MArgentina, 1968

18.Kg5 1-0

White has to control the h8 promotion square with the king in order to win.1.Kf5 and 1.Kh5 also win. But any pawn move by White allows the blackking to access square h8 where it cannot be evicted.

Jimenez Zerquera, Eleazar – Ivkov, BorislavHavana, 1962

63.Kc1 ½-½

The white king controls the promotion square and Black cannot win.

Maroczy, Geza – Marshall, Frank JamesMonte Carlo (11), 24.02.1903

58...Kg4 59.Kh2 Kf3 60.Kh3 g4+ 61.Kh2 Kf2 62.Kh1 Kg3 63.Kg1 Kh3 0-1

Berger, Johann – Mason, JamesDSB–06.Kongress Breslau (16), 26.07.1889

In the game Berger played 67.Ke4? and lost after 67...Kb4 68.Kd3 Kb369.Kd2 Kb2 0-1

However 67.Ke3! is a draw: 67...Kb4 68.Kd2 Kb3 69.Kc1 Ka2 (If 69...a5,then 70.Kb1 and the white king cannot be evicted from the corner square a1.)70.Kc2 and because the white king has the opposition, Black cannot win.

Puzzle Answers


White to mate in two moves. Black's king must go either to f8 or d8; thus,White's queen mates next move by simultaneously attacking the squares h8and b8. That can be achieved by playing the queen to any of three squares(e5, h2, or b2).

1.Qe5

1.Qh2 Kf8 (1...Kd8 2.Qb8#) 2.Qh8#; 1.Qb2 Kd8 (1...Kf8 2.Qh8#) 2.Qb8#.

1...Kd8

1...Kf8 2.Qh8#.

2.Qb8#


1.Kc4 Ka4 2.Qa2#


1.Qf5

It is helpful to ask whether it is stalemate, because beginners will often agreethat it is forgetting that the black pawn can now move.

1...c5 2.Qg4#

The student has to see that 1.Qf5 is not stalemate because of 1...c5.

4. White mate in two

1.Qg5

Here it is important to see that 1.Qg3 is stalemate.

1...Ke1 2.Qg1#


1.a8Q Kb5 2.Qgb7#


1.Kd1 Kf1 2.Qe1#

7. White mates in six moves

1.d4 b5 2.d5 b4 3.axb4 a3 4.b5 a2 5.b6 a1Q 6.b7#

8. White mates in maximum of eleven moves

White to play and checkmate in maximum of eleven moves without movingthe king.

1.Qg4 Kh2 2.Qe4 Kg1 3.Qf3 Kh2 4.Qf1 Kg3 5.Qe2 Kf4 6.Qd3 Kg4 7.Qe3Kh4 8.Qg5+ Kh3 9.Qg1 Kh4 10.Qg2 Kh5 11.Qg5#

9. Construction Task

[FEN "7k/7P/5PK1/7Q/8/8/8/8 w - - 0 1"]

Later in this series we will look at another special move with the pawn calleden passant and further explore the underpromotion theme.

A PDF file of this article, along with all previous articles, is available in theChessCafe.com Archives.

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Mark Donlan - Pawn Promotion