A passed pawn is a pawn that can not be stopped anymore by one of the opposing pawns. A passed pawn is rather valuable especially in the endgame. Passed pawns are dangerous and they have to be stopped. Assuming that the pawn can not be captured we can stop them by:
- attacking the square in front of the pawn
- or placing a piece in front of the pawn
The player with the passed pawn will try to use all the tactical weapons to eliminate the piece that prevents the pawn to queen.
But this will be something of a future lesson. Now we are going to create a passed pawn.
The diagrams below illustrate a rather famous example about the creation of a passed pawn.
At first sight the position looks about even, but White’s pawns are allready on the fifth rank.
1.g6
White is going to sacrifice a pawn.
1…hxg6 Black has to capture the pawn. 1…fxg6 is an alternative.
2.f6 and White is going to sacrifice the second pawn
2…gxf6 Black has nothing to chose
3.h6 and now White has created a passed pawn. This will be sufficient to win the game.
The next lesson will learn you the Kieninger trap.
Tags: Chess, Endgame, Strategy
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