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 [...]
In this chess lesson we are going to combine some of the knowledge of the key squares, the square rule and the square rule for two separated pawns.
First have look at the diagram on the left site.
It’s a draw. Can you see why?
And do you see that the game is won by White if the [...]
In general connected pawns are stronger than separated pawns, but there are some exceptions. An opposing King cannot stop the promotion of two pawns when they are separated by one or more files once they have reached the 6th rank, while he is able to stop the connected pawns.
In the next diagram White will be [...]
In a smothered mate the mated king is unable to move because he is surrounded (or smothered) by his own pieces. Therefor a smothered mate can only be delivered by a knight. We have seen an example of a smothered mate before in the lesson about the Blackburne Shilling Gambit.
This lesson deals with the [...]
You will find a new mate in three problem each time you visit this page (or after a refresh of this page). After giving the right solution or after three wrong answers the solution is revealed.
You can make a move by clicking on a piece and dropping it at the target square.
One additional tip: [...]
