Pawn Promotion can Win a Game:
Part of both the
Beginner's Chess Guide and the Chess Strategy Guide, Section 1
Chess Endgame Guide
Pawn Promotion Can Win A Game
[Promotion]
Knight | Bishop | Rook | Queen
Promoting a Pawn is often a key goal of a lot of Chess Game Strategies.
This is where you manage to advance any one of your Pawns to your opponent's back row ...
Upon reaching this target, because the rule has always been that Pawns cannot move backwards, a reward was deemed a suitable fit for getting the most humble of pieces into the heart of the enemy's territory.
Should any of your Pawns be in this position, you may choose to exchange - or Promote - the piece for any ONE of the following:
- Knight
- Bishop
- Rook
- (or) Queen
By far, the most popular choice is an exchange for a Queen - with such a powerful range of attacking options, in comparison to other pieces, this is no surprise.
Often, by the stage of the game, where a Pawn may get to Promote, both sides have fewer pieces on the board and that results in a lot of free space, which the Queen is most able to dominate.
It may seem pointless to offer an exchange for anything but the Queen. However, as there are three other options available, we may as well take a look at a scenario for each. First up, the Knight ...
Pawn Promotes To Knight
In this scenario, under pressure from White's Queen, Black panics and, within two moves, ends up with his King on c7.
On White's 3rd Move, of this endgame sequence, he could, again, "Check" Black's King with either the Knight (to e8) or Queen (to h7) ...
In the end, White Promotes the a-file Pawn, exchanges for a Knight and Black's King is hit with "Checkmate".
Knight | Bishop | Rook | Queen
Pawn Promotes To Bishop
This Checkmate could easily have been made with the Queen, as it requires a long-range, diagonal attacking ability.
But the Bishop can also attack at from distance, along the diagonals, so is equally equipped to seal the victory, for White.
Knight | Bishop | Rook | Queen
Pawn Promotes To Rook
Another scenario where the Pawn could be Promoted to a Queen, which would "Checkmate" Black's King ...
Instead, as the Rook can also attack along the straights, and from distance, it is shown here, as the piece that wins the game.
Knight | Bishop | Rook | Queen
Pawn Promotes To Queen
And, here, probably the exchange of choice, for most players, the Pawn is Promoted to another Queen, which strikes from distance, to "Checkmate" Black's King.
It could have been the Rook that sealed the victory, as shown in the previous scenario. Either way, it's Checkmate, but there's something more appealing about getting more than one Queen on the board, to win a game.
Knight | Bishop | Rook | Queen
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From this Pawn Promotion Guide, Return to the Beginner's Chess Guide (Section 2) |
| Return To The Chess Strategies Guide (Section 1) |
