Understanding the King and Pawn Race
Understanding how pawn races work can save invaluable seconds in chess endgames when they count. Let’s learn what this is and how it works.
Take a look at the below position (note that the white king is missing as this is for demonstration purposes). If it is black’s turn to move, will black be able to prevent the opponent from queening and from ultimately winning the game?
So here’s how you may have done it: Ke8, a5, Kd8, a6, Kc8, a7, Kb7, a8 = Q+, Kxa8, so black is able to get away.
When playing a chess game, you may not have the luxury of calculating the above due to time. Fortunately, there is a much faster way of doing this, and that is what this lesson is about.
The first step is to see where your opponent’s pawn is. Now, imagine drawing a line diagonally from where the pawn is towards the side where it is queening such as the below image. Also note that the line is drawn towards the side of the opponent king.
From this line, let’s create a box joining the corner with the pawn and the intersection of the 4th rank, where the pawn is, and the e file, where the diagonal reaches to create the below:
So how can we tell if black will be able to stop the pawn or not from this? Well, as it is black’s turn in the position, if black is able to step onto the boundary of the box or anywhere inside the box, then black can stop the pawn. So, black can play Ke8 which is one of the box’s edges meaning that black will be able to stop the pawn.
Let’s try another one. In the below position, if it is white’s turn, will black be able to stop the pawn?
As it is white’s turn, let us move white’s pawn to g6, the only move white can play in this position. Now, as it is black’s turn, let’s draw the square and see if black can intrude upon it.
We are drawing the box diagonally to the left as the black king is on the left side. We are drawing the box towards the 8th rank and not the 1st rank as the white pawn is heading towards the 8th rank.
In the current position, the black king is not on or inside the box. However, it is black’s turn meaning that if black plays Ke6 next move, he will have successfully entered the box. This means that once again, black will be able to prevent the white pawn from queening.
Let’s try one last example. Take a look at the below position. If it is black’s turn to move, can he prevent the white pawn from queening?
If you said that black will not be able to stop the pawn, then you would be correct. Why is it so? If we draw a box, we can see that black’s move will be able to intrude upon it.
So you may be wondering why black cannot stop the pawn if he is able to enter the box.
If you recall, a pawn can move two squares on its first move. After the black king moves to b2, the white pawn can move to h4. This changes everything as the new box is as so:
Now, black cannot enter the box in his next move, and so, white will win the race, queen, and win the game.
Author: Saharsh Satheesh
