Passed Pawns in The Endgame
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Passed pawns are particularly important, often of decisive significance, in the endgame. The position at left provides a dramatic example of this. White has no passed pawns and seems to be in desperate straits, since Black's king will soon attack White's pawns with ...Kg4. In fact, White by means of a sacrificial combination creates a passed pawn and wins: 1.g6! fxg6 (or 1...hxg6 2.f6! gxf6 3.h6!) 2.h6! gxh6 3.f6! and White's newly created passed pawn will queen. If it is Black's move, he must avoid this combination by playing 1...g6! (not 1...f6 2.h6!, nor 1...h6 2.f6!).
Since passed pawns have no opposing pawns to stop them, the threat of queening often forces the opponent to use a piece to block or capture the pawn, wasting valuable time and immobilizing material or possibly even losing it (as when a defender of the blocking piece is forced to move). Indeed, the value of a far-advanced passed pawn or pawn group is often equal to or even greater than that of a piece. Four examples of this are seen in the diagram at right. In the upper-left quadrant of the board, White's connected passed pawns on the sixth rank are superior to Black's rook. Even if on move, Black cannot stop one of White's pawns from queening. Similarly, in the upper-right quadrant, Black's bishop cannot hold back both of White's pawns. White queens a pawn after 1.f7 (1.h7 also works) Bxf7 2.h7 followed by 3.h8(Q). In the lower-left quadrant, White's queen cannot stop Black's pawn from queening without stalemating Black. The lower-right quadrant highlights how awkward a knight is in dealing with a passed pawn, especially a rook pawn. White's knight is actually worse than useless in trying to stop Black's pawn. It cannot do so itself, and if White's king (which could catch the pawn if the knight were not there) approaches with 1.Kf2 (hoping for 1...hxg2? 2.Kxg2), Black plays 1...h2! and 2...h1(Q).
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A striking (albeit very unusual) example of the power of passed pawns is seen in the position at left, the conclusion of an endgame study by Leopold Mitrofanov. Black, with a queen, bishop, and knight, is helpless against White's two passed pawns, which threaten both 10.b7# and 10.c8(Q)+ Bb8 11.b7#. If 9...Qd5, 10.c8(Q)+ Bb8 11.b7+ Qxb7 12.Qxb7#; if 9...Qg6 10.c8(Q)+ Bb8 11.Qb7#; if 9...Qa5+, 10.Kxa5 Kb7 11.bxa7 and Black cannot stop both pawns.
Read more about this topic: Passed Pawn
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