PromotionPawn Promotion

En PassantCapturing en passant

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The Basics of Chess

The Moves

Special Pawn Powers






The Pawn is the least valuable of the pieces, but it has one feature
which enhances its value immensely...


Pawn Promotion

If a pawn reaches the last square in a file, it is promoted to any other piece except the King.
Promotion is not optional. If you reach the last square in a file your Pawn may not remain a Pawn, it must become either a Queen, a Rook, a Knight or a Bishop.

A Pawn is promoted no matter how it gets to the last square in a file. It can get there either by simply moving there or by capturing an enemy piece which happens to be on the last square of a file.

Note that the Pawn can be promoted to a Queen, Rook, Bishop or Knight even if the player has all the pieces of that type that he began with.
So theoretically a game with four or five Queens on the board is possible.

If an extra piece of the appropriate type is unavailable an inverted Rook is often used to represent it. If that too is not available a bit of string or rubber band is tied around a Pawn to indicate that it is now another piece.