What is Square of the pawn in chess?
A visual shortcut to check whether the defending king can catch a passed pawn before it promotes.
Imagine a square drawn from the pawn to the promotion square. If the enemy king can step into that square on the next move, it catches the pawn - otherwise the pawn promotes freely. This saves huge amounts of calculation in pawn races.
Spot square of the pawn in your own games
Free. Chess2EZ finds the patterns you keep missing and explains each in plain English.
Analyze my games →More chess terms
- Wrong bishopA bishop that cannot control the pawn's promotion square, turning a winning position into a draw.
- Book drawAn endgame that is known to be a draw with correct play, as established in opening or endgame theory.
- GambitSacrificing material, usually a pawn, for faster development or attack.
- Opening theoryThe body of analysed and established best-play sequences for the first moves of a game.
- TranspositionReaching the same position via a different order of moves.
- NoveltyA new, previously unplayed move in a known opening line.