Lesson 9 - Pawn promotion and "en passant"
Objective:
1) The student will understand the promotion of a pawn to another piece of greater value.
2) The student will understand the special move - "en passant".
Method:
1) A pawn may be promoted to any choice of piece if it is able to proceed to the eighth rank
square (ie. queen).
2) If a player's pawn, which occupies a square on the 5th row, is passed by an opponet's pawn
(on the square beside it) due to the opponent moving his/her pawn two squares on the first move (only), then the opponent's pawn
may be captured "en passant", as if the opponents pawn had only moved one square (diagonal to it).
Content:
Although the pawn is the least valuable piece on the chessboard, often victory in the final
endgame is a result of a player who has best utilized his/her pawns.
When a pawn reaches the eighth rank, it may be promoted to any piece other (i.e. promoted to
queen).
A player therefore may have more than one queen in this instance, or he/she may promote the
pawn to any other piece (that they might already have). This is done by replacing the pawn with another piece of the player's
choice (except another pawn or king). In most cases the best choice is that of a queen, however, in special circumstances
another piece may be chosen.
A pawn promoted to queen may be either that of a previously captured queen, or a captured rook
turned upside down to denote a second queen.
Follow-up:
Also, for advanced players, the move "en passant" may be developed (see below).
"En passant"
This is a special chess rule which applies only to the movement of pawns.The term "en passant"
comes from the French term "in passing".
Recall - The pawn moves forward one square at a time and cannot move backward
(or retreat).
The pawn may however, move two squares forward on its first move only (this
may result in a special move played called "en passant").
The "en passant" rule applies when one's pawn reaches the 5th rank and an opponent's pawn moves
two spaces (on its first move) to pass the pawn directly beside it.
Only a pawn that occupies a space directly beside another may be taken "en passant", as if the
opponent's pawn had moved only one space.
Also, "en passant" must be made immediately by the player on the following move only.
See an example of the "
en passant" move with a pawn.
