Promotion tactics: the last two squares
A pawn on the seventh is not a pawn. It is a threat that every other piece on the board has to be arranged around.
- 120 positions in the course
- Difficulty 734–2373
- Section: Endgames
- 5 levels
What promotion tactics look like
Most promotion tactics are not about the pawn at all. They are about clearing the square in front of it, deflecting the piece that stops it, or creating a second threat so the defender cannot spend a move on the pawn. The pawn is the reason the tactic works, not the tactic.
Underpromotion is rarer than puzzle books suggest but it is real, and it is almost always a knight, almost always with check, and almost always because a new queen would be stalemate or would not do the job the knight does.
How to spot it
- Find the pawn's promotion square and ask what covers it, then look for a way to remove or deflect that piece.
- Check whether the promotion comes with check. A queen appearing with check is usually decisive regardless of what else is happening.
- In races, count tempi exactly -- not approximately. One move decides nearly every pawn race.
- If the new queen would be stalemate or would be taken, look at a knight instead before you conclude the idea fails.
Three promotion tactics
Three positions from the 120 in this skill, easiest first. The highlighted squares are the move your opponent has just played. Work it out before you open the answer.
Position 1
Black to move. Find the best move.
Show the answer
46.a8=Q 46...b1=N#
The line ends in checkmate. The pawn is one square from queening and the whole position is organised around the square in front of it.
The position comes from an endgame of a real game, rated 856 for difficulty. The answer reaches checkmate.
Position 2
White to move. Find the best move.
Show the answer
27...Bxa4 28.f6+ Kh7 29.fxe7
The line comes out 1 pawn ahead. The pawn is one square from queening and the whole position is organised around the square in front of it.
The position comes from the middlegame of a real game, rated 1325 for difficulty. The answer reaches a winning advantage.
Position 3
Black to move. Find the best move.
Show the answer
30.Rxf5 30...d1=Q+ 31.Kh2 31...Qd6
The line wins a rook. The pawn is one square from queening and the whole position is organised around the square in front of it.
The position comes from an endgame of a real game, rated 1907 for difficulty. The answer reaches a winning advantage.
Stopping a pawn
The square rule tells you instantly whether your king catches it. If it does not, you need a piece, and the practical question is whether that piece can also do anything else -- a rook tied to a passed pawn is a rook out of the game.
The other resource is a counter-race. Two passed pawns of your own on the far wing is frequently a better answer than defence, because the defender in a pawn race spends moves and the attacker spends none.
Questions people ask
What is underpromotion and when is it right?
Promoting a pawn to something other than a queen. In practice it is nearly always a knight, played when the knight gives check or delivers a fork that a queen could not, or when promoting to a queen would stalemate the opponent.
What is the square rule?
Draw an imaginary square whose side is the distance from the pawn to its promotion square. If the defending king can step inside that square on its next move, it catches the pawn; if it cannot, the pawn queens. It saves calculating the race move by move.
Nearby patterns
Promotion sits in Endgames. The rest of that section: