Pawn
The pawn moves one square straight forward, or two from its starting square, captures one square diagonally forward, and is exchanged for a queen, rook, bishop or knight on the far rank.
Pawns are the smallest pieces and the only ones that cannot move backwards. Each side has eight. A pawn steps forward to an empty square directly ahead. From its original square it may advance two squares, provided both squares are empty. It never captures straight ahead; it captures a piece standing one square diagonally in front of it. Two special rules make pawns unusual: en passant, a capture on the move after an enemy pawn has advanced two squares past it, and promotion, which turns a pawn that reaches the last rank into a queen, rook, bishop or knight. In notation a pawn has no letter, so e4 means a pawn moves to e4, and a pawn capture names the file it came from, as in dxe5. Because pawns cannot retreat, every pawn move permanently changes the structure. That makes pawn decisions among the most important of the game: pawns shield the king, control squares, and decide which files open. They also create weaknesses such as isolated, doubled or backward pawns. A good habit is to ask, before every pawn move, what squares it stops controlling.
Also worth reading is Chess pieces. Chess pieces are the sixteen units each side starts with: one king, one queen, two rooks, two bishops, two knights and eight pawns; in everyday speech, though, piece usually means everything except the pawns.
Compare it with Rook. The rook moves any number of squares along its rank or file, provided the path is clear, and it takes part in castling alongside the king.
Once "Pawn" is familiar, the next question is what to work on at your rating, which the improvement plans by rating band answer with game and puzzle data.
Related terms
En passant is a pawn capture that exists for one move only: after an enemy pawn leaves its starting square by two steps and stops beside your pawn, you may take it by moving to the square it skipped.
Promotion is the compulsory change of a pawn that reaches the last rank into a queen, rook, bishop or knight of its own color, made as part of the same move and chosen freely, whatever has been captured so far.
A capture happens when a piece moves onto a square held by an enemy piece, which is removed from the board as part of the same move; the king can be attacked but is never captured.
Chess pieces are the sixteen units each side starts with: one king, one queen, two rooks, two bishops, two knights and eight pawns; in everyday speech, though, piece usually means everything except the pawns.
The knight moves to one of the nearest squares that is not on its own rank, file or diagonal, an L-shaped jump, and it is the only piece that can leap over other pieces.
Algebraic notation is the standard system for recording chess moves, naming each square by file letter and rank number and each move by the piece letter and destination square, as in Nf3 or exd5.
Guides that go further
What to decide first, the questions to ask, what a first lesson should show and the red flags to avoid.
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A game review, a read on your level and a written study plan from George Li.
Sources
- FIDE Laws of Chess (effective 1 January 2023), Article 3.7, read Oct 21, 2026.
- FIDE Laws of Chess (effective 1 January 2023), Articles 3.7.3.1 to 3.7.3.5, read Oct 21, 2026.
- FIDE Laws of Chess (effective 1 January 2023), Appendix C.4 and C.9.3, read Oct 21, 2026.
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