According to
Reuben Fine and
Pal Benko, this ending is a
draw unless the pawn is a
bishop pawn or a (i.e. or ) and the pawn is in the seventh and is supported by its
king. If the defending king can get in front of the pawn, the game is a draw; otherwise it is best for the defender to keep their king far away from the pawn. The defender should keep checking until they run out of checks, and then, if possible,
pin the pawn. Based on computer analysis, Müller and Lamprecht give a different description. According to them, normally the defending king needs to be in front of the pawn. A rook pawn or knight pawn is a theoretical draw if the defending king is in front or near the pawn or if the king is in the corner opposite the pawn's
promotion square. A knight pawn has more practical winning chances than a rook pawn. A bishop pawn or central pawn is a win if the defending king is not in front of the pawn. A bishop pawn has better winning chances than a central pawn. The position of the defending king is especially important.
John Nunn states that analysis since Fine's initial work, published in his 1941 tome
Basic Chess Endings, has shown that there are many more winning positions than were known at that time (ignoring the
fifty-move rule in some cases). Wins by the side with the pawn take up to 59 moves. A
cross-check may be necessary to win.
Edmar Mednis gave this breakdown when the defending king is not able to help: • A is the best pawn to have. It is relatively easy to advance and is a win once it reaches the seventh rank. • A wins if it reaches the seventh rank, but it is difficult to get it there. Even if the pawn reaches the sixth rank, the position is usually a draw. • A is relatively easy to get to the seventh rank, but the position may be a theoretical draw. • Positions with are theoretical draws, but in practice it may be difficult to draw. John Nunn gives this summary for the defense: • with a central pawn, the defense has two possibilities: get the king in front of the pawn or get the king to corner nearest to the pawn's promotion square • with a bishop pawn, the defender's only chance is to get the king in front of the pawn • with a knight pawn, the defender must get the king in front of the pawn or in the corner furthest from the promotion square • a rook pawn is generally a draw and the defensive guidelines are the same as for a knight pawn. Naturally, the less advanced the pawn is, the better the defensive chances.
Rook pawn In 1985 the chess computer
Belle completed the endgame tablebase for this ending. The is the most important for actual games since it arises the most frequently, since it is the least likely pawn to have been exchanged. A rook pawn needs to be on at least the sixth rank to have decent winning chances. Mednis gave the following guidelines, based on his analysis of the tablebase. Assume that White has a pawn on the h-. To draw: • The best area for the king is in the corner opposite the pawn's promotion square. This keeps it from blocking checks by its queen. • When the white queen is centralized, the safest place for the black king is probably b3. • Once the king is in the far corner it should stay there. • At certain points the king can be on other squares and still draw, but it is much more difficult to play correctly. • The queen should be centralized. • The queen checks on the central squares for more flexibility on future moves. • The queen checks in ways so that the white queen cannot be centralized. • The queen is used to keep the king in front of its pawn. • The queen is used to prevent the white queen from becoming active. • If the queen is on e5 it will draw against a pawn on h7 and queen on g6 or f7 if the black king is in the far corner. • The queen is kept active and in a flexible place. It will be more active on c2 than h7. • The queen on h7 is often good enough to draw. To win: • The worst place for the king is in front of the pawn. • There are two good places for the king: • to the side of the pawn, e.g. f7, f8, or e8. • close to the black king, which allows for counterchecks. • The pawn is advanced to the seventh rank only if the queen is in place to prevent
perpetual check. • If the pawn is on h7, the best square for the queen is e4. In favorable circumstances, other squares (e.g. f5, d7) will also win.
Knight pawn A knight pawn should be on at least the fifth rank to have good winning chances. A knight pawn on the fifth rank has better winning chances than a rook pawn on the sixth rank. There are two reasons for this: • the king has squares on the adjacent rook file to try to avoid perpetual check • the exchange of queens is less likely to lead to a drawn
king and pawn versus king endgame. The best place for the defending king is in front of the pawn and the second-best place is in the corner opposite its promotion square.
Bishop pawn A bishop pawn offers the best winning chances. One reason is that there is no drawing zone in the opposite corner for the black king if the pawn is on at least the fourth rank. If the pawn is on the fifth rank the defender's chances are small unless the king is in front of the pawn. A pawn on the sixth rank wins unless the defending king is in front of the pawn.
Central pawn A has better chances to win than a rook pawn or knight pawn, but not as good as a bishop pawn. As with the bishop pawn, there is no drawing zone for the defending king in the opposite corner. It is better for the defending king to be on the "short side" of the pawn rather than the "long side". ==Examples from games==