Passed Pawn - Outside Passed Pawn

Outside Passed Pawn

Fischer-Larsen 1971

	a	b	c	d	e	f	g	h
8									8
7									7
6									6
5									5
4									4
3									3
2									2
1									1
	a	b	c	d	e	f	g	h

White to move, wins because of the outside passed pawn

An outside passed pawn is a passed pawn that is on or near the left or right edge of the board, and is separated by a number of files from the rest of the pawns. Such a pawn often constitutes a strong advantage for its owner because the opposing king does not have the range to cover both sides of the board.

In the position on the right from the fifth game of the 1971 Candidates match between Bobby Fischer and Bent Larsen, the outside passed pawn on the a-file confers White a winning advantage, even though material is equal. The pawn will force Black's king to keep it from queening, leaving White's king free to capture Black's remaining pawns and win the game. White wins with

• 41. Kd4 Kd6
• 42. a5 f6
• 43. a6 Kc6
• 44. a7 Kb7
• 45. Kd5 h4 (if 45... f5 46. h4 wins)
• 46. Ke6 1-0 (Müller & Pajeken 2008:39–40).

Levenfish and Smyslov, 1957

	a	b	c	d	e	f	g	h
8									8
7									7
6									6
5									5
4									4
3									3
2									2
1									1
	a	b	c	d	e	f	g	h

White to play, draw

An outside passed pawn is also powerful in an endgame with minor pieces. It is not so powerful in an endgame with rooks if the opposing rook can get behind the pawn (diagram), as in the Tarrasch rule (Müller & Pajeken 2008:40–41), (Levenfish & Smyslov 1971:157).