Protected Passed Pawn
| 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 |
A passed pawn that is protected by its own pawns is called a protected passed pawn. In the first diagram in this article, the pawns on the b and e files are protected passed pawns. Two or more passed pawns on adjacent files are called connected passed pawns (see connected pawns), and they are very strong. In the diagram at the top, White's b and c pawns are connected passed pawns. A pair of connected passed pawns is sometimes called a steamroller. It is often strategically advantageous for the side with connected passed pawns to place them on the same rank and then advance them in tandem, because this makes them more difficult to blockade.
Sometimes, minor pieces are sacrificed so that a pawn can have a clear path to promotion on the eighth rank. In the example at the right (Botvinnik versus Capablanca), in order to capitalize on the passed pawn on e6 and break its blockade by Black's queen, White continues 30.Ba3! Qxa3 31.Nh5+! gxh5 32.Qg5+ Kf8 33.Qxf6+ guaranteeing the e-pawn's promotion. The passed pawn's value is well worth the sacrifice of both the knight and bishop because it clears the path of the black queen and knight. The only pieces preventing the e-pawn's promotion are the black queen and knight, and once they are gone, the e-pawn has a free path to promotion because Black's pawns are helpless to stop it. Had there been a black pawn on the seventh rank that challenges the advancement of the e-pawn, it could have stopped the progress of the white pawn.
Read more about this topic: Passed Pawn
Famous quotes containing the words protected, passed and/or pawn:
“When a girl’s under 21, she’s protected by law. When she’s over 65, she’s protected by nature. Anywhere in between—she’s fair game.”
—Stanley Shapiro (1925–1990)
“You should go to picture-galleries and museums of sculpture to be acted upon, and not to express or try to form your own perfectly futile opinion. It makes no difference to you or the world what you may think of any work of art. That is not the question; the point is how it affects you. The picture is the judge of your capacity, not you of its excellence; the world has long ago passed its judgment upon it, and now it is for the work to estimate you.”
—Anna C. Brackett (1836–1911)
“In ceremonies of the horsemen,
Even the pawn must hold a grudge.”
—Bob Dylan [Robert Allen Zimmerman] (b. 1941)