Passed Pawns – To Push or Not to Push: That Is the Question

We have probably all heard the advice about passed Pawns: “Passed Pawns must be pushed.” But this is not always the case!

Many times, inexperienced players will heedlessly push their passed Pawn, completely oblivious to the opponent’s defensive resources. They may have read Irving Chernev’s classic book for beginning chess players, “Logical Chess: Move by Move.” (It’s the first book I read with any understanding – every move for every game is explained.) He said (several times, if I recall correctly), “passed pawns must be pushed.”

That is true, but not always true, and not true of King and Pawn v. King endings. For these endings, it’s more important to push the King! Max Euwe said this:

As to the passed pawn, textbooks often say that one should advance it as far and fast as one can, but rather we should say: advance the passed pawn only as far as is necessary. In … basic pawn endings … the most important principle is that of getting the king into play, as far forward as possible, and in fact this is nearly always the first thing to be done.” (See A Guide to Chess Endings, p. 41-42.)

So, for example, in the simple King and Pawn endings that have appeared in this blog, the first thing to do … almost always … is: forget the pawn – push the King!!

(Also see my articles about how to win with a King and Pawn against King, how to draw with a King against King and Pawn, and the first rule for winning with a Pawn on the fifth rank.)