The Pawn

At the start of the game, you get eight pawns which completely fill your second row.

Moving a pawn and capturing using a pawn are completely different, so you will learn each case separately. In fact, the pawn is the only piece which moves differnetly when capturing compared to when just moving to an empty square.

You will also learn about pawn promotion, where you can swap a pawn for a bigger piece!

Later, you will learn about en-passant, another special move you can occasionally make with a pawn.

Once you move a pawn, it can never go back to where it was - this means that a pawn move is more committal than a move by any other piece, as all other pieces can retreat if they get into trouble

You cannot bring you bishops, rooks, queen or king out without first moving a pawn.

Because pawns capture differently from the way they move, they are very easy to block, as any piece in front of the pawn can block the pawn but cannot be attacked by the same pawn. One pawn can be used to hold two enemy pawns at bay