Lone queen fighting an advanced pawn near promotion.
Why it matters
A queen normally beats a pawn on the seventh rank: check the king, force it in front of its own pawn, and use the free move to walk your king closer, over and over.
There are two exceptions, and they are worth knowing exactly: a rook's pawn and a bishop's pawn both draw, because forcing the king in front of the pawn produces stalemate instead of a won position.
See it on a board
A rook's pawn on the seventh draws. The only way to stop it is to cover b1 and b2, and the moment White does that, Black has no legal move at all.
Checked: this line reaches a drawn position.
How to play it
- Check the enemy king, and aim the checks so the king is driven onto the promotion square.
- While the king is blocking its own pawn, take one move to bring your king closer.
- Repeat until your king is near enough to help, then win the pawn or mate.
At each level
The same idea, said the way it is taught at each age.
Bishop · ages 5–7
A queen usually beats a pawn on the seventh rank. Check the king until it has to stand in front of its own pawn, then bring your king one square closer.
Rook · ages 6–9
Learn the two exceptions properly: rook's pawn and bishop's pawn draw. Knowing which pawn you have decides whether to race or not, sometimes twenty moves earlier.
What goes wrong
- Checking without a plan, so the king never ends up in front of the pawn.
- Racing into a queen against a bishop's pawn thinking it wins, when it is a known draw.
Questions people ask
- Why do rook and bishop pawns draw?
- Because forcing the king in front of the pawn leaves it with no legal move at all. The position is stalemate, so the manoeuvre that wins against every other pawn cannot be repeated.