The Pawn
The pawn is the only man who captures in a different way from that in which he moves. The pawn moves forward only in the file in which he stands, and only one square at a time with the exception of his first move. On his first move, a pawn may advance two squares. In the diagram, the white pawn may move only to h5 while the black pawn may move to either g6 or g5.
The pawn may capture only diagonally, only forward and only one square at a time. The privilege of taking a double step on the first move does not extend to the capture. In the diagram, the white pawn could capture only a black man on g5, the black pawn could only capture a man on either f6 or h6, but not on e5. If a man stood on h5, the pawn on h4 would be blocked. Likewise would the pawn on g7 be blocked by a man on g6.
There is one peculiar rule to be remembered in connection with the move of the pawn. If a pawn uses his privilege of making a double step to avoid capture by a hostile pawn, he can be put back one square and captured just the same. For instance, in the diagram, if the white pawn stood on h5 and Black moved his pawn to g5, White could put Black's pawn back to g6 and capture him with his pawn. This way of capturing is called taking en passant (French for "in passing") and can be done only by a pawn, never by a piece.
Lastly must be mentioned the power of the pawn to become transformed into a piece. This is done automatically whenever a pawn reaches the extreme opposite side of the board. The player must remove the pawn from the board and put any piece on his place except a King. Therefore, it can happen that a player may play with three or more Rooks, Bishops, Knights or Queens. Since the Queen is the strongest piece, the pawns are practically always exchanged for Queens and for this reason the process of the exchange is called queening.
Although a pawn has comparatively little value as measured by his mobility, his range of movement, he is really a very valuable man because of the possibility of his eventually queening.
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