Editing Pawn (chess) (section)

===Passed pawn===
{{main article|Passed pawn}}
{{Chess diagram
| tright
| From Fine & Benko
|  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  
|  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  
|pd|  |  |  |kd|  |  |  
|  |pd|pl|  |  |  |  |pd
|  |pl|  |  |  |  |  |  
|pl|  |  |  |kl|  |  |  
|  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  
|  |  |  |  |  |  |  |
| White wins with either side to move.
}}
A pawn that cannot be blocked or captured by enemy pawns in its path to promotion is a ''[[passed pawn]]''. Because endgames are often won by the player who can promote a pawn first, having a passed pawn in an endgame can be decisive&nbsp;– especially a protected passed pawn (a passed pawn that is protected by a pawn). In this vein, a pawn ''majority'', a greater number of pawns belonging to one player on one side of the chessboard, is strategically important because it can often be converted into a passed pawn.

In the diagram, White has a ''protected'' passed pawn on c5 and Black has an ''outside'' passed pawn on h5. This position might appear roughly equal, because each side has a king and three pawns, and the positions of the kings are about equal. In truth, White wins this endgame on the strength of the protected passed pawn, regardless which player moves first. The black king cannot be on both sides of the board at once&nbsp;– to defend the isolated h-pawn and to stop White's c-pawn from advancing to promotion. Thus White can capture the h-pawn and then win the game.<ref>{{harvcol|Fine|Benko|2003|p=56}}</ref>
{{clear}}