PAWNS, provided they are not in danger of being captured, become more powerful the further they advance.
This increase in strength tends to be incremental, until the pawn safely reaches the seventh rank, when its power takes off thanks to the threat of promoting.
These factors were an important consideration in round three, where, as Black against Salvador Freijedo Álvarez (2123), I sacrificed a pawn to get the following late-middlegame position.
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| I have just made a recapture on b7 |
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White has an extra pawn, and the pawn is protected, but Black's passer has already crossed the halfway line, giving Black active play.
Stockfish17.1 and Dragon1 agree Black does not have enough compensation for a pawn, but they disagree as to White's best continuation.
Stockfish17.1 suggests 23.Qf3, but Dragon1 prefers the game's 23.Qc2, and I replied 23...c3, getting my passed pawn to the sixth rank.
My opponent continued with 24.Qe4, attacking my rook and centralising the queen, while also continuing to prevent my passer advancing further.
The engines prefer 24.Rc1, bringing the rook into play, although note that White is not threatening to capture the pawn, even if it were White's move, as 25.Qxc3?? Qxc3 26.Rxc3 would lose to a back-rank mate.
I met White's queen move with 24...Rb8, and we both took time out to ensure back-rank mate was no longer possible: 25.g3 g6.
Also possible was 25...Qxa2!? - the engines reckon both moves give equality.
White now played the blunder 26.Qe5??, and was obliged to resign after 26...Qxe5 27.dxe5 c2 - the black pawn, having reached the seventh rank, cannot be stopped from becoming a queen.
The strength of 27...c2 can be gauged from the fact that if I had followed the well-known axiom that rooks belong behind passed pawns, and instead played 27...Rc8, the engines reckon White would be winning, not Black.
LESSON: I like to think of a pawn on the seventh rank as having reached Seventh Heaven - certainly its presence often means Hell for the opponent.
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