Passed pawn: the pawn with a free path

In short

Look at a pawn and then only at the enemy pawns in front of it. If there is none on its file and none on the files next to it, its path is free. Then it is a passed pawn.

Enemy pieces may stop it; it still remains a passed pawn. Nimzowitsch even sees this as a tribute to the pawn. For the pieces have to give up some of their power just to control it.

A passed pawn usually comes from a pawn majority: on one wing you have more pawns than your opponent. According to Nimzowitsch, every healthy majority can create a passed pawn. The candidate leads the way, the pawn with no enemy pawn in front of it on its file. The other pawns go with it.

For the defender a passed pawn is dangerous. It pushes forward, sometimes even by sacrificing itself, so that the pieces behind it become free. That is why Nimzowitsch demands that you blockade it: a piece places itself directly in front of it. The article on the blockade explains more.

Start with lesson 16, where you recognise passed pawns and create one. Lesson 31 shows the rule of the candidate, lesson 30 the reasons for the blockade. In te Kolste – Nimzowitsch a candidate sacrifices itself so that a knight gets a good square.

Summarised by the editors in their own words. This is not a quotation.

Especially strong passed pawns

Nimzowitsch calls three kinds of passed pawns privileged. Two connected passed pawns are often strong side by side on the same rank; a single piece cannot then stand directly in front of both at once. A protected passed pawn is defended by a pawn of its own side, and the enemy king cannot capture it.

An outside passed pawn stands far away from the centre. It lures the enemy king away, and your king attacks on the other side. Nimzowitsch advises not playing this trump card too early and preparing the king’s journey well beforehand.

When a passed pawn should advance

Nimzowitsch observes that inexperienced players often push their passed pawn at the wrong moment. If the opponent can then blockade it easily, the move was usually bad. A passed pawn is quickly created; the real work is to support it well afterwards.

He names three good reasons for a step forward. The pawn gets closer to promotion or controls important squares. It makes room for its own king. Or it sacrifices itself to lure the enemy king as far away as possible.

What holds today

Today, too, players calculate exactly in the endgame whether a king can still catch a passed pawn. Nimzowitsch’s rules give you a good first orientation. They do not replace checking the concrete position on the board.

Where to find it in Nimzowitsch

• My System: I. Teil, 4. Kapitel - Der Freibauer (original text)

  Overview of the chapter on the passed pawn, with all its sections.

• My System: I. Teil, 4.1 Zur Orientierung. Der in mancher Beziehung störende Nachbar und das in jeder Beziehung unangenehme Gegenüber. Die Bauernmehrheit. Der Kandidat. Die Geburt des Freibauern. Die Regel vom Kandidaten. (original text)

  What a passed pawn is, how it comes from a pawn majority, and the rule of the candidate.

• My System: I. Teil, 4.2 Die Blockade der Freibauern (original text)

  The question of why you should blockade a passed pawn and not just control it from a distance.

• My System: I. Teil, 4.2a Der erste Grund original text not yet published

  The first reason for the blockade: the passed pawn pushes forward, even by sacrificing itself, with te Kolste – Nimzowitsch.

• My System: I. Teil, 4.6 Die privilegierten Freibauern original text not yet published

  The privileged passed pawns: two connected ones, the protected and the outside passed pawn.

• My System: I. Teil, 4.7 Wann ein Freibauer vorrücken soll original text not yet published

  Three reasons to let a passed pawn advance, up to a decoy sacrifice against the enemy king.

In the course

• The pawn with a clear path
• Why you blockade a passed pawn
• The candidate goes first
• Nimzowitsch – Brinckmann, Kolding 1923
• te Kolste – Nimzowitsch, Baden-Baden 1925