The Rule of the Square in Pawn Endgames
White to play and win
PlayA lone passed pawn races a distant king. The rule of the square tells you at a glance whether the pawn queens, and here it does.
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The Rule of the Square: Outrunning the King
White to play and win · Win against perfect defense
Waking the engine…
The theory
Watch the method: press play to see the winning idea run, or step through it move by move.
Draw the square whose side runs from the pawn to its promotion rank. For the b3 pawn that is b3-b8-g8-g3. The black king on h3 is outside it, so it can never catch the pawn.
The rule of the square answers a common question instantly: can the king catch the runaway pawn?
Draw the square. Imagine a square with one side running from the pawn to its promotion rank. If the enemy king is not inside it and cannot step inside on its move, the pawn queens on its own.
Just push. Here the king is outside the square, so no king support is required and none is available: b4 and then b5 are the only winning moves, because a single waiting move lets Kg4 inside.
In this drill the defender never stops chasing. Trust the square and push the pawn home.
Keep going
The Pawn That Never Moves
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Queen Beats the Center Pawn
White to play and win
Reciprocal Zugzwang: e6 Against c5
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All 68 king & pawn positionsFollow the full curriculum (free)