Pawn Promotion

Pawn promotion is one of the fundamental goals in chess. Since the gain of material is so great when one is able to promote a pawn (particularly to a queen) large amounts of material can be sacrificed to accomplish this goal. Here are a couple examples of combinations (sacrifice, followed by forced sequence of moves) with the theme of pawn promotion.

 Volkov(2623) – Hou Yifan(2527)

Aeroflot Open, 2008

White to move, Intermediate puzzle from KEBU Chess Tactics Software 2009

It appears that the rook on c6 prevents the c7-pawn from promoting. But White has a forcing sequence which allows him to force promotion. 61.Nb6! If Black doesn’t capture the knight then the pawn will promote on c8, forcing Black to part with his rook.

Here’s another example:

Al Modiahki(2569) – Asaneh Lopez(2346)

6^th Gibtelecom Masters, 2008

If White plays 41.a7 then 41…Rg8 prevents the pawn from promoting. Therefore: White played 41.Rd8!! and Black resigned because of 41…Kxd8 42.a7. As you can see a pawn promotion tactic usually involves other themes. In this case, interference was used by forcing Black to cross paths with his rooks defensive task.

These examples were taken from games played very recently (last year) directly from KEBU Chess Tactics Software. You can download a free version here for more puzzles like these.