Chess tactics
Promotion: a pawn becomes a queen
Push a pawn to the last rank and it becomes a queen. Whole endgames turn on a single passed pawn escorted home.
208 vetted promotion puzzlesTrain promotion →
The tactics are about clearing the pawn’s path — a deflection, a well-timed check, a sacrifice that removes the last blocker. Watch too for underpromotion: now and then a knight or rook is the only piece that works, because a new queen would stalemate or miss a fork.
How to spot it
- A passed pawn with a clear, or clearable, run to the eighth rank.
- A forcing move that removes the piece blocking it.
- When a queen stalemates, ask whether a knight or rook promotes instead.
From the corpus
Three real promotion, each verified by Stockfish at depth 22. Click any one to solve it.
More tactics
Forks
A fork is a single piece attacking two or more enemy pieces at the same time. Your opponent can only save one — you take the other.
Pins
A pin freezes an enemy piece against a more valuable one behind it. It can’t move without giving up the piece in the rear — so you pile up on it and win it.
Skewers
A skewer attacks a valuable piece in front; when it steps aside, the piece behind it on the same line falls.
Discovered attacks
A discovered attack moves one piece out of the way to open fire from the piece behind it. Two threats land at once, and your opponent often can’t meet both.
Deflection
A defender is doing important work — guarding a mating square, holding a piece. Deflection gives it something it can’t refuse, and once it moves, what it guarded falls.
Trapped pieces
A trapped piece has no safe square. It’s still on the board, but it can’t get out — so you win it at your leisure.