In chess , the Smith–Morra Gambit (or simply Morra Gambit ) is an opening gambit against the Sicilian Defence distinguished by the moves:
41-502: White sacrifices a pawn to develop quickly and create attacking chances. In exchange for the gambit pawn, White has a piece developed after 4.Nxc3 and a pawn in the center , while Black has an extra pawn and a central pawn majority. The plan for White is straightforward and consists of placing his bishop on c4 to attack the f7-square, and controlling both the c- and d- files with rooks , taking advantage of rapid development, open lines, and Black's difficulty in finding
82-556: A booklet and several articles about the Smith–Morra. Smith wrote a total of nine books and forty-nine articles about the gambit. At the San Antonio 1972 chess tournament , Smith played it against Donald Byrne , Larry Evans , and Henrique Mecking , but lost all three games. International Master Marc Esserman , author of the 2012 book Mayhem in the Morra! , is one of the leading advocates of
123-472: A game with eight pawns, one on each square of their second rank . The white pawns start on a2 through h2; the black pawns start on a7 through h7. Individual pawns are referred to by the file on which they stand. For example, one speaks of "White's f-pawn" or "Black's b-pawn". Alternatively, they can be referred to by the piece which stood on that file at the beginning of the game, e.g. "White's king bishop's pawn" or "Black's queen knight's pawn". It
164-494: A good square for the queen . The Smith–Morra is popular at the club level and played occasionally by masters. The Smith–Morra is named after Pierre Morra [ fr ] (1900–1969) from France, and Ken Smith (1930–1999) of the Dallas Chess Club . In Europe the name Morra Gambit is preferred; other names for it, including Tartakower Gambit and Matulovic Gambit , have disappeared. Around 1950, Morra published
205-415: A passed pawn. In the diagram, White has a protected passed pawn on c5 and Black has an outside passed pawn on h5. This position might appear roughly equal, because each side has a king and three pawns, and the positions of the kings are about equal. In truth, White wins this endgame on the strength of the protected passed pawn, regardless which player moves first. The black king cannot be on both sides of
246-415: A theme in chess problems . According to Kenneth S. Howard, "En passant pawn captures frequently produce striking effects in the opening and closing of lines, both for white and black." By retrograde analysis convention, a pawn may be captured en passant only if it can be proven to have advanced two squares on the previous move. In the diagrammed 1938 composition by Howard, the key introduces
287-414: Is a passed pawn . Because endgames are often won by the player who can promote a pawn first, having a passed pawn in an endgame can be decisive – especially a protected passed pawn (a passed pawn that is protected by a pawn). In this vein, a pawn majority , a greater number of pawns belonging to one player on one side of the chessboard, is strategically important because it can often be converted into
328-420: Is also common to refer to a rook's pawn , meaning any pawn on the a- or h-files, a knight's pawn (on the b- or g-files), a bishop's pawn (on the c- or f-files), a queen's pawn (on the d-file), a king's pawn (on the e-file), and a central pawn (on the d- or e-files). The pawn historically represents soldiers or infantry , or more particularly, armed peasants or pikemen . Each player begins
369-740: Is derived from the Old French word paon , which comes from the Medieval Latin term for " foot soldier " and is cognate with peon . In most other languages, the word for pawn is similarly derived from paon (e.g., pionek in Polish), its Latin ancestor or some other word for foot soldier. In some languages the term for pawn is a name meaning "peasant" or "farmer", reflecting how the lower orders were conscripted as footsoldiers in wartime: Hungarian paraszt , Slovene kmet , German Bauer , Danish/Norwegian/Swedish bonde , Latvian bandinieks . In Irish,
410-462: Is not necessary for the mate). An en passant capture is the only way a double check can be delivered without one of the checking pieces moving, as in this case. The largest known number of en passant captures in one game is three. This record is shared by three games; in none of them were all three captures by the same player. The earliest known example is a 1980 game between Alexandru Segal and Karl-Heinz Podzielny. In early versions of chess,
451-433: Is notated using the capturing pawn's destination square. In both algebraic and descriptive notation , the move may optionally be denoted by appending "e.p." or similar. For example, in algebraic notation, bxa3 or bxa3 e.p. may be used to represent a black pawn on b4 capturing a white pawn on a4 en passant . Some chess openings feature the en passant capture. In the following line from Petrov's Defence , White captures
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#1732851735759492-574: Is often taken to mean "one who is manipulated to serve another's purpose". Because the pawn is the weakest piece, it is often used metaphorically to indicate unimportance or outright disposability, only having utility in the ability to be controlled; for example, "She's only a pawn in their game." Unicode defines three codepoints for a pawn: ♙ U+2659 White Chess Pawn ♟ U+265F Black Chess Pawn 🨅 U+1FA05 Neutral Chess Pawn En passant In chess , en passant ( French: [ɑ̃ pasɑ̃] , lit. "in passing") describes
533-452: Is permitted only on the turn immediately after the two-square advance; it cannot be done on a later turn. The capturing move is sometimes notated by appending the abbreviation e.p. The conditions for a pawn to capture an enemy pawn en passant are as follows: If these conditions are met, the capturing pawn can move diagonally forward to the square that the enemy pawn passed, capturing the enemy pawn as if it had moved only one square. If
574-404: Is rare for a player to have three pawns in a file, i.e. tripled pawns. In chess endgames with a bishop, a rook pawn may be the wrong rook pawn , depending on the square-color of the bishop. This causes some positions to be draws that would otherwise be wins. The pawn has its origins in the oldest version of chess, chaturanga , and it is present in all other significant versions of
615-410: Is the case. Chess players debated this point in the 19th century, with some arguing that the right to capture en passant is a "privilege" that one cannot be compelled to exercise. In his 1860 book Chess Praxis , Howard Staunton wrote that the en passant capture is mandatory in such a position; the rules of chess were amended to make this clear. The en passant capture is often used as
656-499: The Center Game , 1.e4 e5 2.d4 exd4 3.Qxd4 Nc6 4.Qe3. In return for the sacrificed pawn, White acquires a number of benefits that can be used to create active plans: To survive against a well-prepared White player, Black must first navigate the minefield of traps in the opening, then contend with White's long-term pressure and initiative. If Black manages to do this while holding on to the extra pawn, he/she will have good chances to win
697-521: The en passant capture 2.fxg6 e.p. # , which cross-checks and checkmates Black. (Black can draw in the diagrammed position by playing 1...Qxf2+.) In a game between Gunnar Gundersen and Albert H. Faul, Black played 12...f7-f5. White could have captured the black f-pawn en passant with his e-pawn, but he instead played: The bishop on c1 effects a discovered check . 14...Kh7 results in 15.Qxg7#. The en passant capture places Black in double check and checkmate (in fact, White's bishop
738-495: The advance of that pawn but also cannot be driven away by other pawns. In the diagram, Black has an isolated pawn on d5. If all the pieces except the kings and pawns were removed, the weakness of that pawn might prove fatal to Black in the endgame . In the middlegame , however, Black has slightly more freedom of movement than White and may be able to trade off the isolated pawn before an endgame ensues. A pawn that cannot be blocked or captured by enemy pawns in its path to promotion
779-458: The board at once – to defend the isolated h-pawn and to stop White's c-pawn from advancing to promotion. Thus White can capture the h-pawn and then win the game. After a capture with a pawn, a player may end up with two pawns on the same file , called doubled pawns . Doubled pawns are substantially weaker than pawns that are side by side, because they cannot defend each other, they usually cannot both be defended by adjacent pawns, and
820-417: The board. Promotion to a queen is also known as queening and to any other piece as underpromotion . Reasons for underpromotion include tactical positions involving a knight check, and avoiding stalemate . While some chess sets include an extra queen of each color, most standard sets do not come with additional pieces, so the physical piece used to replace a promoted pawn on the board is usually one that
861-434: The capture by a pawn of an enemy pawn on the same rank and an adjacent file that has just made an initial two-square advance. This is a special case in the rules of chess. The capturing pawn moves to the square that the enemy pawn passed over, as if the enemy pawn had advanced only one square. The rule ensures that a pawn cannot use its two-square move to safely skip past an enemy pawn. Capturing en passant
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#1732851735759902-427: The capturing piece does not replace the captured piece on the same square. A pawn that advances to its last rank is promoted to a queen, rook, bishop, or knight of the same color. The pawn is replaced by the new piece on the same move. The choice of promotion is not limited to pieces that have been captured; thus, a player could, in theory, have as many as nine queens, ten rooks, ten bishops, or ten knights on
943-494: The chessboard, mostly determines the strategic flavor of a game. While other pieces can usually be moved to more favorable positions if they are temporarily badly placed, a poorly positioned pawn is limited in its movement and often cannot be so relocated. Because pawns capture diagonally and can be blocked from moving straight forward, opposing pawns can become locked in diagonal pawn chains of two or more pawns of each color, where each player controls squares of one color. In
984-412: The diagram, Black and White have locked their d- and e-pawns. Here, White has a long-term space advantage. White will have an easier time than Black in finding good squares for their pieces, particularly with an eye to the kingside . Black, in contrast, suffers from a bad bishop on c8, which is prevented by the black pawns from finding a good square or helping out on the kingside. On
1025-507: The ensuing endgame. This is not easy, however, and many Sicilian players opt to decline the gambit altogether. This line is similar to the Danish Gambit : 4...cxb2 5.Bxb2 Pawn (chess) The pawn (♙, ♟) is the most numerous and weakest piece in the game of chess . It may move one square directly forward, it may move two squares directly forward on its first move, and it may capture one square diagonally forward. Each player begins
1066-505: The front pawn blocks the advance of the back one. In the diagram, the doubled c-pawns are a strategic disadvantage for Black. There are situations where doubled pawns confer some advantage, typically when the guarding of consecutive squares in a file by the pawns prevents an invasion by the opponent's pieces. Pawns that are both doubled and isolated are typically a tangible weakness. A single piece or pawn in front of doubled isolated pawns blocks both of them, and cannot be easily dislodged. It
1107-538: The game as well. In chaturanga, this piece could move one square directly forward and could capture one square diagonally forward. In medieval chess, as an attempt to make the pieces more interesting, each pawn was given the name of a commoner's occupation: The most famous example of this is found in the second book ever printed in the English language, The Game and Playe of the Chesse . This book, printed by William Caxton ,
1148-442: The game with eight pawns placed along their second rank. A pawn may move by vertically advancing to a vacant square ahead. The first time a pawn moves, it has the additional option of vertically advancing two squares, provided that both squares are vacant. Unlike other pieces, the pawn can only move forwards. In the second diagram, the pawn on c4 can move to c5; the pawn on e2 can move to either e3 or e4. Unlike other pieces,
1189-451: The last major additions to European chess. In some parts of Europe, particularly in Italy, there was no such rule; this was known as passar battaglia . In 1880, Italy adopted the rules used by the rest of the world, including the en passant capture, in preparation for the 1881 Milan tournament. In the context of threefold and fivefold repetition , two positions are considered different if
1230-433: The moved pawn "in passing" as if the latter had advanced only one square. The capturing pawn moves to the square over which the moved pawn passed, and the moved pawn is removed from the board. The option to capture the moved pawn en passant must be exercised on the move immediately following the double-step pawn advance, or it is lost for the remainder of the game. The en passant capture is the only capture in chess in which
1271-581: The opening. In the Chessable Masters tournament in April 2023, Hikaru Nakamura played it in two rapid games against Fabiano Caruana , winning one and losing the other. Black has a wide choice of reasonable defences after 1.e4 c5 2.d4 cxd4 3.c3. White sometimes plays 2.Nf3 and 3.c3, which depending on Black's response may rule out certain lines. 3.Qxd4 Nc6 4.Qe3 is the Sicilian Center Game, similar to
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1312-451: The opportunity to perform a given en passant capture exists in one position but not the other. When a player is not in check, and capturing en passant is their only legal move, they are forbidden to "claim" a draw by stalemate ; they must either perform the move or end the game on their turn via normal means. In his book on chess organization and rules, International Arbiter Kenneth Harkness wrote that people frequently asked if this
1353-462: The other hand, White's central pawns are somewhat overextended and vulnerable to attack. Black can undermine the white pawn chain with an immediate ...c5 and perhaps a later ...f6. Pawns on adjacent files can support each other in attack and defense. A pawn that has no friendly pawns in adjacent files is an isolated pawn . The square in front of an isolated pawn may become an enduring weakness. Any piece placed directly in front not only blocks
1394-409: The pawn could not advance two squares on its first move. The two-square advance was introduced later, between the 13th and 16th centuries, to speed up games. The en passant capture may have been introduced at that time, or it may have come later; references to en passant captures appear in the books by the 16th-century Spanish chess master Ruy López de Segura . The en passant capture was one of
1435-417: The pawn does not capture in the same way that it moves. A pawn captures by moving diagonally forward one square to the left or right, either replacing an enemy piece on its square (first diagram) or capturing en passant (second diagram). An en passant capture can occur after a pawn makes a move of two squares and the square it passes over is attacked by an enemy pawn. The enemy pawn is entitled to capture
1476-476: The pawn on d5 en passant on move 6: An en passant capture can occur as early as move 3. For example, in the French Defence after 1.e4 e6 2.e5 d5, White can play 3.exd6 e.p. ( diagram ). This has occurred in play, for example in the game Steinitz – Fleissig , Vienna 1882. In the diagram, the move 1...g5+ may seem to checkmate White, but it is in fact a blunder : White can counter this check with
1517-403: The right to capture en passant is not exercised immediately, it is lost. Making the capture is optional, unless there is no other legal move. Only pawns may capture or be captured en passant . The en passant capture is the only capturing move in chess where the capturing piece moves to a square not occupied by the captured piece. In algebraic notation , an en passant capture
1558-449: The term fichillín , a diminutive of ficheall ("chess") is sometimes used, though the term "ceithearnach" ("foot soldier") is also used. In Thai the pawn is called เบี้ย ( bîia ), which signifies a cowrie shell or a coin of little value. In Turkish the pawn is called piyon , borrowed from the French word Pion in the 19th century. Outside of the game of chess, "pawn"
1599-505: The threat 2.d5+ cxd5 3.Bxd5#. Black can capture the d4-pawn en passant in either of two ways: shifting the e4-pawn from the e- to the d-file, preventing an en passant capture after White plays 2.f4. To stop the threat of 3.f5#, Black can advance 2...f5, but this allows White to play 3.exf6 e.p.# due to the decisive opening of the e-file . Or Black can play and now White exploits the newly opened a2–g8 diagonal with 2.Qa2+ d5 3.cxd6 e.p.#. The diagrammed composition by Sommerfeldt shows
1640-416: Was previously captured. In informal games, when the correct piece is not available, an additional queen is often indicated by inverting a previously captured rook or by using different objects such as a die or coin. In tournament games, however, this is not acceptable; in the former case, it may result in the arbiter ruling that the upturned piece is a rook. The pawn structure , the configuration of pawns on
1681-487: Was viewed to be as much a political commentary on society as a chess book. The ability to move two spaces and the related ability to capture en passant were introduced in 15th-century Europe; the en passant capture spread to various regions throughout its history . The en passant capture intends to prevent a pawn on its initial square from safely bypassing a square controlled by an enemy pawn. The rule for promotion has changed throughout its history . The term pawn