AI overview
A pawn is the most basic and numerous piece in chess, with each player starting with eight of them arranged in front of their other pieces. Pawns matter because while individually weak, they can become powerful through strategic movement and have the potential to promote into stronger pieces if they reach the opposite end of the board.
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Article
The pawn (♙, ♟) is the most numerous and weakest piece in the game of chess. It can move one vacant square directly forward, or one or two vacant squares directly forward on its first move, and can capture one square diagonally forward. Each player begins a game with eight pawns, one on each square of their second rank. The white pawns start on a2 through h2, while the black pawns start on a7 through h7.
Individual pawns are often referred to by the file on which they stand. For example, one speaks of "White's f-pawn" or "Black's b-pawn". It is also common to refer to a rook pawn, meaning any pawn on the a- or h-files, a knight pawn (on the b- or g-files), a bishop pawn (on the c- or f-files), a queen pawn (on the d-file), a king pawn (on the e-file), and a central pawn (on the d- or e-files).