Pawn (chess) Pawn (chess) The pawn (♙,♟) is the most numerous piece in the game of chess, and in most circumstances, also the weakest. It historically represents infantry, or more particularly, armed peasants or pikemen. Each player begins a game with eight pawns, one on each square of the immediately in front of the other pieces. (The white pawns start on a2, b2, c2, d2, e2, f2, g2, h2; the black pawns start on a7, b7, c7, d7. e7, f7, g7, h7.) Individual pawns are referred to by the on which they stand. For example, one speaks of "White's f-pawn" or "Black's
School of chess that maintaining the of pawns was the most important strategic factor of chess, and he discussed pawn structure, particularly isolated pawns, doubled pawns, and backward pawns. Philidor's writings were widely praised and misunderstood for 90 years. His ideas were taken up by the English school in the 1840s. In 1925 Aron Nimzowitsch recognized the importance of pawn mobility. Philidor has increasingly been recognized as the founder of modern chess strategy . The Modenese school is due to three 18th-century players known as the Modenese Masters: Domenico Lorenzo Ponziani, Giambattista Lolli, and Ercole del Rio. They recommended playing the Italian Game