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
Marmaduke Wyvill (chess player) 1866. In a chess game, the Wyvill formation refers to a pawn formation in which White has no pawn on the "b" file, doubled pawns at c3 and c4, and the d-pawn at d4 or d5, such as may typically arise out of variations of the Nimzo-Indian and (Winawer) French Defences. The pawn at c4 may become a weakness, since it cannot be supported by other pawns. His triumph in the third game of the final of the London tournament saw Wyvill winning with a fine counter-attack after defending Anderssen's attack with great expertise. As Staunton put it in a