- [Narrator] This is the moment when Beth Harmon
realizes she's beaten Borgov in "The Queen's Gambit."
She uses a pawn, a lowly pawn.
Derided by some, overlooked by many
but what if I told you that pawns matter,
both to the game of chess and to the show
much more than you might think.
Some say they're the games very soul.
We'll explain.
(clapboard clattering) (dramatic orchestral music)
Beth Harmon is an underdog, by gender, by upbringing,
by temperament, even by nationality.
All are viewed as obstacles to her winning at some point.
And if there were any chess piece
that has a similar underdog swagger it's gotta be the pawn.
See, there's a sort of accepted class hierarchy in chess.
You read a lot about how the king
is the most important chess piece
because the game hinges upon his capture.
While the queen is the most powerful
because of her striking range.
An individual pawn, on the other hand,
is typically valued at one point, the lowest you can get
and in play pawns can indeed be dead men walking,
especially those close to the center.
This chart by programmer Oliver Brennan
shows the survival rates of chess pieces
and, yeah, queens pawns are basically goners.
I mean, look how easily Beth gives up
both D and C file pawns here.
By the way,
this is a very rare sub-line of the Scandinavian defense
called the Blackburne-Kloosterboer Gambit
where black aggressively challenges for control
and isn't it interesting that they later appear
in their side's respective colors, hmm?
As if they're jockeying for control.
Anyway, but some
including the 18th century French chess master and composer,
François-André Philidor,
have seen something more than cannon fodder in a pawn.
He's the one that said the pawn was the soul of chess
and he should know,
in addition to the defense that's named after him,
he was the first to write extensively about chess strategy.
He's not the only one
to have made the pro pawn argument though.
Teachers still recommend pawn only games
to learn fundamentals
and if you think the show isn't aware of this
watch episode two, when Beth picks up Chess Review.
What's the giant ad?
Pawn Power In Chess.
So perhaps it's no coincidence then
that Beth beats both her first adversary
with a threatened pawn promotion
(wooden thump)
and her final adversary with an actual one.
(dramatic orchestral music)
Because this ability is a pawn's superpower,
one that can't be ignored.
(echoing sonic boom)
When one pawn makes it
to the farthest rank from their starting position
they then level up, usually into a queen but not always.
Past pawns, fast breaking pawns heading for promotion
with only open squares ahead and on adjacent files
are considered so dangerous
that one chess master argued that they should be jailed.
Now, according to this graph by Robert Casbar
it seems that promotions don't happen in high-level chess
as often as "The Queen's Gambit" suggests.
It's thematic.
But many say that's because high level players
usually resign at the first whiff of one.
You can connect every rule governing pawns
back to this pawn promotion.
On one hand, and unlike any other piece,
they travel double their normal amount on their first move
and they can't move backwards,
the game entices you to move forward.
And on the other hand, but also unlike any other piece,
they move differently than they attack,
meaning you can actually block a pawns advance
by just sticking something in front of them.
There's the counterbalance.
Pawn promotion isn't just powerful in gameplay though,
it's chess's classic metaphor,
the little pawn weeds through hell
to rise up to royalty status.
And if you don't think it influenced "The Queen's Gambit"
look how Beth wears a pawn-like white color
the first time we see her younger self
and then a queen like hat, little ball and all,
in her final scene.
But maybe the more subtle way
a pawn influences the game of chess
is through pawn structures,
the shifting formations that pawns make as a crew.
According to some pawn lovers
these sometimes beautiful configurations
define the space and therefore dictate the game.
- What are you reading about?
- Pawn structure analysis.
- Sounds exciting.
- It is.
- [Narrator] Most obviously a good pawn structure
lets you move the more powerful pieces out of the back row
but it also influences the movement of the other side.
They may be tempted
to occupy so-called weak squares in your territory,
the ones which no pawns are guarding.
Conversely then,
your pawn structures can help you control the center,
important because that's where the kings live.
From reinforceable pawn chains to vulnerable pawn islands,
different pawn structures
have their strengths and weaknesses
but you can tell that the creators of "The Queen's Gambit"
geek out on them.
Not only are there lines about pawn structure like this.
- They left backward pawns all over the place.
- [Narrator] But there's also a whole episode
named doubled pawns,
referring to Beth's attempt to lure Benny
into a, mm, dubious pawn structure
where two pawns squat in a single file,
slowing movement with no protection for either.
Oh Benny.
Still there are skeptics
and maybe you to need something more concrete
to prove that pawns matter.
Well, on a larger level,
Google ran some tests using their chess AI
and found that simply giving pawns
two moves each turn instead of one
doubled the number of games won by white and black.
It created a different, volatile game.
Then there's the end game.
Usually a few pawns make it to the end,
in fact pawn and rook endings are the most common in chess,
and this is where the pawn shines.
This formula calculates the winning percentage in a game
based on pawn advantage and just having one pawn advantage
gives a player a 64% chance of winning.
And that can go up to a 90% chance
in some end game scenarios.
So if someone says that pawns don't matter.
- It's all pawns and no hope.
- [Narrator] Remind them
that you have to see them altogether
or you have to wait until the end
to see their true potential.
Power to the pawn.
(jovial music)
Okay, but the pawn does have one last super power
and this one is a little,
(ghostly voice) spooky.
It's an attack called en passant
and if you're like me and have never played chess,
you've never heard of it.
But basically it allows a pawn to capture another pawn
that moved two spaces
but that could have been dead if it had only moved one.
So, pawns can even capture pieces
on completely different squares.
Pawn power.
(clapboard clattering)