The last pawn: king behind the pawn
Also in this lesson we look at positions in which the king stands in front of its own pawn. The difference, however, is that here the pawn has crossed the center line. An important detail, because this means that the side with the extra pawn always wins, regardless of whether he/she has the opposition. The only exception is when the extra pawn is an edge pawn (see Example 4).
In Example 1, you can see that without having opposition, white does not have to do anything other than stepping aside with the king and then let the pawn pass.
In the case of a g- or a b-pawn, some attention is required (see examples 2 and 3). Because the other player's king is close to the edge, you always have to watch out for stalemate. By moving your own king to the edge and then advancing the pawn, you make sure that the other player's king is driven off the edge.
What do you have to do?
Is it your turn and you only have a king? Then make a draw. This is possible against an edge pawn or when the other has played suboptimally with a b- or g-pawn.
Is it your move and do you have a pawn? Then go for the win.
This position is an exception to the opposition rule. Because the pawn has crossed the center line and the king is in front of the pawn, white always wins here. With white on the move, black has opposition. Yet this brings no salvation. White only needs to move aside with the king and then play the pawn forward: 1.Kd6 Kd8 2.e6 Ke8 3.e7 and here black would have liked to play 3...Ke9 (or skip a move) in order to move the king in front of white one move later. Unfortunately, the board is too small for black. They have to play 3...Kf7, after which white promotes with 4.Kd7 Kf6 5.e8D.
Compare this example again carefully with Example 1 from the previous lesson. All their pieces were one row down, which did give Black the opportunity to move their king backwards after White had played their pawn two squares forward.
Important lesson: If the white king on the 6th row (or if black is the one with one more pawn, the black king on the 3rd row) is in front or just in front of its own pawn (direct spaces left and right), then the position is won (unless it is an edge pawn). When you stand with a king on such a winning square, it is also called a key square.
