Three white pawns on the queenside against three black on the kingside. Between them, an empty board: the pawns will never meet, so this is a pure race. Count the tempi and it is clear that White queens twice as fast.
Pawns on opposite wings do not get in each other's way. Choose which pawn to run with - any of them wins.
Three white pawns on a5, b5 and c5 on the queenside, three black on f7, g7 and h7 on the kingside. They are on opposite edges of the board and will never meet: a pure race. White is on the fifth rank and Black has twice as far to go - any white pawn wins.
The walkthrough has not started yet.
At the branches several defences are available - take any of them. «Back» returns one move, «Main line» plays the principal variation automatically.
White's pawns stand on the a-, b- and c-files, Black's on f, g and h. A whole board of empty squares lies between them: they cannot capture each other and no breakthrough is possible. What remains is a pure race - who queens faster.
When the pawns do not touch, only the count of tempi decides. The two trios look identical, but White's are further advanced and White moves first.
A white pawn on the fifth rank needs 3 moves to reach the queening square (a5-a6-a7-a8=Q, for instance). A black pawn on the seventh needs a full 6. White is twice as close and moves first into the bargain.
So White queens at about the moment the black pawn reaches the middle of the board. The margin is enormous - any of the three pawns will do.
Whoever queens first stops the opponent's scattered pawns easily while they are still far from promotion. Here White's queen appears on move three and controls the whole board.
The conclusion is the same as in any race: do not judge which side looks more threatening, count the moves to the queening square.
What to avoid, so the breakthrough does not turn into a draw.
The two trios look equal, but that is deceptive: what counts is the distance to promotion. White on the fifth (3 moves) against Black on the seventh (6 moves) - a decisive margin.
The starting position is already loaded - move the pawns yourself or paste your own FEN.
Drag a piece onto the board, or click a piece and then click the squares. The cross beside the pieces sweeps every piece of that colour off the board, and a single piece can be dragged off the edge.
The pieces will be arranged into the chosen pattern.
It is the mating side to move. Find mate in one.
Openings, endgame positions and breakthrough studies - the set-up appears on the board.
White, and easily: the pawns are twice as close to the queening square (3 moves against 6) and White moves first. The queen appears as early as move three.
They stand on opposite wings - on the a-, b- and c-files and on f, g and h. They cannot capture each other or block each other's road, so the position becomes a pure race.
Any of them - the margin in tempi is so large that the edge a-pawn, the central b-pawn and the c-pawn all win. The main thing is not to waste moves.
In a breakthrough the pawns touch, and sacrifices and exchanges are needed (see VC0001 and VC0003). Here there is no contact at all - the bare count of tempi decides everything.
No arbiter skills required. The app takes over the part that usually stops people from running tournaments at all: who plays whom in each round and who finishes first.
Work through the other pawn studies in the VC series on the board - breakthroughs, races and overtakes.
Build your own position in the board editor, play through the chess openings move by move, or look into endgame walkthroughs such as king and pawn. If you are only starting out, read the rules of chess and how to set the pieces up.
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