Queen vs. PawnBy Bruce PandolfiniKing and queen against a lone king? No contest. With the move (it might be important to have the move to avoid stalemate), the force of king and queen wins hands down. But what if the inferior side has an extra pawn about to promote? Is it still a forced win? Well it often is, with some notable exceptions.Having the move, the queen can beat either a center pawn or a knight pawn usually without much trouble, even if the friendly king is a distance away. The winning idea is to give a series of checks, leading to the defending king's forced obstruction of its own pawn. That gives the attacker a tempo, which can be used to bring the friendly king a square closer. … [Read more...]