EndgamesPlay as white

Queen and Pawn vs Queen

Learn how to promote a pawn against a checking queen — shelter your king beside the pawn, block checks with a protected queen that offers a trade, and push when the checks run out.

Try Interactive Lesson

Introduction

♕︎ueen and pawn against queen is the most common of all queen endings, and the one players most often fail to convert. The extra pawn should win, but the defender's queen can check from almost anywhere, and a king that runs into the open ends up in perpetual check — a draw. The winning method has three parts. First, shelter the king next to its own pawn, where the pawn and your queen take most of the checking squares away. Second, when a check does come, block it with the queen on a square your king protects — the block offers a queen trade, and with the pawn this far advanced the trade leaves a pawn ending the defender cannot afford. Third, push when the checks run out — and if they will not run out on their own, make them: a check of your own forces the defender to stop checking and start answering. Here White has the king on f7, the queen on d4 and a pawn on d6, two steps from queening. Black's queen on h6 eyes the pawn along the sixth rank, and Black's king on a6 is far away, so the defence rests on checks alone. The white king is not in check yet, so White has exactly one quiet tempo before the chase begins — the checks start with Black's very next move. That single tempo decides the game.

Lesson Content

Try this position

1. d7

Your king is not in check yet — spend this one quiet tempo before the chase begins.

d7 uses the one quiet moment before the checks begin: the pawn reaches the seventh rank, still guarded by the queen along the d-file, and now needs a single step to become a queen. The tablebase is blunt about it — this is the only move that wins. Every other move gives Black time to start checking while the pawn is still two steps from queening, and against a pawn that far back the checks never run out.

Passed PawnTempoTablebase Win

Alternative Moves

♕︎b6+ — ♕︎b6+ offers a trade on a square nobody protects: ♔︎xb6 simply takes the queen for nothing, and a lone pawn against a queen is lost.

♕︎d5 — ♕︎d5 is a waiting move, and the defender must never be given time: ♕︎h7+ starts the checks while the pawn is still on d6, the king never finds shelter, and the tablebase calls it a draw.

Try this position

1. ..♕︎h5+

♕︎h5+ is the check that holds out longest. Black cannot stop the pawn by force — the queen on d4 guards d7 — so the whole defence is to chase the white king and hope it never finds shelter. Notice the black king on a6: it is far too far away to help, which is exactly why the shelter method works.

DefenceThreat

Try this position

2. ♔︎e6

Escape the check without letting the pawn fall.

♔︎e6 steps out of check toward the pawn, not away from it: the king now guards d7 itself and stands one step from the shelter square behind the pawn. The check came along a diagonal, so the king also walks off that diagonal — the queen has to find a new line before it can check again.

King SafetyPassed Pawn

Alternative Moves

♔︎f6 — ♔︎f6 runs away from the pawn: after ♕︎h8+ the king is checked from behind, d7 has only the queen to guard it, and the checks go on until the tablebase result is a draw.

Try this position

2. ..♕︎h3+

♕︎h3+ finds the new diagonal. Black's queen has only two kinds of check left — along diagonals and along ranks — and each time it finds one, the white king answers by stepping to a square where the pawn is still covered.

Defence

Try this position

3. ♔︎d6

Escape the check while keeping the pawn out of the queen's reach.

♔︎d6 tucks the king directly behind its pawn. From d6 it guards d7, and the pawn and queen between them leave Black only a handful of checks, along the sixth rank and two diagonals — none of which drives the king away for long. This is the shelter, the first idea of the method: the king is safest right next to the pawn it is escorting.

King SafetyPassed Pawn

Alternative Moves

♔︎d5 — ♔︎d5 unblocks the diagonal from h3: ♕︎xd7+ takes the pawn with check, and queen against queen with no pawn left is a draw.

♕︎g4 — ♕︎g4 blocks the check on a square the king does not protect: ♕︎xg4+ wins the queen, and a pawn alone cannot survive against a queen.

Try this position

3. ..♕︎h6+

♕︎h6+ checks along the sixth rank — the longest the defence can hold here. The queen cannot take on d7: the pawn is guarded by king and queen alike, so ♕︎xd7+ would simply lose the queen for a pawn.

Defence

Try this position

4. ♔︎c5

Escape the check without stepping into the open.

♔︎c5 sidesteps the rank check. The king leaves the pawn for one move, but the pawn stays safe: the queen on d4 still guards d7 along the open d-file. What the king must avoid is the open board in front of the pawn — out there every new line is a new check, and the pawn is eventually lost.

King SafetyPiece Activity

Alternative Moves

♕︎f6 — ♕︎f6 blocks on a square the king does not protect: ♕︎xf6+ wins the queen and with it the game.

♔︎e5 — ♔︎e5 walks into the open: ♕︎g7+ checks along a fresh diagonal, and with the king cut off from its pawn the checks never end — a tablebase draw.

Try this position

4. ..♕︎g5+

♕︎g5+ checks along the fifth rank. Each check costs Black nothing, so the defender keeps probing — but the white king is about to reach a square where the checks can be blocked for profit.

Defence

Try this position

5. ♔︎c6

Escape the check and get the king back to its shelter beside the pawn.

♔︎c6 brings the king back beside the pawn — c6 touches d7 — and with it the queen on d4 is relieved of guard duty. Now the queen is free for the second job of the method: block the next check on a square the king protects.

King SafetyPassed Pawn

Alternative Moves

♕︎e5 — ♕︎e5 blocks on a square the king does not protect: ♕︎xe5+ wins the queen outright.

♔︎d6 — ♔︎d6 walks back into the same checks it just left. Still winning, but 6 moves slower.

Try this position

5. ..♕︎g2+

♕︎g2+ checks along the long diagonal. Three squares lie between the queen and the king, and White can block on any of them — but blocking on a square nobody protects simply hangs the queen.

Defence

Try this position

6. ♕︎d5

Meet the check with a block that Black cannot afford to take.

♕︎d5 blocks the check on a square the king protects, and that turns the block into a trade offer Black cannot accept: after ♕︎xd5+ ♔︎xd5 the black king on a6 is too far away, and nothing stops the pawn from queening next move. So Black must keep the queens on — and every new check now has to avoid the squares the white pieces cover.

King SafetyTablebase WinThreat

Alternative Moves

♕︎e4 — ♕︎e4 blocks on a square the king does not protect: ♕︎xe4+ wins the queen.

♔︎c7 — ♔︎c7 steps in front of the pawn instead of blocking, and ♕︎c2+ starts a new series of checks along the c-file. Still winning, but 4 moves slower.

Try this position

6. ..♕︎g6+

♕︎g6+ switches to the sixth rank. Black avoids the trade — it would lose at once — and looks for a check the white pieces do not cover. There are fewer of those every move.

Defence

Try this position

7. ♕︎d6

Same idea again — meet the check with a block Black cannot capture.

♕︎d6 is the same protected block one rank higher, guarded by the king on c6 and offering the same trade: after ♕︎xd6+ ♔︎xd6 the pawn queens and Black's king cannot interfere. Black is now down to a single check that does not lose the queen on the spot.

King SafetyTablebase Win

Alternative Moves

♕︎e6 — ♕︎e6 blocks on a square the king does not protect: ♕︎xe6+ wins the queen.

♔︎c7 — ♔︎c7 walks in front of the queen instead of beside it: ♕︎b6+ chases the king onto the back rank, where it blocks its own pawn and Black checks for ever — a tablebase draw.

Try this position

7. ..♕︎c2+

♕︎c2+ is the last safe check, along the c-file. Every other check lands on a square White covers or trades into the lost pawn ending.

Defence

Try this position

8. ♔︎d5+

Find the escape that turns the tables — make Black the one answering a check.

♔︎d5+ steps out of check and gives one back: moving off c6 unmasks the queen on d6, which now checks the black king along the sixth rank. This is the third idea — when the checks will not run out by themselves, a check of your own ends them. Black has to answer this check instead of giving another, and that is the tempo the pawn needs.

Discovered AttackTempoTablebase Win

Try this position

8. ..♔︎b5

♔︎b5 is the longest defence. Every reply loses: the queen's one block, ♕︎c6+, would be captured for nothing, and the other king moves let White mate sooner. From b5 the black king keeps a watch on the queen on d6, but it cannot reach d8.

Defence

Try this position

9. d8=♕︎

No safe check is left for Black — finish the job.

d8=♕︎ — the pawn promotes. Black can still throw in a few checks from the second rank and the long diagonal, but with two queens against one the tablebase mates in 13 moves, counting this one. Look back at the route: the king hid behind and beside its pawn, the queen blocked every check it could on a protected square, and when one check remained, the king stepped aside with a check of its own. Only then did the pawn move — and then it queened.

Passed PawnTablebase Win

Alternative Moves

d8=♖︎ — d8=♖︎ underpromotes: a rook cannot shut down the checks the way a second queen does. Still winning, but 8 moves slower.

♕︎b6+ — ♕︎b6+ checks on a square the king does not protect: ♔︎xb6 takes the queen, and after the pawn queens the game is queen against queen with no pawns — a draw.

Key Takeaways

Every quiet tempo belongs to the pawn — push it before the checks begin, not after
Shelter your king behind or beside its own pawn: that is where the checks run out
Block checks with your queen only on squares your king protects — the block offers a trade the defender cannot accept
An unprotected block or a counter-check on an unprotected square simply loses the queen
When one safe check remains, look for a check of your own — it ends the series and wins the tempo to promote

Now play it through

Step through every move on a real board, try the wrong ones, and ask Knighty why they fail.

Practice Interactively

Related Lessons

Opposite Bishops: The Fortress

Two Pawns vs One

Queen vs Pawn on 7th Rank

Summary

You converted queen and pawn against queen. The pawn advanced on the one quiet move Black allowed, the king sheltered behind and beside it, the queen blocked checks only on squares the king protected — each block offering a trade the defender could not take — and when a single safe check remained, the king stepped away with a check of its own. The pawn queened the move after.

Ready to Practice?

Practice Interactively

Take this lesson with you

Free account required

Download as PGN MD PDF

With every variation — opens in Lichess & ChessBase