The Pawn Push That Handed Abdusattorov His Passed Pawns

Photo: TheBoburshokh / Wikimedia Commons (CC0)

Look at the white pawns on a6 and d4. No black pawn stands in front of either of them, or on a file next door where it could capture them. Chess players call pawns like these passed pawns, and in an endgame they are often worth much more than their one point.

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Position after 34.exd4, with Black to move. White's pawns on a6 and d4 are both passed: no black pawn can block or capture them on their way up the board.

Analyze this position in the full game

Three moves earlier, the game had been level. One pawn push by Black changed that.

Nodirbek Abdusattorov 1-0 R Praggnanandhaa Tata Steel Chess Masters 2026, Wijk aan Zee · Round 2 White: Nodirbek Abdusattorov (2751) · Black: R Praggnanandhaa (2758)

Early trades

The game began as a Queen's Gambit Declined.

1.d4 d5 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 Nf6 4.Nc3 h6 5.cxd5 exd5 6.Bf4 Bd6 7.Bxd6 Qxd6

Both sides swapped their dark-squared bishops early, and a few moves later the light-squared bishops went too, with 11.Bxh7+ Kxh7. White then pushed the a-pawn all the way to a6, and on move 19 the queens came off.

12.Qb3 Nbd7 13.O-O Rab8 14.a4 c6 15.a5 g6 16.Nf3 Kg7 17.Qa3 Ne8 18.a6 b5 19.Qxd6 Nxd6

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Position after 19...Nxd6, with White to move. Queens and bishops are gone. White's pawn on a6 is far advanced, and it fixes Black's pawn on a7 in place.

Analyze this position in the full game

Our own Stockfish 16 run, at depth 18, gave White about half a pawn here. That is a small edge, not a winning one. For the next twelve moves the pieces kept coming off, and the evaluation stayed under half a pawn.

The pawn push that changed the game

20.Rfc1 Rfc8 21.b3 b4 22.Na4 Rb5 23.Ne1 c5 24.dxc5 Nxc5 25.Nxc5 Rcxc5 26.Rxc5 Rxc5 27.Nd3 Rb5 28.f3 Nc4 29.Kf2 Na5 30.Rc1 Nxb3 31.Rc7

The white rook reached the seventh row and attacked the pawn on a7. Black could not hold that pawn. The question was what to get in return.

31...d4

Praggnanandhaa had about 11 minutes left for his next nine moves, against about 30 for Abdusattorov. Our engine preferred 31...Nd2 or 31...Ra5, which kept the position roughly level. After 31...d4 it rated White almost a full pawn better.

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Position after 31...d4, with White to move. The rook on c7 attacks a7, and the black d-pawn has stepped forward where White's e-pawn can take it.

Analyze this position in the full game

32.Rxa7 Nc5 33.Nxc5 Rxc5 34.exd4

White took the a7 pawn, the knights were traded, and White's e-pawn captured on d4. Now look back at the first diagram. White has two passed pawns, and Black's only passed pawn is the one on b4.

Why was 31...d4 the problem? Black's d-pawn used to stand in the way of White's centre pawns. After it moved forward and was captured, White's pawn landed on d4 with nothing in front of it.

A rook endgame, and a second chance

34...Rc6 35.Ra8 Kf6 36.Ke3 b3 37.a7 Rc7 38.h4 h5 39.Ke4 Rb7 40.Rb8 Rxa7 41.Rxb3

The a-pawn and b-pawn traded off. What was left was a rook endgame: each side had a rook, and White had an extra pawn on d4. Extra pawns in rook endgames are famous for being hard to win, and the engine still gave White less than half a pawn after 41.Rxb3.

41...Ra2 42.g3 Rg2 43.f4 Ke6 44.d5+ Kd6 45.Rb6+ Ke7 46.Rb7+ Kf6 47.Rb3 Ke7

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Position after 47...Ke7, with White to move. The black king has stepped away from the kingside pawns, and White can now break them up with f4-f5.

Analyze this position in the full game

Our engine marked 47...Ke7 as the second big turning point. The black king left f6, where it guarded the kingside pawns. The engine preferred 47...Ra2, keeping the rook active.

48.f5 gxf5+ 49.Kxf5

White's f-pawn traded itself for the g-pawn, and the white king walked straight into the space it left behind. A king that marches into the enemy's pawns in an endgame is very often decisive.

The finish

49...Rd2 50.Re3+ Kf8 51.Re5 Rd4 52.Kf6 Rd3 53.Rxh5 Rf3+ 54.Ke5 Rxg3 55.Kd6 Ra3 56.Re5 f6 57.Re1 Rh3 58.Kc6 Rxh4 59.d6 Rc4+ 60.Kd5

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Final position, after 60.Kd5. The d-pawn is two squares from promoting, with its king right beside it. Black resigned.

Analyze this position in the full game

Both sides took pawns on the kingside, but White's king stayed next to the d-pawn. With the pawn on d6 and the king on d5 to shelter it from checks, Praggnanandhaa resigned.

What this game teaches

1. A passed pawn is a real asset. White's pawns on a6 and d4 had no black pawn in their way. Pieces had to be spent stopping them.

2. Check what a pawn move gives away. 31...d4 looked active, but it allowed White's e-pawn to become a passed pawn in the centre.

3. In rook endgames, the king belongs in the action. 47...Ke7 moved the black king away from its pawns, and White's king walked in after 48.f5.

4. An extra pawn is not an instant win. White was a pawn up from move 34, and it took another 26 moves, and a second mistake by Black, to finish the game.

5. A king next to a passed pawn is the classic winning picture. In the final position, the white king on d5 shields the pawn on d6 from checks.