Backward pawn — what it means in chess
A pawn behind its neighbors that cannot advance safely; a lasting weakness.
A pawn behind its neighbors that cannot advance safely; a lasting weakness.
[[board startfen="rnbqkbnr/pppppppp/8/8/8/8/PPPPPPPP/RNBQKBNR w KQkq - 0 1" pgn="e4 c5 Nf3 Nc6 d4 cxd4 Nxd4 Nf6 Nc3 e5 Ndb5 d6" caption="The Sicilian Sveshnikov. Black volunteers a backward d6 pawn and a hole on d5 — one of the most argued-over bargains in modern chess." notes="The most theory-rich structure debate in the game starts here. White opens classically. The Sicilian. Black fights for d4 from the flank. White develops toward the center. Black does the same. White offers the central trade. Black accepts, giving up the c-pawn for a central file. The knight recaptures and sits proudly in the center. Black develops with tempo against e4. White defends e4 and eyes d5. The Sveshnikov move. Black kicks the knight, grabs space, and knowingly damages the structure. The knight steps to b5, eyeing the d6 square. There it is. The d6 pawn is backward: its neighbors have moved past it, no pawn can ever defend it, and the d5 square in front of it is a hole White will try to own for the rest of the game."]]
A backward pawn is a pawn whose neighbors have advanced past it, leaving it undefendable by pawns and unable to advance safely — the square in front of it is controlled by the opponent, usually because it sits on a half-open file where a rook or queen stares straight at it. The pawn itself is a target; the square in front of it, the hole, is often the greater problem, because an enemy knight landing there can never be evicted by a pawn.
The Endgame Society glossary defines more than 240 chess terms — rules, notation, tactics, strategy, pawn structures, endgames, and openings — in language a beginner can act on rather than dictionary shorthand.