This week’s position is about the little pawn that could – and did. With this hint in mind please try to find how white forces mate.

In chess notation, the board is a grid: the vertical columns are numbered "1" through "8"; the horizontal rows, "a" through "h". Each square on the board is identified by a specific letter and number. For example, if the white rook at g1were to move to f1, the notation would be rf1 (r=rook, q=queen, k=king, x=take, +=check, etc.).

Black’s queen prevents mate by defending g8 and g7. If the white queen invades g8 or g7 with the support of her rook, black is mated.

White undermines the black queen’s defensive by advancing its e5 pawn to e6. If the queen snatches this pesky pawn, the g7 square is left unprotected and white’s queen mates black.

Advancing the pawn to e6 forces the queen to retreat to f8. From f8 the black queen still guards g8 and g7. Our aggressive little pawn pushes on, however. It advances to e7, again attacking the queen.

Swatting the little pawn with the queen results in an immediate mate, as g8 would then be unguarded. Hence, the little pawn continues to push the mighty queen around and forces the queen back to f7.

Now the pawn steps onto e8 and transforms into a queen, as the new queen checks black. If the black queen captures the new queen, g7 is unguarded and white mates.

Not taking the new queen gives white an overwhelming amount of power. With this power white soon mates black. For example, after the pawn promotes to a queen, black’s best defense is to move its king to h7. White’s queen on e8 moves to g8, checking black. Black’s queen takes the new queen, which is in turn taken by white’s queen at g3, mating black.

The lesson here is that chess is largely a fight over critical squares. Controlling critical squares is often more important than any one piece, whether it be a queen or a pawn.