The Pawn That Queened Sideways

The game, move by move

The Ponziani again

1. 1. e4 King’s pawn
2. 1… e5 The same claim
3. 2. Nf3 The knight out
4. 2… Nc6 And Black’s
5. 3. c3 The Ponziani
6. 3… Nf6 Developing
7. 4. d4 The centre
8. 4… exd4 Taken
9. 5. e5 e5, hitting the knight
10. 5… Qe7 The queen to e7 Behind her own bishop and in front of her own king, which is where she stays until move thirteen.
11. 6. cxd4 The pawn recovered
12. 6… d6 d6, chipping at the centre
13. 7. Bb5 The bishop to b5
14. 7… Nd7 The knight to d7

A knight back to b8

1. 8. O-O White castles
2. 8… dxe5 Taken
3. 9. d5 d5 — the pawn steps past It goes by the knight on c6 and takes every square from it. From here it walks to e7 in three moves.
4. 9… Ncb8 The knight goes home All the way back to b8 on move nine. Black’s queenside is now exactly as it was at the start of the game.
5. 10. Nxe5 The pawn taken
6. 10… Qf6 The queen to f6
7. 11. Re1 The rook to the open file
8. 11… Be7 The bishop out at last
9. 12. Qe2 The queen to e2 Behind the rook, on the file the black king is still on.
10. 12… h5 h5, on the wing

The pawn reaches e7

1. 13. Nf3 The knight steps back
2. 13… Qd6 The queen to d6
3. 14. Bf4 The bishop to f4, hitting her
4. 14… Qc5 The queen to c5
5. 15. d6 d6 — the pawn walks It attacks the bishop on e7 and cannot be taken by the queen, because she is holding c5 and nothing else defends it.
6. 15… O-O Black castles Into the corner, with a white pawn one square from the back rank and both black knights still at home.
7. 16. dxe7 The pawn takes the bishop And stands on e7. It does not promote — it never promotes — and it takes f8 away from the rook and the king for the rest of the game.
8. 16… Re8 The rook to e8, holding it

The bishop on f7

1. 17. Nc3 The last knight out
2. 17… c6 c6, on the queenside
3. 18. Bc4 The bishop to c4 Back onto the diagonal that ends at f7, with the queen behind the rook on the e-file.
4. 18… b5 b5, hitting the bishop The move that loses. It attacks a bishop that is about to give itself away anyway.
5. 19. Bxf7+ The bishop, on f7 Check. The king has to take it: the rook on e8 is pinned by the rook on e1 behind the pawn, and there is nothing else that can.
6. 19… Kxf7 Taken
7. 20. Qe6# Checkmate, on e6 The queen steps up to e6, held by the rook on e1 all the way down the file. She covers e7, f6, g8 and g6; the pawn on e7 covers f8; g7 is Black’s own pawn and e8 his own rook.