is the most numerous piece in the game of chess, and in most circumstances, also the weakest.

A pawn that advances all the way to the opposite side of the board (the opposing player's first rank) is promoted to another piece of that player's choice: a queen, rook, bishop, or knight of the same color. The pawn is immediately (before the opposing player's next move) replaced by the new piece.

Unlike the other pieces, pawns may not move backwards. Normally a pawn moves by advancing a single square, but the first time a pawn is moved, it has the option of advancing two squares. Pawns may not use the initial two-square advance to jump over an occupied square, or to capture. Any piece directly in front of a pawn, friend or foe, blocks its advance.

In medieval chess, an attempt was made to make the pieces more interesting, each file's pawn being given the name of a commoner's occupation. On the board, from left to right, those titles were: gambler and other "lowlifes", also messengers (in the left-most file, that direction being literally sinister); city guard or policeman (in front of a knight, as they trained city guards in real life); innkeeper (bishop); merchant/moneychanger (always before the king, whether or not he is to the left or right of the queen, which depends on the color of the pieces); doctor (always the queen's pawn); weaver/clerk (in front of the bishop, for whom they wove or clericked); blacksmith (in front of a knight, as they care for the horses); worker/farmer (in front of a castle, for which they worked).