Chess rules

How does a pawn move?

A pawn moves one square straight forward, or two squares on its very first move, and captures one square diagonally forward. It never moves backwards or sideways, and it cannot capture the piece straight in front of it.

The rule

  1. 1A pawn moves one square straight forward, onto an empty square.
  2. 2On its first move it may go two squares instead, if both squares are empty.
  3. 3It captures one square diagonally forward, never straight ahead.
  4. 4It never moves backwards. On the last rank it is promoted, and beside a pawn that has just moved two squares it may capture en passant.

See it on the board

A pawn that has not moved yet: it can step to e3 or go straight to e4.
A pawn that has not moved yet: it can step to e3 or go straight to e4.
This pawn has already moved, so the double step is gone: e4 is allowed, e5 is not.
This pawn has already moved, so the double step is gone: e4 is allowed, e5 is not.
The pawn captures diagonally: exd5 takes the black pawn. It could also just move forward to e5.
The pawn captures diagonally: exd5 takes the black pawn. It could also just move forward to e5.
A pawn cannot jump or capture straight ahead. With the knight on e3, this pawn cannot move at all: not to e3, and not to e4.
A pawn cannot jump or capture straight ahead. With the knight on e3, this pawn cannot move at all: not to e3, and not to e4.

Questions

Can a pawn move backwards?

No. A pawn only ever moves towards the opponent's side, which is why every pawn move is a small, permanent decision. Every other piece can retreat; a pawn cannot.

Can a pawn move two squares later in the game?

Only if that pawn has never moved. Each pawn gets its own double step from its starting square, whenever you choose to use it. Once it has moved even one square, the double step is gone for that pawn.

Can a pawn capture forward or sideways?

No. A pawn captures only one square diagonally forward. A piece straight in front of a pawn blocks it completely, which is how pawns end up locked against each other.

Next step

RuleWhat is en passant?The one pawn capture that surprises everybody.
Try it on a boardAll free lessons

Source: FIDE Laws of Chess (effective 1 January 2023), Article 3.7. Every diagram on this page is checked against the rules by code: how we check.