A Chess question...

I play on Chess.com quite a bit. I put it on very simple mode...To relax. I use to be pretty good (no ranking), but could tie good players. Thinking about 5-6 moves ahead.

I now use chess like how people use solitaire on their computers. Just to relax and not thinking too hard.

I was thinking back to years ago. Was there a change in the rules?

Here is the situation. Can a pawn checkmate the opposing king on that king's end?? Has it always been that way? Was there ever a rule change one way or the other??

Thanks...

 

Never heard of a rule prohibiting it. I don't play a lot but I've coded a few chess engines.

 

No single chess piece can checkmate a king on it's own. It needs a backup piece for support.

 

Unless it is surrounded by it's own pieces and can not move.

The first one here, shows you how without support...

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/30f_92DrTJM

But if a pawn is supported by another piece, can it checkmate the king while it's on it's back line...

 

Of course. When was that not ever a thing?

 

I must be confused by the wording as I don't understand this video example's connection to the original question. Can you set up an example board on e.g. https://lichess.org/editor and paste the FEN code (found at page bottom)? I.e. the particular situation that according to your description should not happen.

 

In that video example, the Queen is the one mating the king in both examples. The support pieces I mentioned include your example of when the opponent cannot move the king because it is blocked by his own pieces. (I love those 2-3 move checkmates. I pulled the 3-move one off once playing a stranger.

 

FWIW this is what ChatGPT says:

"To answer your question, a pawn can checkmate the opposing king on the eighth rank (the opponent's end of the board), as long as the king has no safe squares to move to and is not protected by any other pieces. This rule has always been a part of chess, and there have been no rule changes that would prevent a pawn from delivering checkmate in this way.

It's worth noting that achieving checkmate with just a pawn and a king is a relatively rare occurrence, as it requires the opposing pieces to be in a specific configuration. However, it's an important tactic to be aware of, as it can sometimes come into play in the endgame."

 

Here's a pawn that has the checkmate with black to play. Can't go anywhere.

1k6/PP6/1Q6/8/8/8/8/4K3 b - - 0 1

 

I've played a lot of chess and cannot recall ever seeing just a pawn and king combo achieve checkmate without promoting the pawn on the opposing row to Queen.