Defending against passed pawns

You already know that a passed pawn can be very dangerous. You obviously want to defend against this threat.

Basic defense plans against passed pawns are:

• block a passed pawn by occupying its promotion square
• stop a passed pawn by controlling its promoting square
• counterattacks
• stalemate tricks

It may be necessary to sacrifice material in order to prevent a pawn’s promotion. If you’re up in material, this is not necessarily fatal.

What do you have to do?
Defend against the threat of passed pawns.