Experience (and some previous articles) shows that winning a game with a couple of connected passed pawns (or separated ones !) is often a straightforward task. More challenging is the situation where you have to handle doubled passed pawns against the lone King: even if often winning, there are stalemate ideas that make the attacker’s life harder.

Winning with doubled pawn follows the same principles than when one pawn is involved: having the King in front and the opposition wins the pawn endgame. Yet, if you cannot achieve this setup, the doubled pawns give you additional chances to convert your advantage.

Promoting Doubled Passed Pawns: The Winning Method

Moment of truth. Without the f2-pawn, White only gets a draw here, and Black would have defended the pawn endgame successfully.

Avoiding Stalemate

Winning with doubled pawns close to their original square is easy, as long as you know what to do. The more advanced the pawns are, the higher the chances for a draw, even if such positions should often be winning.

The next position is another example of stalemate possibilities offered by the advanced doubled pawns.