Key square

In chess, particularly in endgames, a key square (also known as a critical square) is a square such that if a player's king can occupy it, he can force some gain such as the promotion of a pawn or the capture of an opponent's pawn. Key squares are useful mostly in endgames involving only kings and pawns. In the king and pawn versus king endgame, the key squares depend on the position of the pawn and are easy to determine. Some more complex positions have easily determined key squares while other positions have harder-to-determine key squares. Some positions have key squares for both White and Black.

In an endgame with a king and pawn versus a king, the key squares are relative to the position of the pawn. Assume that White has the pawn. If the white king can occupy a key square, he can force the promotion of the pawn but accurate play is required. Whether or not the white king can reach a key square depends on the position of the pieces and which player is to move (Müller & Lamprecht 2007:20–22).

An advanced rook pawn generally has two key squares: the two squares on the adjacent file that touch the promotion square, i.e. b7 and b8 for a white a-pawn, and g7 and g8 for a white h-pawn. The key squares are indicated by the black dots in the position in the diagram on the right. If White's king can reach either of the two key squares, he can keep Black's king away and the pawn will promote. If the Black king can reach any of the squares marked with a dot or an "X", it stops the pawn – either by blocking the pawn or preventing the white king from reaching a key square (Silman 2007:105–6).

Pawns other than rook pawns have more key squares. If the pawn is on the second, third, or fourth rank, there are three key squares – the square two squares in front of the pawn and the squares to the left and right of that square. The key squares are indicated by the black dots in the diagrams above. If the pawn is on the fifth or sixth rank, there are six key squares: the square in front of the pawn and the squares to the left and right, as well as the square two squares in front of the pawn, and the squares to the left and right of it, see the middle diagram. When the pawn is on the seventh rank, the key squares are the squares on the seventh and eighth rank that touch the pawn's square (see the diagram on the right).

...
Wikipedia