Answers.Body: <p>Here is a list of underpromotions in famous games: <a href="https://www.chess.com/article/view/9-amazing-underpromotions" rel="noreferrer">https://www.chess.com/article/view/9-amazing-underpromotions</a></p>
  <p>Underpromotion to a knight is not that rare, especially in cases where the new knight gives a check or fork. But bishop / rook underpromotions are exotic, usually to avoid a statemate.</p>
  
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Answers.UserDisplayName: Schnabeltierli
Answers.Body: <p><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RptrNJFFJJw" rel="nofollow noreferrer">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RptrNJFFJJw</a></p>
  <p>This is the &quot;trap line&quot; of Albin Counter-Gambit. at 3:10, you can see that promoting to a Knight is better than promoting to a Queen, simply because promoting to Queen is too slow (not to mention it would be lost anyway), and Knight promotion delivers a check which lets you keep the initiative. It's a line that requires a lot of analysis, so if you are rated lower than 1600, you may feel overwhelmed by all the possibilities in this variation.</p>
  
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Answers.UserDisplayName: Emre Bener
Answers.Body: <p>Knight promotion is reasonably common (though not nearly as much so as Queening); Rook and especially Bishop, much less so, because the only motivation is stalemate avoidance(*).  Tim Krabbé has a collection of underpromotion in serious play.  You can judge for yourself how famous the players are in each case: <a href="https://timkr.home.xs4all.nl/chess2/minor.htm" rel="noreferrer">https://timkr.home.xs4all.nl/chess2/minor.htm</a></p>
  <p>(*) In principle one could also underpromote in order to <em>get</em> stalemated.  This does not seem to have happened yet in actual play, but the same Krabbé page shows several examples of composed studies where such an underpromotion is the only drawing move.</p>
  <p>P.S. Further Googling brings up a page that cites a drawing N-promotion in &quot;a game between Michael Adams and Tony Miles at Tilburg on 17 November 1993&quot;: <a href="https://www.chesshistory.com/winter/extra/underpromotion.html" rel="noreferrer">https://www.chesshistory.com/winter/extra/underpromotion.html</a></p>
  <p>These players probably qualify as sufficiently famous . . .</p>
  
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Answers.Text: There are also players who promote to a bishop [because they can](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=umabaHAGmJQ).
Answers.UserDisplayName: Kevin
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Answers.Text: Right, and Krabbé already notes this near the top of that page: "Sometimes players, especially young amateurs (but even Topalov has done it in a tournament game against Kramnik), will promote to Rook or Bishop when that new piece has to be captured anyway."  But such an underpromotion is not actually better than Queening, which is what the OP asked for.
Answers.UserDisplayName: Noam D. Elkies
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Answers.Text: The [Lasker Trap](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Albin_Countergambit,_Lasker_Trap) is probably the best known example of an underpromotion in opening theory and as the name suggests it has been played by Lasker who certainly meets the criteria of being famous.
Answers.UserDisplayName: blues
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Answers.Text: It's a well-known example but I can't find a game where Lasker played it.  According to https://www.chessjournal.com/lasker-trap/ the line is named for a "consultation simul" game in 1899 where White avoided the trap with 6 Qa4+ (instead of Bxb4); Lasker still won quickly, but there was no promotion, let alone an underpromotion.
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Body: <p>I'm looking for games from famous grandmasters, in which pawn promotion to a rook, a bishop, or a knight is a better move than queen promotion. I tried to Google some, but I couldn't find anything.</p>
  
Comments.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 4.0
Comments.CreationDate: 2023-03-08T16:14:26.627Z
Comments.Text: Very relevant: [Mate in 3 by promoting to a rook and using a loophole](https://chess.stackexchange.com/a/18100/24646)
Comments.UserDisplayName: Stef
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Comments.CreationDate: 2023-03-08T23:28:01.790Z
Comments.Text: A knight is a very different thing but failing him, how could anything else be 'better' than a queen?
Comments.UserDisplayName: Robbie Goodwin
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Comments.CreationDate: 2023-03-09T08:24:02.027Z
Comments.Text: [Essentially the same question on boardgames.SE](https://boardgames.stackexchange.com/questions/6739/), where chess questions were asked before this site came along.
Comments.UserDisplayName: BlueRaja - Danny Pflughoeft
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Comments.CreationDate: 2023-03-09T09:35:50.333Z
Comments.Text: @RobbieGoodwin - would have to very specific, but it would be possible to construct a scenario where promotion to Queen left stalemate, whereas promotion to e.g. rook allowed for a quick mate.
Comments.UserDisplayName: almcnicoll
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Comments.CreationDate: 2023-03-09T14:16:12.607Z
Comments.Text: There will be positions where promoting to a queen produces an instant stalemate.
Comments.UserDisplayName: gnasher729
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Comments.CreationDate: 2023-03-09T22:07:31.373Z
Comments.Text: @gnasher729: Tough to get right, but I think this version is sound: `1n3b2/PPpp2pk/p1p5/8/6r1/6p1/6Pp/7K w - - 0 1`.  Anything other than a8B loses, but a8b leads to an instant draw no matter what Black does.
Comments.UserDisplayName: supercat
Tags: <history><pawn-promotion><famous-games><master-games><famous-moves>
Title: Positions where pawn promotion to queen is worse than to other piece
ThreadText: # Positions where pawn promotion to queen is worse than to other piece
  
  (Asked by: username_0 on 2023-03-07)
  
  I'm looking for games from famous grandmasters, in which pawn promotion to a rook, a bishop, or a knight is a better move than queen promotion. I tried to Google some, but I couldn't find anything.
  
  **Tags:** history, pawn-promotion, famous-games, master-games, famous-moves
  
  > **Comments:**
  > **username_1**: Very relevant: [Mate in 3 by promoting to a rook and using a loophole](https://chess.stackexchange.com/a/18100/24646)  
  > **username_2**: A knight is a very different thing but failing him, how could anything else be 'better' than a queen?  
  > **username_3**: [Essentially the same question on boardgames.SE](https://boardgames.stackexchange.com/questions/6739/), where chess questions were asked before this site came along.  
  > **username_4**: @RobbieGoodwin - would have to very specific, but it would be possible to construct a scenario where promotion to Queen left stalemate, whereas promotion to e.g. rook allowed for a quick mate.  
  > **username_5**: There will be positions where promoting to a queen produces an instant stalemate.  
  > **username_6**: @username_5: Tough to get right, but I think this version is sound: `1n3b2/PPpp2pk/p1p5/8/6r1/6p1/6Pp/7K w - - 0 1`.  Anything other than a8B loses, but a8b leads to an instant draw no matter what Black does.  
  
  ---
  
  ## 3 answers
  
  ### Answer by username_9 on 2023-03-07. Score: 21 | Accepted answer
  
  Knight promotion is reasonably common (though not nearly as much so as Queening); Rook and especially Bishop, much less so, because the only motivation is stalemate avoidance(\*). Tim Krabbé has a collection of underpromotion in serious play. You can judge for yourself how famous the players are in each case: <https://timkr.home.xs4all.nl/chess2/minor.htm>
  
  (\*) In principle one could also underpromote in order to *get* stalemated. This does not seem to have happened yet in actual play, but the same Krabbé page shows several examples of composed studies where such an underpromotion is the only drawing move.
  
  P.S. Further Googling brings up a page that cites a drawing N-promotion in "a game between Michael Adams and Tony Miles at Tilburg on 17 November 1993": <https://www.chesshistory.com/winter/extra/underpromotion.html>
  
  These players probably qualify as sufficiently famous . . .
  
  > **Comments:**
  > **username_10**: There are also players who promote to a bishop [because they can](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=umabaHAGmJQ).  
  > **username_9**: Right, and Krabbé already notes this near the top of that page: "Sometimes players, especially young amateurs (but even Topalov has done it in a tournament game against Kramnik), will promote to Rook or Bishop when that new piece has to be captured anyway."  But such an underpromotion is not actually better than Queening, which is what the OP asked for.  
  > **username_11**: The [Lasker Trap](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Albin_Countergambit,_Lasker_Trap) is probably the best known example of an underpromotion in opening theory and as the name suggests it has been played by Lasker who certainly meets the criteria of being famous.  
  > **username_9**: It's a well-known example but I can't find a game where Lasker played it.  According to https://www.chessjournal.com/lasker-trap/ the line is named for a "consultation simul" game in 1899 where White avoided the trap with 6 Qa4+ (instead of Bxb4); Lasker still won quickly, but there was no promotion, let alone an underpromotion.  
  
  ---
  
  ### Answer by username_7 on 2023-03-08. Score: 8
  
  Here is a list of underpromotions in famous games: <https://www.chess.com/article/view/9-amazing-underpromotions>
  
  Underpromotion to a knight is not that rare, especially in cases where the new knight gives a check or fork. But bishop / rook underpromotions are exotic, usually to avoid a statemate.
  
  
  ---
  
  ### Answer by username_8 on 2023-03-14. Score: 1
  
  <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RptrNJFFJJw>
  
  This is the "trap line" of Albin Counter-Gambit. at 3:10, you can see that promoting to a Knight is better than promoting to a Queen, simply because promoting to Queen is too slow (not to mention it would be lost anyway), and Knight promotion delivers a check which lets you keep the initiative. It's a line that requires a lot of analysis, so if you are rated lower than 1600, you may feel overwhelmed by all the possibilities in this variation.
  
  
  ---
  
  