pawn - a pawn can only move ahead to the opponents side of the board. it cannot go back a square. a pawn is placed on each square in front of a player's pieces in the beginning of a game. all of white's pawns start on the second rank. all of black's pawns start on the seventh rank. each player begins with eight pawns. in most cases, a pawn can only move one square up. however, a pawn that has not moved at all during the game can move up by two squares.