Pawn - A pawn can only move ahead, to the far end of the board. A pawn is placed in each square on the second row away from each player at the beginning of a game, right in front of all of their other pieces, so each player begins with eight pawns. Most times, a pawn can only move to one square, the square in front of it. But a pawn that has not moved yet in the game can move ahead two squares, or just one. 