The pawn (♙♟) is the weakest and most numerous piece in the game of chess, representing infantry, or more particularly armed peasants or pikemen. Each player begins the game with eight pawns, one on each square of the second rank from the view of the player. In algebraic notation the white pawns start on a2, b2, c2, ..., h2, while the black pawns start on a7, b7, c7, ..., h7.
Pawns are differentiated by the files in which they currently stand, for example one speaks of "white's f-pawn". Sometimes, however, pawns are still referred to using descriptive notation, e.g. "white's king's bishop's pawn". It is also common to refer to a rook pawn, meaning any pawn on the a file or h file; a knight pawn, any pawn on the b file or g file; a bishop pawn, which is any pawn on the c or f file, a queen's pawn (on the d file), and a king's pawn (on the e file). Also, a central pawn is a pawn on either the d or e file.