piyon

Piyon is the Turkish term for the pawn in chess. The word is widely used in Turkish-language chess instruction, competition reporting, and media, and similar forms appear in other Turkic languages such as Azerbaijani and Uzbek.

In chess, a pawn is the least valuable piece by standard scoring, but it plays a central role in strategy and endgames. Each side starts with eight pawns. White pawns begin on the second rank, Black pawns on the seventh. A pawn moves forward one square, and from its initial position may move two squares forward if both squares are unoccupied. It captures one square diagonally forward. Pawns cannot move backward. When a pawn reaches the farthest rank from its starting side, it is promoted to a more powerful piece, typically a queen, but it may also become a rook, bishop, or knight. En passant is a special capture that can occur when a pawn advances two squares from its starting position and ends adjacent to an opposing pawn; the opposing pawn may capture it as if it had moved one square. Pawns influence the structure of the position and can form passed pawns that are strong in certain endgames.

Etymology: The Turkish term piyon is borrowed from the French pion, reflecting the influence of French chess terminology in Turkish. The plural form is piyonlar.