A passed pawn is a pawn that has advanced beyond all of the enemy pawns, meaning it has no enemy pawns in front of it or on adjacent files that can stop it from being promoted. Passed pawns are important because they can be promoted to another piece, such as a knight, bishop, rook, or queen, and they are especially dangerous in the endgame because there are fewer pieces that can try to stop them. Passed pawns are also important because they are usually in enemy territory where they can control potentially important squares in the opponents camp. Since passed pawns have no opposing pawns to stop them, the threat of queening often forces the opponent to use a piece to block or capture the pawn, wasting valuable time and immobilizing material or possibly even losing it.