King's pawn

The king's pawn is a pawn on the e-file, the vertical column on which the kings begin the game. In the initial position, White's pawn is on e2 and Black's is on e7. Modern writing also calls them e-pawns.

The name belongs to a traditional system that relates each file to the piece behind it at the start. The d-file gives the queen's pawn, the c- and f-files hold bishop pawns, and the b- and g-files hold knight pawns.

'King's pawn' does not mean every pawn on the kingside. The f-, g-, and h-pawns are on that side but have different names. The label also describes a file; if a pawn captures onto another file, a location-based description can change.