Meaning & use
underpromotion
In chess, the choice to promote a pawn reaching the last rank to a piece other than a queen.
See it in a sentence
The grandmaster surprised everyone with an underpromotion to a knight, forcing checkmate.
Underpromotion is rare, but it can avoid a stalemate that promoting to a queen would cause.
A note on using this word
Underpromotion is a specialized chess term; outside chess, the word is essentially unused.
Words with a similar meaning
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