A pawn majority is having more pawns than your opponent on one wing — for example three against two on the queenside — which can be mobilised to make a passed pawn.
When the pawns are split unevenly, you usually end up with a majority on one wing and the opponent with one on the other. Each majority is a resource: advanced correctly, it can produce a passed pawn that the enemy’s smaller group can’t stop.
The rule of thumb is to advance the majority by pushing the pawn that has no enemy pawn opposite it — the ‘candidate’ — first, so you create a passer without letting your own pawns get blockaded.
A queenside majority is especially prized in endgames when the kings are castled kingside: you can create a passed pawn far from both kings, forcing the enemy king on a long, often losing, journey to deal with it.
Advance it to create a passed pawn, pushing the candidate — the pawn with no enemy pawn directly in front of it — first so your own pawns don’t get blocked.
If both kings are on the kingside, a queenside passed pawn forms far from the kings, so the defending king has a long way to travel to stop it.
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