SSC CGL 2025 Tier-I · 19 September 2025, Shift 3 · General Awareness · Question 8 of 100

We transcribed this text from the pictures on a candidate's response sheet for this shift; the answer is the key SSC colour-marked on that sheet. Solution last reviewed 11 September 2026.

Where this paper and its answers come from

SSC does not publish CGL question papers or a public answer key. From 2025 the candidate response sheet prints every question and option as a picture, so the text here is transcribed from those pictures for this shift and checked against them independently; where the layout carries meaning, the picture is shown as well. Each answer is the key SSC colour-marked on that sheet. SSC released a tentative key for challenge and later its final one, both only to candidates behind a login, and the sheet does not say which of the two it carries. The solutions are written by UnlockIAS.

Consider the statements about pawn promotion in chess: 1) A pawn can promote to any piece except king or pawn on reaching the other side. 2) Pawns can only promote to previously captured pieces. Which of the statements is/are correct?

(a)Only 1 is Correct
(b)Only 2 is Correct
(c)1 and 2 are Correct
(d)Neither 1 nor 2 are Correct

Answer

Why

Correct — A. Check each statement against the FIDE Laws of Chess.

Statement 1 is correct. A pawn reaching the rank furthest from its start must be exchanged for a queen, rook, bishop or knight of its own colour, so king and pawn are excluded.

Statement 2 is wrong. The Laws say the choice 'is not restricted to pieces that have been captured previously', so a second queen is legal. Statement 1 alone → option (a).

Why the others are wrong

(b)
Only 2 is Correct — Statement 2 is the false one. The FIDE Laws state that the promotion choice is not restricted to pieces captured earlier, so a player may hold two queens.
(c)
1 and 2 are Correct — Both cannot be correct, because statement 2 contradicts the FIDE rule: promotion is not limited to previously captured pieces.
(d)
Neither 1 nor 2 are Correct — Statement 1 is true: the pawn becomes a queen, rook, bishop or knight, never a king, and it cannot stay a pawn. So 'neither' fails on the first statement.

Concept

Promotion happens when a pawn reaches the far rank. The move is not complete until the pawn is exchanged, on that square, for a new queen, rook, bishop or knight of the same colour.

A queen is the natural choice because it is the strongest piece. Choosing a rook, bishop or knight instead is called underpromotion.

Statement 1 says a pawn 'can' promote. Under the Laws it must be exchanged on reaching the far rank, but the set of choices the statement gives is right, so the statement holds.

Key facts

A pawn reaching the far rank must be exchanged for a queen, rook, bishop or knight of the same colour.
The choice is not restricted to pieces captured earlier (FIDE Laws of Chess, Article 3.7).
A pawn cannot promote to a king or remain a pawn.
Promotion to a piece other than a queen is called underpromotion.

Study next

En passant captureCastling and the conditions that forbid itStalemate and the fifty-move rule

Common traps

Assuming a player can only get back a captured piece: FIDE allows a second queen while the first is still on the board.
Rejecting statement 1 because of the word 'can': the pawn must be exchanged, but the list of choices it gives is correct.

Here a chess rule is tested as two statements. Pawn movement is asked at 19 Sep 2024, 12:30, GA Q.12 (keyed The Pawn), and the piece that moves only diagonally at 25 Sep 2024, 09:00, GA Q.4 (keyed The Bishop).

Related PYQs

No directly related past PYQ was found.