In Sovereign Chess, pawns move as they do in traditional chess, albeit with a different perspective. Unlike traditional chess, where a pawn's horizon is the other side of the board, in Sovereign Chess, all pawns move toward the center of the board, the area marked by the 4 x 4 square with a black outline. From that central square, brown lines help the player see the path to the board's exact center.
Figure 5: Possible Moves by Pawns at h3, k4, or l7
Pawns may move (when not capturing) either vertically or horizontally, but only closer to the brown lines. For most pawns that are not blocked, these means that two moves are possible. In the Figure at the right, the White pawn at k4 can move to either j4 or k5, as both are closer to one of the brown lines. However, the pawn at h3 can only move to h4--moving across the brown line to i4 would only leave it equidistant to the center, not closer. If a player controls the Violet pawn at l7, it can clearly move to k7 or l8.
The concept of pawn movement in Sovereign Chess is that such moves are non-invertible--that is, they can not be reversed by a future move. This is a key feature in traditional chess as well, which is why any pawn movement resets a count for possible stalemate.
Figure 6: Possible Capturing Moves by Pawns at h3 or l4
Pawn capture is similar in concept to traditional chess as well, with the provision that such capture puts the pawn closer to at least one of the brown lines. It is fine if the capture leaves it further away from the other brown line.
The White pawn at l4 can capture a piece located at k5, as it moves it closer to both brown lines. However, it can also capture pieces located at k3 and m5, as each square is closer to one of the brown lines. The only diagonal capture it can not make is a piece at m3.
Note that the White pawn on h3 can capture pieces on either g4 or i4, as both squares are closer to the brown line between ranks 8 and 9 of the board. Also, if Black were in control of the Green pieces, the pawn on m2 could capture the White rook located on l1, which would actually place it on the first row of the board. We will refer to such pieces in Rule #7...