Theme of the Month: Knight versus Pawn
Knight versus Pawn Endings – test your knowledge
Test your knowledge of endgame positions Knight vs Pawn with this simple quiz!
Knight against Pawn, Cheron 1927.
A. Cheron’s study from 1927. contains some cooks. We will look at it anyway in order to repeat the drawing method. The drawing method and the knight’s barriers are already explained in examples N-261, N-268 and N-269. Black king must lose time by going around […]
Blatter, A. & Haefele, H. 1944.
Amusing and not too complicated study (Blatter, A. & Haefele, H. 1944.) with a little good-to-know trick.
Selman, 1941.
Our theme of the month for November is Knight versus Pawn. These seemingly simple endings can hide amazing knight maneuvers. Although there are positions where the knight and king can checkmate the enemy king locked-in at the corner of the board, usually a knight has to stop the pawn and save the draw. The […]
Endgame Studies
Study Puzzle of the Day 4/12/2020
Careful! White to move and draw (V. Smyslov, 2000) (First try to solve the study without moving the pieces!)
Study Puzzle of the Day 3/12/2020
Stopping those pawns is not easy at all. White to move and draw (B. Alexander, 2004) (First try to solve the study without moving the pieces!)
PRACTICAL CHESS ENDGAMES ANALYSIS
Fedorov, V. – Arkhipov, S.
White to move. Take the pawn or keep the king away from our kingside? White: Fedorov, V. Black: Arkhipov, S. Year: 1980 Result: 1/2-1/2
Makarichev, S. – Averbakh, Y.
It can be extremely difficult to win an opposite-colored bishops endgame, even with 2 extra pawns. Here is one aesthetic example from the past. Black to move. Event: URS-ch sf Lvov Year: 1973 White: Makarichev, Sergey Black: Averbakh, Yuri Result: 0-1
Kozul Z. – Zaja I.
White dominates in this simple endgame position. Next plan is to pick up black’s last remaining pawn. But Black is to move. White: Kožul, Zdenko WhiteElo: 2590 Black: Žaja, Ivan BlackElo: 2440 Year: 1997 Result: 1/2-1/2
P. Svidler – V. Anand
Here is one well known, older ending from a high class game where White missed a nice winning motif. Do you think you would find it? Event: Dos Hermanas White: Svidler, Peter WhiteElo: 2713 Black: Anand, Viswanathan BlackElo: 2781 Result: 1/2-1/2
Rapport – Jones
At first glance I thought this is easily winning endgame. White has many ideas: Black king is not safe, White always has mating motifs. Probably the main idea is to sacrifice rook on f7 and White wins if after Rf7, Nf7 Kf7 he can play Kd5! with the winning pawn ending. Also black rook […]
Karjakin – Sevian
Famous Troitsky line says this is a draw. White has to stop the g-pawn on g6 and at that moment and of course with knight on g5, White is winning. In this particular position Black should decide which corner is the best for his king and Sevian made wrong decision moving the king toward […]
Zelcic, R – Martinovic, S
During this year’s Croatian Individual Championship we noticed an interesting endgame position. Black is to move. Can you find a win? Event: Croatian Individual Championship White: Zelčić, Robert WhiteElo: 2520 Black: Martinović, Saša BlackElo: 2555 Result: 1/2-1/2
Svidler – Carlsen
Very unpleasant ending to defend but the world champion did it without a mistake. Event: 34th ECC Open 2018 Date: 2018.10.18 White: Svidler, Peter WhiteElo: 2756 Black: Carlsen, Magnus BlackElo: 2839 Result: 1/2-1/2 Conclusion: 1. In the open position with pawns on both sides bishop is usually better than knight. Very often it […]
BASIC MUST-KNOW CHESS ENDGAMES
R-226A (Lucena position)
6.3. Rook and Pawn Versus Rook (Lucena Position) Lucena Position is one of key positions in Rook vs Pawn Endgames. In most cases these endgames are a draw, especially when the pawn is distant from the promotion square. When the pawn is relatively close, the crucial question is if the weaker side’s king will manage […]
RMP-228
Rook and Pawn versus Bishop White’s material advantage is so big that the win is only the matter of elementary technique. When, however, Black blocks the square in front of the passed pawn with both pieces, the way to win is extremely difficult, and sometimes even impossible. Relative positions of kings and pawns are […]
ChessEndgames.net
GM Vlado Kovacevic: Basic Chess Endings
GM Vlado Kovacevic is a member of our team and his great books are a valuable part of this portal. Vlado is a legendary Croatian chess Grandmaster and leading endgame expert. Vlado wrote excellent Chess Endings books in 7 volumes. Most of his work is published in Croatian language and some also in English. […]
ChessEndgames.net Q&A
What is chessendgames.net? Chessendgames.net is a chess portal specialized for endgames. Our intention is to cover everything related to chess endgames. It is designed for both educational approach for those who want to learn the theory and encyclopedic approach for those who want to research particular theme. Who is it for? Everyone interested in […]
How to use ChessEndgames.net?
For beginners who want to learn the basics: We recommend to go through the book Basic Endings by Vlatko Kovacevic. You can read it online in our pgn reader. Each position in the book has links to previous and next position; it should be fairly easy to navigate through the book. For advanced […]
GM Vlado Kovacevic: Chess Endgames
Vlado Kovacevic: Chess Endgames (7 books) World chess literature abounds in numerous works in which the rich chess experience accumulated over the centuries has been systematically presented. Due to a richness of possibilities and the brilliancy of combinations, the attention of most authors has been centered on the theory of openings and the middle game. […]
E-book: Queen Endgames
Q-16A
QUEEN AGAINST TWO PAWNS Two pawns can fight against queens only if they are far advanced and have support of their king. Obviously, most dangerous are connected pawns, while isolated or doubled pawns can rarely save the game. Connected pawns With king support, the biggest chance to draw have pawns on seventh rank, […]
Q-12A
If white king is two steps away from key squares b3 or c2, then it is possible to construct mating net even after Black promotes. It means that winning area is bounded by fifth rank squares form a5 to d5, and e-file squares from e1 to e4. ← Basic EndingsBasic Endings […]
Q-1 (Queen Endings)
QUEEN ENDINGS In this book we will examine all kind of queen endings. Queen is a long-range piece which features great mobility and tactical power since it combines capabilities of rook and bishop. The queen moves in two dimension, she does not have knight’s possibility of jumping over other pieces. Thus, queen’s mobility, speed […]