“In order to improve your game, you must study the endgame before everything else, for whereas the endings can be studied and mastered by themselves, the middle game and the opening must be studied in relation to the endgame.” – José Raúl Capablanca
In view of the previous analysis it can be concluded that in a similar position with pawns on g-file and the king on h-file, Black loses for two main reasons: a ) on the shorter defending diagonal, the bishop is short with space and b ) if White realizes g6, Black will not be […]
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With movable pawns on the same file, Black has much better prospects to draw because by placing the pawn on the square of the bishop’s opposite-colour, he will excellently control space, not allowing for attack on his pawn. Typical position you can see in the following instructional example. The bishop and the pawn co-operate […]
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If Black’s rim pawn is blocked on the fourth rank, Black loses when his king is blocked next to his own pawn by cutting off along the c-file! The following position was created in the Bellon – Tatai game ( Rome 1977 ) . White to move wins by driving his opponent into zugzwang! […]
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Black is lost if his king is cut off along the c-file! The following position is the mirror image of the endgame which was played, although with opposite colours, in a famous Rubinstein – Salwe game ( Prag, 1909 ) . Rubinstein, one of the biggest experts in the theory of endgames at the […]
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When the black pawn is fixed on the fifth rank, the situation for White is much more unfavourable for two important reasons. The first is that after the exchange of the bishop and the pawn, one more tempo is needed to occupy the crucial b7 square and to prevent the lifesaving Kc8. This is […]
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In the similar positions with the rim pawns, Black has some better drawing chances. But, if the black pawn is fixed on the sixth rank, nothing changes either in the evaluation of the position or in the winning plan. ← Basic EndingsBasic Endings →
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When in Rook and pawn versus Bishop and pawn ending Black has a pawn blocked on the fifth rank, the win is complicated. In order to capture the pawn and convert into a pawn ending, White has to prepare by vertically cutting off the opponent’s king from the pawn so that it could not […]
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