“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
Key squares and the opposition are the basic rules in king and pawn endgames. This video is recapitulation of positions P-12, P-13 and P-14 from Basic Chess Endgames by GM Vlado Kovacevic.
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In the position with the central pawn on the seventh rank, there is an essential difference between the situation with the black king on the shorter and the king on the longer side. Black can be saved only when his king on the shorter side, provided that he can check sideways. The following position […]
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In more complex pawn endings sometimes it is important to know whether two isolated passed pawns can win without the support of the king. In this situation we are helped out by the rule of the “common square”, formulated by A. Studenecki in 1939. The “common square” is a square the length of the […]
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White’s prospects of winning are the best with a rook’s pawn since then the bishop has the least manoeuvring space. When the pawn is on the seventh, the black bishop does not have the short diagonal at all. White always wins provided he can prevent the enemy king from entering into the drawing zone […]
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If we move the pawns one rank back, they will not be able to win without the support of the king. But if the white king is far, the pawns will perish since they will not be able to defend each other. The common square ends on the seventh rank. This means that the […]
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Rook against Bishop and Two Pawns Bishop and Two Pawns are in endgame usually much stronger than a rook. Evaluation of the position mostly depends on pawn structure, distance to promotion square and piece activity. We will divide these endgames accordingly: with connected pawns, with isolated (disconnected) pawns, with doubled pawns. a ) Endings […]
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The most difficult in queen endgames is to realize minimal advantage. Queen and pawn can win against queen if the weaker side’s king is not in front of the pawn and if it is possible to prevent draw by repetition. The best chances to win are with the pawn on the seventh rank, and […]
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In a similar position, White wins even with the king on g4, because he can realize the same mating picture from the other wing. ← Basic EndingsBasic Endings →
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If his king is near enough, White may win in a mating attack after queening the pawn. ← Basic EndingsBasic Endings →
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Without the king’s help, queen cannot win against the bishop’s pawn on the seventh rank either, because Black has stalemate to defend. ← Basic EndingsBasic Endings →
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