“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
With the black king in the corner, the Nf5-Kf6 set up forces to win. Due to specific features of human memory, many perceive this as a new situation, but still it is nothing else than the Lg6 Rc8 set up, copied along the a1-h8 diagonal. In other words, instead of leading the mating attack […]
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Black to move cannot avoid losing the game, although because of pinning the knight, he can make lots of problems for White. ← Basic EndingsBasic Endings →
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White has real winning chances only if black king is on the edge of the board. With the black king in the corner, the forced win can be achieved also with the Ne6-Kf6 set up. This was also found by Centurini in 1850, but his analysis have later been considerably improved. While White to […]
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Even more beautiful is the study by F. Saavedra dating from 1895, which point out the unsurpassed depths of chess play. ← Basic EndingsBasic Endings →
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Conversion of advantage is much more complex with the pawns of the weaker side being blocked only on the fourth or the fifth rank. The winning strategy is again based on stalemating the opponent. We should note from the beginning that this is possible only if the king of the weaker side cannot penetrate […]
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Although in similar positions with pawns on the rook’s file Black may put up a strong resistance, White, as a rule, wins provided his king is near enough. ← Basic EndingsBasic Endings →
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It is interesting that a mating situation is also possible with pawns separated by a file provided that the rook’s pawn restrains the enemy king. One of those positions was analysed by K. Jaenisch as early as 1837 ← Basic EndingsBasic Endings →
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← Basic EndingsBasic Endings →
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In exceptional cases knight can force a win against connected pawns if the enemy king is shut in the corner by its own rook’s pawn. ← Basic EndingsBasic Endings →
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When the enemy king is locked-in by its own pawn on the rim of the chess-board, the knight can sometimes spin a mating net. We have already seen one such simple position in the introductory example 263. A somewhat more complex case is shown in a study by A. Troitzky. ← Basic […]
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