“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
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 […]
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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 […]
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White is better because this is one of classic positions where the bishop is better than the knight. The pawns are on both flanks and what is most important white king is closer to the center than black king. Of course with best play Black shouldn’t lose but it’s not an easy job when […]
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Very complex rook endgame. White is a pawn up but it’s not easy to move his kingside pawns. Black has a threat …Rd2 and White has to think about it immediately. Event: Istanbul ol (Men) 40th Date: 2012.08.31 White: Solak, Dragan WhiteElo: 2599 Black: Saric, Ivan BlackElo: 2638 Result: 1/2-1/2
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This is a study-like pawn endgame. The winning method is famous and that is one of very important motifs in pawn endgames and its name is shouldering or bodycheck! Event: German League 2018. White: Genov, Petar WhiteElo: 2428 Black: Stevic, Hrvoje BlackElo: 2588 Result: 1/2-1/2
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When the king of the weaker side cannot simultaneously defend both isolated pawns, the position is usually lost, especially if the counter-play on the enemy pawns comes belatedly. Such a case is shown in the ending of the game Serper – Suba, Hastings, 1990/91.
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When the enemy king is far and there is no possibility of directly attacking its pawns, sometimes the win may be achieved by a pawn sacrifice in order to enable a quicker penetration of the king. A nice example on the theme is shown in a study by G. Mattison, 1929.
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Event: “34th ECC Open 2018” White: “Blomqvist, Erik” WhiteElo: “2499” Black: “Svidler, Peter” BlackElo: “2756” Result: “0-1” When I first saw this ending, at first glance I thought Black was winning. White rook is very passive and he has no future, and also the white king is cut off along e-file. But the truth, […]
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Event: “27th TCh-CRO Div 1a 2018” White: “Georgiev, Kiril” WhiteElo: “2590” Black: “Beliavsky, Alexander G” BlackElo: “2540” Result: “0-1” It is clear at first glance that White is close to a draw. The most important question which White should ask himself is how he needs to set up his pieces. The pawns are on […]
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When the bishop is actively positioned on the a1-h8 diagonal and obstructs the approach to the g-pawn, i.e. threatens with a back-rank attack on the opponent’s pawns, White will have to show the highest skill to realize the win. As an illustration, let us see the Radev – Pribyl endgame ( Tbilisi, 1971 ). […]
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