“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
Event: “43rd Olympiad 2018” Site: “Batumi GEO” White: “Vidit, Santosh Gujrathi” WhiteElo: “2711” Black: “L’Ami, Erwin” BlackElo: “2639” Result: “1/2-1/2” One of the most interesting things about queen endings is that the queen with g and h pawns versus queen cannot win with the best defence. Of course, in practical game, various factors such […]
Continue Reading
Correctly positioned bishop – along the b1-h7 diagonal – draws even when the h-pawn is on the fifth rank! This has been known ever since the duel Morphy – Loewenthal ( London, 1858 ) . White to move cannot win since his h-pawn had gone too far! ← Basic EndingsBasic Endings →
Continue Reading
Black to move could also not avoid losing because he would not be able to prevent the advance of the pawn. ← Basic EndingsBasic Endings →
Continue Reading
In case of cutting off along the file, in the positions with a central pawn, the important fact is whose side the black king is on, and how many files away from the pawn. If the king is on the shorter side, White wins only when it is cut off two files away from […]
Continue Reading
Cutting off along the sixth rank is even more efficient because the pawn is faster to avoid the opponent king’s control. White to move wins even when the black rook has already taken b-file. ← Basic EndingsBasic Endings →
Continue Reading
Of great importance for tournament play are the motifs of cutting off the black king from the promotion square. First, let us examine cutting off along the seventh rank, with an example from the study by A. Cheron ( 1944 ) . Black to move easily draws with 1…Rc8! blocking the white king’s passage […]
Continue Reading
When in similar positions, the black king is on the shorter side, White cannot win. As opposed to position where the black king is on f7 (example 323) , here White to move cannot win because the black rook has enough space on his right side. ← Basic EndingsBasic Endings →
Continue Reading
As we have seen in example 318.b, Black to move draws because on the shorter side, the rook has enough space to check sideways. ← Basic EndingsBasic Endings →
Continue Reading
When the white king is in front of the pawn on the fifth rank, White has some prospects to win only if the black king is on the longer side. The critical position with the rook behind the central pawn was examined by Kling and Horwitz long ago, in 1851. Evaluation of the position depends […]
Continue Reading
Black to move draws most simply according to Philidor, with the sixth rank defence ← Basic EndingsBasic Endings →
Continue Reading