Typical Rook Endgame Mistakes
Endgames should be simple. Right? With a majority of pieces removed from play, calculation becomes minimal. Wrong!
At one time or another, you may have found yourself on the losing side of a winning endgame. Perhaps you've been fortunate enough to pull a draw out of a lost position. In either case, the final result was probably due to lack of preparation by you or your opponent.
Rook endgames always set the stage for this type of deception. In fact, famous structures like the Saavedra, the Philidor and the Lucena positions all arise from missed opportunities in rook endgames.
This series will cover common blunders seen by GM Melik Khachiyan. Learn what to do and what to never ever ever do.
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Typical Rook Endgame Mistakes I: Short & Long In this video, Melik displays Lasker's Defensive method. Khachiyan explains the importance of having your king on the short side and rook on the long side of the enemy pawn. Did you know that Triangulation was a Rook Endgame concept? You do now!
Typical Rook Endgame Mistakes II: Lasker's Defense Although the name of this defensive idea may be debatable (Is it Lasker's or Philidor's?), the need to learn it is not! Today Khachiyan provides us with another example of what happens when even the best players in the world (*cough* Magnus Carlsen *cough*) misunderstand and therefore misplay basic rook endings. Memorize this pattern and and ascend to greater heights.
Typical Rook Endgame Mistakes III Khachiyan continues to enlighten us as to what the most typical mistakes are (by both amateurs and professionals alike) in rook endgames! Be ready for battle in these incredibly tricky, yet incredibly common chess endings!
Typical Rook Endgame Mistakes IV: Vancura Khachiyan brings us a two part lesson. We start with a "blunderfest" between GMs Fischer and Gligoric. Second, we have one of the more advanced defensive methods when dealing with an enemy corner pawn. The "Vancura Defense" describes a technique in which the rook can defend by checking laterally.
Typical Rook Endgame Mistakes V: vs F- & H-Pawns! Khachiyan gives us two examples of how to lose against the "theoretically drawn" rook and bishop pawns. He then however offers the much more important guide to using the fundamental, thematic, and easy-to-understand drawing technique. Enjoy this lecture and draw your rook endings!
Typical Rook Endgame Mistakes VI: Lasker Abandoned! In this short, in your face, video lesson you will witness a common mistake: valuing a pawn over the desired result of the game!
Typical Rook Endgame Mistakes VII: Rook vs Pawns We have another "quickie" filled with mistakes for your entertainment. It isn't all a laugh though as Melik makes some very instructive comments about the psychology of such positions and the "Xs and Os" that go with it. "Please don't put your King on the same file as your furthest advanced pawn," begs Melik. Listen to the man!
Typical Rook Endgame Mistakes VIII: Outside Passer! Another Super-GM blows a theoretical draw! This video lecture contains arguably one of the most practical lessons of your chess life. Understanding that not all rook endings are drawn when your opponent possesses an outside passer is perhaps even more important than knowing how to win the endgame. Pay special attention to Black's king maneuver to c5...
Typical Rook Endgame Mistakes IX: Rook & Pawn For advanced players looking to further their endgame knowledge of ideas and technical positions, Khachiyan's series continues to be solid gold! This video lecture transitions into the famous "Reti zugzwang."
Typical Rook Endgame Mistakes X: Bishop Fortress Learn this highly useful theoretical draw and rule the world! Well, maybe you won't rule the world, but at least you won't blunder away a drawn ending like this grandmaster did! Khachiyan continues his extremely practical series on commonly made mistakes in all types of endgames involving rooks. Here we see Black's "unbreakable" fortress broken by "self-destruction."
