The Principles Of Bullet Endgames

I apologize for the delay on a post. I am still working on my Opposite Side Castling Attacks post, but have found no good games to share. In the meantime, I have decided to work on this one, and other Bullet posts, since I have a higher rating in Bullet than in other modes. Now, let’s start this blog:

In the endgame, the 2 main objectives are to promote your Pawns and prevent the enemy Pawns from promoting. That is the basics of endgames. Of course, there are many factors that go into endgames, such as pawn structure and material advantage. This post will not go into an overview of that.

Instead, I will focus on the endgames that happen in Bullet, where there is another major factor: The clock.

There is a limited timer in Bullet, so not only are players trying to get and keep an advantage, they are also trying to not run out of time. This makes Bullet games different from regular games.

Because of a lack of time, the opening consists of many premoves. The endgame does too. That is what will be discussed.

While Bullet is different from Classical, many endgame principles are similar. In many games, the endgame has been reached before the timer is down to 10 seconds. The objective to promote the Pawns still remains. To that end, many of the original principles still apply, such as where to place your King.

A bad move is to have the King behind the Pawn, as that often leads to this infamous position:

So you have the King up front instead:

This is the simplest endgame.

Now, we get to the part that separates Bullet endgames from other endgames: The clock.

To avoid flagging, the main course of action on both sides is to premove.

A good way to prevent your opponent from premoving is by giving an unexpected check, or moving a piece to a row, column, or diagonal such that moving there is illegal for your opponent, and they have to take time to make another move:

I am dealing with Standard here, and not Capture The King. If this was Capture The King, the King will often move right into the attack due to premoving.

Pawn promotions are often premoved, and often, the opponent's response is also premoved. The danger with premoving Pawn promotions is ending up in a stalemate due to premoving:

Analyzing all this gives us the basic principles of:

• Work to promote Pawns like in other time controls
• Force your opponent to make moves that aren't premoves to make them waste time
• Watch your premoves to avoid stalemate

I hope you learned something from this basic coverage, and let me know if you want me to blog more about Bullet, or go back to tactics. Put your suggestions in the comment section instead of messaging me them so that they do not get buried.

Hope you learned something

— ChessPawn921