What You Should Know: Endgames (ratings 1000-1399)

• Winning a Minor Piece and Pawn Up
  
• Winning with a Queen vs. Bishop
• Winning with a Queen vs. Knight
• Drawing Using Direct Opposition
• Winning Using Direct Opposition

Winning a Minor Piece and Pawn Up

1200-1399

• Other Oppositions
• Basic King and Pawn Endgames
• Winning a Minor Piece and Pawns vs. Pawns Endgame
• Win or Not?

Distant Opposition

Direct Opposition is when there is one square in-between the two Kings, AND it's your opponent's turn. Distant Opposition is when there is an odd number of squares in-between the two Kings, but more than just 1 square (so either 3 or 5 squares in-between); AND again it must be your opponent's turn. Let's go over a few examples:

 White has just played Kf1-g2. Can you draw with Black, using distant opposition?

Proof that King and Pawn Endgames are great for calculation/visualization skills:

*Please do yourself a favor and try to solve the following puzzle in your head before attempting with a board*

White to play and win

White to play and win

Black to play and at least draw

White said they could win with 1. Nxf5 in the above diagram. Is this true?

Queen: Win

Rook: Win

Bishop: Draw

Knight: Draw

Pawn: Draw (Unless it promotes)

2 (different colored) Bishops: Win

1 Bishop, 1 Knight: Win (but it is quite difficult)

2 Pawns: Win

2 Knights: Draw

The 1000-1399 rated player should be working on their King and pawn endgame skills; especially the different kinds of opposition. This is not because King and pawn endgames are the easiest kinds, (in fact some of the toughest endgames are King and pawn endgames) it's because you must be armed with enough King and pawn endgame knowledge before you exchange off your pieces. A King and pawn endgame is always just a few exchanges away! Also King and pawn endgames are great for developing your calculation and visualization skills, since there are less possible moves you must be able to calculate the whole lines out (because your opponents will be doing the same thing!).

Again, if you have any endgames from your own games (especially if you're in the rating group 1000-1399) that you'd like to go over, feel free to comment them directly to this blog. Also if you feel like I should have included an endgame idea into this rating group, also comment with your suggestion. Thanks and hope you enjoyed!