Introduction to Endgame (The Basics) - Calculation Part VI
So you've mastered opening principles, learned when to ignore them, and improved your calculation in the middle game.
But now you've entered the end game.
How different can it be?
Well, how different are the chicken and the egg?
In the opening and the middle game, most of the pieces are still on the board.
You must go through countless scenarios to find the absolute best move.
Still, there are often many other decent options to choose from.
The endgame has the fewest pieces on the board. There are fewer possibilities for you and your opponent, so there's less of a cushion to make inaccuracies.
You have to be precise in every move, but so does your opponent.
In this portion of the series on calculation, we'll go through the most basic endgames into the most challenging, grueling positions.
Of course, we'll also try to have some fun along the way.
Let's begin!
We'll start with the most basic way we all learn how to win; queen and rook vs. king.
For the record, there are many ways to win in this scenario.
I just wanted to demonstrate the effectiveness of how the rook and queen work together in the most basic form.
The critical concepts are that one of the pieces entirely cuts off where the king can go in one direction while the other puts the king in check, blocking any movement of the king to the sides.
Therefore the black king must run towards the edge of the board.
The queen always guards the rook and is never in danger because the rook always creates a barrier between the king and queen.
The process repeats until the king has nowhere to run, resulting in a checkmate!
Here's another example of how the rook and queen can work together to deliver checkmate.
Like the previous example, these pieces work in perfect harmony.
The main difference is that you don't have to walk down the entirety of the board.
Instead, you can force the king to checkmate using only three rows (or "ranks," as we chess nerds like to call it )
Which of these you use depends entirely on the position and your personal preference, but adding tools to your arsenal is always a good thing.
Let's go to the second type of endgame we all learn; king and queen vs. queen!
When beginners first learn to checkmate with the king and queen, they often learn an easy trick to get the king to the edge.
Get your queen as close to the king as possible without letting him take her.
Then whichever way the king moves, you copy the same motion with your queen until he's on the edge of the board.
Next, without getting in front of your queen, bring the king towards the enemy king until you can easily protect your queen and end the game!
It looks like this:
I have some words of warning for this method, though:
1) If the enemy king gets to the corner, be careful.
Far too many players have made the mistake of taking the "follow the king motion" advice too far.
Once he gets to the corner, if you keep following him with your queen, the enemy king won't be able to move.
When a player can't legally make a move, it's called a stalemate, and the game is a draw!
2) There are other, faster routes to checkmate.
We'll look at more solid moves shortly, but for now, it is easy for beginners to ensure a win with little calculation or thought.
3) If you feel like you've somehow gotten into a position where your queen and their king are just going back and forth between the same spaces, waste a tempo by moving your king, and everything will fall into place.
This usually happens because you're using the queen to put the king in check.
That's entirely against the principle behind this method.
The king has to make a move so, like jiu jitsu, you use his strength against him and allow him to make moves only against his best interest.
No need to force the situation; let him do all the hard work for you!
In the next piece of the series on calculation, I'll explain the fastest way to put a king in checkmate with a king and queen.
We'll discuss how to checkmate with a king and rook vs. a king.
After that, we'll get into more advanced endgames like how to win with two bishops and a bishop & knight vs. a king.
I post new content daily (sometimes a couple of articles each day), so follow me for updates on articles and contest information!
Until next time, keep improving, keep learning, and most of all, enjoy every moment! 
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Check out the rest of my blog to find simple tips you can easily apply to improve the quality of your play!
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P.S. If these topics are too easy for you and you want to skip to significantly more advanced endgames, check out Fayez58's blog post, "Is the King Really a Lazy Piece?"
I learned a few things from it, and I'm sure it can help you too!
