King and Pawn Endgames: Part-2 The Opposition

Hello! chess.com friends

Welcome to the second part of our King and Pawn endgame blog series. In this blog we are going to discuss the concept of Opposition in the endgame.

What is Opposition?

          In simple words, opposition refers to the kings facing each other either directly or indirectly by file, rank or diagonal with a set of squares between them.

Now we know what opposition looks like so. let us start working on positions based on them.

Position-1:  The Turn Decides The Game!

Let's start with a simple example to understand the importance of opposition. The turn always decides the result. In this position it is black to play.

We have seen how the position changes if it is black to play now let us discuss for white to play.

The white to play became a draw. So the summary of the first position is Sometimes or almost in most cases the turn decides the game.

Position-2: Training Session! 

We are going to play out this position to get an understanding of the themes.

from the position, we understood that it is important to understand the importance to waiting moves  in this case the move h3. If h4 is played black will get the opposition on time and the game would end in a draw.

Position-3: Is it my turn?

In the above position we have seen that the game ends in a draw if it is black to play but what if it is white to play? it is very obvious that black will win if white moves away from the opposition.

Position-4: 

You can find the whole game below...

Hope you understood the concept of opposition in a better way, you can practice or analyze some training positions  here (My chess.com library).

See you all again with Part-3 of the King and Pawn endgame blog series. Stay tuned! and have a great day ahead!