8 most important endings in the world
Hello, many people are worried about endings, they just hate to study this phase of the game, but at the same time they know it is really important if they want to make progress in chess. In this post I will show you what I think are the 8 most basic and common endings.
This is going to help you for sure, you will increase your knowledge, your strength and your rating at the same time, and the best thing is that you will not need to read a whole book, you just must understand this post and practice a little (by the way, you can go to https://www.chess.com/drills/endgame-fundamentals to practice many basic endings, like these ones I present here), and you will have an acceptable level in endings. I will not study them very deeply today (maybe if you want in some next post I will) but I will teach you the main ideas.
Anyway do not settle for this, the more endings and the better you know them, the stronger you will be.
- King & Pawn vs King (Basic)
(Click here to see my video about this ending)
In this ending we assume the weak side King in front of the pawn. I like to divide it in 3 different cases:
Strong side King behind or beside the pawn:
It is always going to be a draw.
Strong side King one square in front of the pawn:
It will be a draw or a winning (for every pawn excluding rook pawn) depending who has the opposition
Strong side King some squares in front of the pawn:
It is always going to be a winning (for every pawn excluding rook pawn).
- King & 2 Pawns vs King
We are going to look at 3 different cases:
When 2 pawns are connected:
When 2 pawns are separated by a file:
When 2 pawns are separated by 2 files:
- King & Pawns (Mined Square)
A very interesting and instructive ending. Here we have:
Opposition: a side has the opposition when the king comes in front to the other king with a square in the middle
Zugzwang: when a side has to move but all the moves are just making the position worse
6th Rank Principle: in King and Pawn endings, if the strong side King comes to 6th rank before the pawn, the ending is winning, no matter who has the opposition, for every pawn excluding rook pawn.
Click here to see my video about Mined Squares
- King & Queen vs King & Pawn
We are not going to look here at the rook and bishop pawns, but you need to know that in those cases if the strong side King is not near enough, the result will be a draw.
For more information about this engame look at this video in my channel.
- King & Pawn (rook) & Bishop vs King
For rook pawn (only for rook pawn), if the bishop runs over different squares to the promotion square, and at the same time, the weak side King controls (or is able to control) the promotion square, then the result will be draw.
By knowing this basic ending, black can get a draw in next position by a spectacular idea.
- King & Pawn (rook) & Knight vs King
- Philidor
If you have a pawn in disadvantage, and you can get this basic position, then you are safe, this is a draw:
- Lucena
If you have a pawn in advantage, and you can get this basic position, it will be great for you; you will be winning (for every pawn excluding rook pawn):
And some other good and very instructive stuff about endgames:
If you liked this post, or if you have any question, leave a comment. And if you think it is going to be helpful for your friends, share it with them.
