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The Secrets of Zugzwang

The Secrets of Zugzwang

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SiddharthYenamandra
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Hello everyone, and welcome back to my chess blog! As we all know, chess is a game of strategy, tactics, and endless possibilities. In this post, I aim to provide you with exciting and insightful content on one of the coolest concepts in chess, zugzwang.

Let's start with one of the most basic examples of zugzwang:

This position is one of the most useful zugzwangs. It can be used to win many endgames due to its simplicity. However it is also very tricky. While trying to set your opponent up for the zugzwang, you may fall into zugzwang yourself. 

Test yourself with the below puzzle. 

Now lets move on to another extremely useful zugzwang. I call it the almost stalemate.
Notice how the black pieces are almost stalemated, but since they still a legal pawn move, they have to give up their g pawn and allow white to queen. Try out the below puzzle. Warning! It is harder than the previous puzzle.

I hope you all are able to use these zugzwangs in your own games to steal a victory from the jaws of defeat! Have you already used zugzwang? Share it in the comments.

Jejda! Tento klub byl zrušen.