How to Close Out a Winning Position
Closing Out Winning Positions
Often in chess, it is easier to achieve a winning position than it is to finish the job. There are multiple approaches to utilizing a material advantage. You can force trades of material to create a winning endgame position, or use your material and positional advantage to create a crushing attack on the enemy's king.
Each method has its merits, depending on various characteristics of the position. For instance, if the enemy's king is extremely safe, an all-in attack may be ill-advised. Which method a player uses can also be a stylistic choice. Former World Champion José Capablanca was notorious for his positional play, squeezing his opponent until they cracked in end games. In contrast, Paul Morphy—an unofficial world champion—is most well-known for his sacrificial attacks, leading to many victories in spite of significant material deficit.
Closing in the Mid-Game
A game of my own as black.
White allowed 9. Qa5, pinning the knight to white's king. Black continues with 10. d5! 11. exd5 Nxd5, creating a beautiful central square for the knight, capitalizing further on white's weakness on c3. Black continues to push the white king into the center with checks, including a double check 19. Nb1+. 20. Ke3?! was a blunder, guaranteeing mate in 2. 20. Kc1 left white in a very bad position, but avoids checkmate.
A crushing attack is common following a one-move blunder. In the above game, white blundered 9. Qa5, and his position crumbled from there. White's material deficit was large, but the greater issue was positionally. Black's knight and queen dominated the center and the king side of the board, while all of white's pieces were constrained to the first 2 rows with the exception of the queen. White lost because he was so many tempo—moves—behind.
Closing in the End-Game
Tempo is also critical in many endgame positions, especially king and pawn end games. Even the simplest position, king and pawn vs king, is won or drawn based on tempo. Compare the two positions below.
In this position, black can maintain a draw by remaining in opposition to the enemy king. Opposition is, in essence, where the kings are separated by an odd number of squares. As black's king is close to white's pawn, this position is a theoretical draw.
In contrast, in this position black's king is too far away from white's pawn to contest its promotion. This position is a theoretical victory for white, because he has the tempo advantage. White's pawn is simply unstoppable.
Understanding theoretical endgames is critical for any chess player. A strong grasp of these endgames can be used to simplify a victory, or to eke a draw out of a lost position.
White is up a queen and a pawn for a rook, a significant material advantage. It is tempting to protect your queen, maintaining your material advantage and slowly edge out a win. However, using theoretical endgames, white has a much simpler path to victory.
White sacrifices his queen with Qc6+! skewering black's king to his rook. Black's only possible moves are Kg7 and Kg5, lest he leave his rook unprotected. After Qxh6+ Kxh6, white's b pawn and eventual victory is unstoppable.
Whether you follow the creed of Capablanca or Morphy, remember that a material advantage is a means to an end. Morphy's most famous game "The Opera House Game"—perhaps the most famous chess game period—exemplifies this concept perfectly.
Morphy wins after sacrificing a knight, a bishop, a rook, and a queen for 2 pawns, a knight, a rook, and checkmate. A net loss of 12 points of material.
The similarities between Morphy's mid-game offensives and Capablanca-esque endgames become more apparent as one understands the reasonings behind their play. After 9. Bg5, black's position is extremely difficult to play. The queen on e7 blocks the development of black's dark squared bishop, and the knight on b8 cannot be developed without blundering the pawn on b7—Nd7 blocks the queen's vision of the pawn, allowing for white to capture the pawn, fracturing black's tenuous defense. Modern computer engines suggest Na6, but this is not a very likely move for a human to make.
Morphy utilizes his bishop pair to pin black's pieces. The bishop on g5 dominated black's knight on f6 as well as the queen on e7. With 10. cxb5?! 11. Bxb5+! Nbd7, black has been forced into another pin.
Morphy completes the game with the now-famous mating combination, with a brilliant queen sacrifice 16. Qb8+ Nxb8 17. Rd8#.
The reasoning behind each methodology of closing out a chess game echo one another. Regardless of how you may choose to play, studying each style of chess will give you a stronger grasp of the game as a whole—and prepare you for the styles of your opponents.