The Best Method to Master Endgames!
Learning ideas from the endgame (and not only from the endgame) is very important. Little by little, idea by idea, you get stronger. Just like penny by penny, you build something big. Master these ideas, like shouldering, and you improve step by step.
To improve your practical endgame skills, do this:
- Go to a place with a lot of examples - like chess.com > Learn > Practice > Drills.
- Pick a position, read the hint(s), and set it up vs a computer (but don’t choose the strongest one - pick one about 500 rating points above you).
- Try to beat the computer using that hint.
- If you win - go to the next one. If not - think what was good, what went wrong, and try again until you win.
- You won’t become a master of theoretical endgames this way - but you’ll win practical ones more often.
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Even the longest journey starts with a single step. This is your first practical endgame idea. One idea may not seem like much, but stack them up - that’s how every strong player was made.
Can you find a winning path for White?
Shouldering is a technique where one king blocks the other king's path - basically "pushing" it away from key squares. It's often used in pawn endgames to stop the opponent’s king from getting close to a passed pawn or an important square
In chess, geometry can be surprising. The path f7–e6–d5–c6–b7 is just as long as f7–e7–d7–c7–b7: 4 moves in both cases. In real life, the diagonal route would clearly be longer, but on a chessboard, both paths take the same time.
