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Endgame Essentials: Protected Passed Pawn v Two Passed Pawns

Endgame Essentials: Protected Passed Pawn v Two Passed Pawns

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RoobieRoo
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Combinations are generally the result of a number of conspiring tactical motifs like pins, forks, skewers etc  It struck me as rather amazing that simple endgame motifs like the square of the pawn, triangulation, opposition can also be combined in a similar sense in order to form concrete plans and ideas to help us solve quite complex endgame positions.  This is of some importance because calculation itself is often futile and all the imagination in the world cannot overcome inherent features of the chess position and thus we turn to the more technical aspects of endgame play.

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Endgames often require technical knowledge as well as imagination and the ability to calculate

Take by way of example this endgame position below.  How would you go about attempting to find a solution in practical play? Clearly we cannot calculate our way to victory and imagination itself is not enough. In order to solve it we need to utilise all of the above elements.  Furthermore by breaking the position down and subjecting it to scrutiny through the application of logic we can easily manage its constituent parts and in the process come to realise certain unassailable facts which help us to form plans and ideas.

nullEndgame is often the sharpest phase of the game!

 IN ORDER TO SOLVE WE NEED TO KNOW THE FOLLOWING.

  1. The white King will of necessity need to traverse to the King-side to help the two passed pawns promote.
  2. The white King can can travel as far as f4 while safely maintaining a watch on the passed pawn at c4 (we use the square of the pawn to help us ascertain this)
  3. The black king is confined to the Kingside and must remain in front of the two passed pawns.
  4. The black king can not capture the defender of the passed pawns as the other pawn will be too fast to run for promotion.
  5. If we decide to step out of the 'Square of the pawn', we need to calculate if we are able to promote one of our own pawns.
  6. If we are able to promote we should be able to mate the black King.

 

If you are so inclined a short video presentation of the above material is presented. 

My thanks as ever go to the artists and musicians whose material they have so liberally shared and the software engineers who are part of the awesome open source software community for providing the means.

 

Study:

https://lichess.org/study/g9GQdESm

me:

 https://www.youtube.com/user/chessvideos1

https://lichess.org/@/mirsultankhan

 

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