Triangulation - In a Nutshell

Many endgames involve tactics you need to know from the back of your mind, like opposition, which is widely known from the king and pawn vs. king endgame, or zugzwang, where you force your opponent to lose the game with one move, which is forced.

For clarification, I'll put down the definitions of opposition and zugzwang below.

opposition: a situation where the two kings are two squares apart from each other                                            on the same rank or file; since kings cannot go beside each other, there is a                                      mutual barrier in between the two kings

 zugzwang: in German meaning to "compulsion to move", a scenario where one player                                       is forced to be in a disadvantage because of their responsibility to make a                                         move

Now, another endgame tactic that is crucial in endgame play is known as triangulation, which is an endgame tactic where you force your opponent into zugzwang.

An example of such a position featuring triangulation is shown here:

In the diagram above, white has many legal moves that win here, but white wants the fastest possible win. So, white used triangulation to force its opponent into zugzwang and white went on to win the game. I will explain it further a bit later on, so you'll see white's idea of forcing zugzwang.

In this blog, I'll explain what triangulation is, along with a few examples along the way for you to try out this endgame tactic.

What is Triangulation?

Stating the definition of triangulation one more time, triangulation is an endgame tactic to try to force your opponent into zugzwang, therefore winning you the game.

An example of this tactic being used was in the last diagram. I'll annotate and explain all about triangulation there.

Key Moves:

1. Kd4: Starts the presumably triangle movement while trying to make black lose a tempo by forcing zugzwang, as well as opposition.

2. Ke5: Though it fends off white for now, not for long. Triangulation is super important. One wrong move, white's winning position could become a draw, a relief for black. Ke5 forces black to play Kd7, the only move that protects the c6 square, but not for long. Any other move white easily wins with c6.

3. Kd5: Opposition forces black to leave c6 behind, losing tempo and black no longer controls c6. White can push the pawn to c6, and the endgame is winning for white.

Finish off the endgame with this puzzle:

That's triangulation squished into a short article. By now, the importance of opposition and accurate play forcing your opponent to go into zugzwang is key when playing winning endgames. Some endgames might not require this technique, but with some knowledge of triangulation, it might come in handy later on.

Some Examples

Now into the examples section, I will be sharing three examples of triangulation that I found through the Internet. Some feature famous chess players, such as Anatoly Karpov and Mikhail Tal! Two of these examples are only kings and pawns, while the last one has rooks on the board.

1. Lev Alburt vs. Garry Kasparov, 1978

This 1978 match between these two players witnessed Kasparov using triangulation against Alburt, making him resign after Kasparov used this tactic to its advantage.

How did Kasparov use triangulation to his advantage?

One of the moves to the solution, Kf3, was a key move for Kasparov in that endgame. Any other move would've had the game result in a draw. If Kasparov instead played Kf5, for instance...

There would be no way black would be able to win the h3 pawn and promote the pawn to a queen as white's king prevents black's king from doing so.

2. Alexei Shirov vs. Alexander Grischuk, analysis from a game from 2000

This example between the Latvian-Spanish and the Russian had the kings far apart rather than kings a few squares apart from each other. Still, using the tactic of triangulation is possible in the puzzle below...

This one may have been a bit harder, but if that game continued how the puzzle went, Shirov's sharp and precise play could've led the way to a win for himself.

Now, these past two examples have been king and pawn endgames, only involving those two pieces. What about adding a couple of rooks on the board...

3. Veselin Topalov vs. Anatoly Karpov, 2002

To keep in mind, it's possible to use triangulation with other pieces, such as a queen shown in this example of a queen vs. rook endgame, with a bishop in a match between Fischer and Taimanov in the Candidates in 1971, and having a rook in endgames like the one below, it's possible. Though, it's not possible for a knight to do so.

In the endgame below, white to move. The goal to win the endgame is to get to this position, but it has to be black to move. 

The question is answered as whose responsibility to make a move is crucial in a game like chess. In chess, it's super important that you think ahead and have different plans depending on what your opponent does as the game is really well studied by many great people of the past. An example being the great Philidor position studied by the man, François-André Danican Philidor himself.

That is it for Triangulation - In a Nutshell. As always, I'm willing to take feedback from my thumbnail, images, content, etc. I'm always looking to improve my blogging in the right direction. 

I also wanted to give a shoutout to BlogChamps for motivating me to blog more. They have a great competition if you're interested in blogging, great members, great judges, and much more. I do highly recommend you join and spectate the competition going on. There are many talented bloggers in BlogChamps, so check them out here: https://www.chess.com/club/blogchamps

Overall, I hope you liked this post, hope you learned a thing or two, and have a good rest of your day/night!

-Ryan