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Hi again, Today I am going to talk about probably one of my favourite positional factors: the outpost. I was unfortunately unable to find good games I played with or against some other types of pawn structures (maybe I might just look at closed centres and open centres as this), but often the outpost appears due to a weak square in the opponent's territory, and the best way to do it is to "plant" a piece onto that square, especially with a pawn supporting it. Often, a N is the piece which uses this outpost, but before we go into making an outpost, let's look into why it is such a great positional factor. It is hard to find any weaknesses with an outpost, because often when your opponent captures the outposted piece, it could often just get replaced by another one with even less options into removing it! It also is sometimes just completely losing to capture the piece while the supporting pawn could capture and become a passed pawn. The best way to weaken outposts is often to undermine the defending pawns or defending pieces, but even so, it is hard to do so. So, what are the benefits of an outpost then? In my view, outposts are just a completely one-sided positional factor for the following reasons: 1. The outposted piece restricts enemy movement 2. The piece also may prepare various useful squares to crush your opponent 3. Sometimes you can even create a passed pawn with outposts (sometimes, they are forced to take it) In the position below, first identify black's weakest square in the position. Then find a way to exploit it: As you can see, outposts are a great positional advantage to have as shown in the position above. However, do be wary of it getting undermined, but that is probably the only possible disadvantage if there is any.

(NOTE: this is a very highly summarised lesson, which if I were to really dig into would make a really really long lesson. As with all these lessons, and this especially, it has been highly summarised, and focuses more on defending against the pawn structure which is actually quite difficult to master due to how many different things to look out for) Hi again, Today, we will be looking at the double edged positional factor: the IQP. This positional factor is quite double edged, but why we are specifically focusing on the d pawn? The main reason is because it arrises very often from many different openings, especially since the IQP provides advantages for both sides as it arrises. Let's look at potential advantages and disadvantages: With IQP: Advantages: There is a lot of space around the IQP (files and diagonals) Their development is often more efficient Hence due to the first 2 points, they will have greater attacking chances Disadvantages: The d pawn is quite weak as it isn't supported by other pawns Trades often work against the side with the isolated pawn The d pawn may tie some of their pieces down to it For the other side, it is reverse case, but one thing you must not do if playing against the IQP is to not allow it to move. Movement of the pawn will often allow the side with it to gain even more space and therefore greater attacking chances. The IQP isn't a concrete advantage or disadvantage because it depends on the player and the position. In the position below, Black has an isolated Q pawn. You do not win the pawn, but your aim is to pressure it:

(I actually had to rewrite this entire lesson as when I wrote the lesson previously, I wasn't even strong enough yet to truly understand the pawn structure) Doubled pawns are the most neglected pawn structures. At basic positional understanding, they are simply very weak pawns. At slightly higher positional understanding, you will still not like having this pawn structure, but as a developing positional player, you will try to get rid of this quite quickly, or if you cannot do anything about it, you will use open files around the pawn. As you become a stronger player, you will start to realise that there is nothing wrong with these pawns if they cannot be attacked and you may even use it as a weapon with for more attacking chances or more control over a square. But overall, as you become a stronger player, you will notice more and more opportunities each positional factor presents, especially the doubled pawn. This time, instead of a puzzle, I will present to you a game I played with one of my students. He is actually a strong player who is easily stronger than most 1700s, and this is the very first game I ever played with him (quite recent actually): Well, of course I was the stronger player, but if not for my willingness to double my pawns (the first one opened the Rook and created a weak dark square colour complex for him which I could use with my Bishop), and if I didn't double the 2nd set of pawns in the game, then I would not be able to dominate his Kingside or have a much more powerful pawn break. So, what can we learn from this game (which I consider to be quite instructive)? Doubled pawns are not weaknesses if they cannot be attacked Doubled pawns can act as decisive pawn breaks The threat of undoubling pawns with a superior pawn structure after can be forcing and may induce other weaknesses too The open or semi-open files around the doubled pawns are often the most useful asset from the doubled pawns And finally (not shown in the game or at least shown very little): The threat of undoubling your pawns can often make your doubled pawns dominate "healthy" pawns and fix the position the way you want it and therefore are very good at controlling important squares You can flex your superior understanding in chess to your opponent by creating good doubled pawns and using them to your advantage One thing I will say is this: doubled pawns are truly weaknesses when they can be attacked but there are no neighbouring pawns to protect it. This is actually the reason why tripled pawns are absolutely horrible pawn structures as in order to get tripled pawns, the two neighbouring pawns must get in front of the pawn behind so there are simply no pawns to defend it.

Hi again, Today, we shall now look on a very very common plan which happens in closed positions: flank attacks. In an open position, flank attacks are very uncommon and are practically a death wish if you do it on the K-side. So why are they so popular in closed positions? 2 words: piece activity. In a closed positions, pieces often get much less squares than they would be granted in an open position. Because of this, pieces cannot get behind pawns as easily and hence flank attacks become much stronger. These attacks are often stronger than other plans in some cases because with a flank attack, you may: 1. Gain more space on one side of the board (other plans do not grant space as easily) 2. Make your opponent become defensive (if it works out) 3. Create a passed pawn OR expose the enemy K So, seeing the benefits of a flank attack in a closed position, do we do it on the K-side or the Q-side? The answer lies in something called the 'direction of the pawns'. What I mean by this is that you look at how the central pawns are protecting themselves and advance pawns in their direction. This can be seen in the position below: As you can see, this is a typical way on how flank attacks can arrise. Black has a lot of Q-side space and may even castle onto that side while white has a lot of K-side space and will perform his flank attack on the K-side. The position is dead equal according to stockfish, but they in fact hardly ever result in a draw as it is either one side or the other who succeeds. Often, the best way to make sure that your flank attack succeeds is to inconvenience or stop your opponent's flank attack. In the position below, it is black to play and to hinder white's flank attack (the position is quite typical in KID and the move played is extremely important to play): If a flank attack succeeds, it can often be extremely dangerous and much in favour of the side with the flank attack: In the flank attacks seen so far, they have all been in the direction the pawns were aiming. But what if you could also do this on the other side? Well, this is often quite rare, but it can still happen: So, my Queenside attack failed? Nope. Far from it. Because of my Queenside attack, my King is now almost permanently safe! At first it appears I have no counterplay if you follow the direction of the pawns. But who said I could never attack their Kingside! Well, why did this flank attack against the direction of the pawns succeed? One thing you must note is that the reason flank attacks often do not work is because your King is just unsafe. As they overextended on the Kingside, their King became incredibly weak. Also, my King was practically impossible to attack, so it made it possible to attack like this. One thing you can note from this is that rules (such as pawn direction) can be broken if you truly understand the rules to a very high level. In fact, the very common fianchetto breaks the rule of putting "2 pawns in the centre if you can". This is because the Bishop x-rays and puts a huge amount of pressure on the centre without being actual targets. A final note I will end with is this: an intermediate player beats a beginner because they know some of the rules. An advanced player beats an intermediate player because they know all the rules. A master beats an advanced player because they understand all the rules in detail. A grandmaster beats masters because they know when to break all the rules.

Backwards pawns are somewhat annoying to have. It is really difficult to advance them, and to those with some good general positional knowledge, they are weaknesses. In fact, as a 1900, I still couldn't see the benefits of a backwards pawn, but there are still some. For instance, backward pawns do need defending, but not as much as an isolated pawn, and their flexibility in converting to different pawn structures (e.g a central majority, or an IQP later). However, I still do feel that Isolated pawns are still slightly better than Backwards pawns, but why? Let's take a look at the disadvantages and advantages of the 2 pawn structures: Isolated pawns: Aren't supported by fellow pawns BUT open files and diagonals around them can be useful for pieces. They also may be able to advance forward and get out of lines of attack. Backwards pawns: Aren't supported by fellow pawns, cannot advance forward and hence making them slightly worse. However, flexibility to convert into a different pawn structure can be beneficial. To use your opponent's backwards pawn against them, pressure it with your pieces. In the position below, black has a backwards pawn on d6. It is unfortunate that he also happened to be down 2 pawns, but the point can still be made: As in the puzzle, unfortunately you could not win the pawn, but you forced your opponent into trading pieces, just because of the backwards pawn's needs. Even without the two extra pawns, the endgames is still slightly better for white, but the whole point was to teach you to pressure the backwards pawn if you wanna use it against your opponent. Another thing about backwards pawns is that often the square in front of these pawns can often become an outpost square. Also, as the game draws closer to the endgame, backwards pawns tend to become more and more of a weakness, such as below:

Hi, For many of those experienced in closed positions, especially French defense players, I am sure you are very familiar with the terms 'Good Bishop' and 'Bad Bishop'. For those who aren't so familiar, I will clarify: A bad Bishop is a Bishop which is blocked by its own pawns. This means it becomes a defensive B, and Bs do not like being defensive most of the time. But with a Bad Bishop often comes a Good Bishop: one that can attack enemy pawns. Between the two, it seems obvious to keep the Good B, so the best way is to get rid of your Bad B (perhaps by trading it for a N, or even better if you can trade it for your opponent's Good B). But what is I told you that you can actually make your Bad B the strongest piece sometimes? Confused? Well the way to do it is to bring this B infront of your pawns. If you watch Hikaru videos, you may here the term "wooden shield" which essentially is just exactly this: a B in front of your pawns which can get outposted on these. That way if it is captured, your pawn structure could actually improve. In the puzzles below, based on what I have said above, try and find the best moves for Black: To begin with, you must challenge their Good B with your Bad B. A little later in the game, my opponent gave his Good B away for my N just to double my pawns, but doubled pawns are not always worth it. In the next position, my opponent had allowed my Bad B to get secured: In this position, it was actually more accurate to play Qd7 and let them trade according to the computer, but while you can easily threaten to open the position later with the c pawn, it seemed at the time more logical to keep the B pair, especially while the Bad B was not necessarily bad. Also notice how inactive White's B is as it will be tied down to the b pawn. However, in most closed positions (especially in the French defense), trading the Bad B means that you have done very well in the game, because almost every other minor piece normally happens to be better than the Bad B. But if you can somehow manage to open the center in closed position openings, then the Bad B will only temporarily be bad, so you may want to keep it.

Hi guys, In this week, we shall be looking at pawn structures. Pawn structures are one of the key parts in positional play because they almost dictate what your plan will be. For instance, in some variations in the French defense (tarrasch variation and mainline) where white succeeds to hold the centre, it can get quite difficult for black to continue pressuring the centre and hence black's plan sometimes becomes to fight on the Q side where they have more space while white fights on the k side. We may look deeper as to why this is the case in future, but today, we will look at one of the most controversial pawn structures: The Queen side Pawn majority. Many people think it leads to a decisive advantage, but this is not at all often the case if these pawns are not already advanced up the board. But it is after all a matter of preference: some people ignore it as a positional advantage, and some have made a career from it! But I will say that I believe the main reason this becomes an advantage is because it can create a passed pawn. That's it. But don't underestimate it, passed pawns can be decisive advantages, as shown in the below game: As you can see, this pawn structure is actually quite good at creating passed pawns, but with a Q side majority means that the opponent has at least got a k side majority. These are often stronger, but it is harder to use these at the expense of K safety. Sometimes you may have a Q side majority vs a central majority and central majorities tend to create more space for the side with it, but remember that if you want to get an advantage with a Q side majority, make sure they have already been advanced up the board.

Hi, In the previous topic, we looked at how space advantage leads to the opponent getting cramped while the centre is locked. In this topic, we will be looking at how to use space advantage when the space advantage comes from the central pawns. This may seem quite simple, but the difference between this and the previous is with the position fairly open, the central pawns could become the object of the attack so at least make it possible to defend them. In the first position, it appears as if white has the space advantage, but he has wasted a lot of tempi to do so. How does black liquidate white's space advantage? As you can see, as black I had successfully managed to remove white's inital source of a space advantage he could build up. Although he has the B on e4, it can easily be kicked out if needed with the f pawn, but if so, make sure that you do not weaken your king too much. I eventually did win back the pawn on c5, but white did manage to create some problems when I tried to win it back as in the position below. How does white make the most out of the situation? Well, why am I highlighting white's move in that position? Well although the pawn was anyways lost, with the move white played, my opponent managed to weaken my pawn structure, and the N on a6 cannot move to any good squares anymore. It is still in black's favour, but white has gotten the best out of the position. However, he did unfortunately manage to connect my pawns back later... But we will again look at how to gain the Pawn centre Space advantage: In the game, after taking the centre with the first move, I had played Qb2 to weaken his pawns (after b6 the fianchetto B could add pressure onto the c pawn in future). However the stronger move would take further space and hence lead to the opponent being even more cramped. Notice how I had used the b file after it opened after my opponent opened it earlier. It is key to make use of any advantages you have. As in the previous games (in the previous topic) I had pressured my opponent with my space advantage. Here, I did the same, but this time, my pieces are even more flexible. The only thing you need to be wary of is the central pawns, if undefended, pose as a big target, but they stop pieces reaching good squares. Next time, I will probably look at pawn structures.

Hi guys, To help with the positional aspect of chess, I will be making a series on it. Positional play is not 100% necessary, but you will have to compensate for a great tactical vision if you do not have great positional play. The thing about positional play is that the strategy is not always the same: for instance we often assume an isolated pawn structure is a huge weakness as it is a target without fellow pawns to support it, but what we do not realise is that in some positions, the isolated pawn structure actually helps a lot as it gives the player with it a lot of space if he has active pieces whilst the material remains equal. So while it is hard to really talk about concrete ways to take advantage of position strengths in your position and weaknesses in theirs, I will briefly go over some ideas on how to take advantage. Today, we will be looking at space advantage (this form is a kind of paralysis which actually often tends to lead to 50% of all my wins). If you have a large space advantage and it is still the middle game, we can infer that it means your opponent is cramped paralysed (most plans they could try to play have been denied). To begin with, how do we cramp our opponents? Well, cramped positions are very common in closed positions and may happen when pawns block a side relatively more than the other. Below is a puzzle from a game I played where my opponent resigned after losing material (Q for a R) in the deadly attack, but the first task (the puzzle) is to cramp enemy pieces In that positional puzzle above. Computer evaluated the position as better for black as white is so cramped. Now that we have cramped our opponent, time to make as much use of it by tying his pieces down. How do we do that? WITH PRESSURE. But before doing so immediately, it is very important to understand that sometimes before you conduct a decisive combination, you may have to adjust your pieces a little to allow it to happen: In this lesson, the space advantage came more from the fact that White was so cramped, but if you get any opportunity to cramp your opponent to such an overwhelming degree, do so as it will possibly tie their pieces down and allow great combinations to happen.

Hi there, Of course, overall I am quite bad at endgames myself in my view, and especially in my coach's view, I still believe I have something that I can teach in endgames. To begin with I want to point out one thing about the game I will show today: connected doubled pawns are not weaknesses. If attacked, they will be defended by the other pawn. The point of this lesson is to show how dominating your opponent's pieces can really help you (and also a little about how the B becomes better than the N as I dominated the N from such a huge range with it). Ok, so now we will begin looking at the game. The game was a minor piece endgame as you will see. Minor piece endings will only really start creating huge complications and imbalances if one of the minor pieces is a B as the B has a huge range, but cannot see half the board. My opponent actually happened to be nationally recognised in Eng one time (and I happened to play him in a chess.com game accidentally XD), but it shows that by being good with your endgames, you can outplay your opp and successfully win the game if you both suffered resistance in the middle game. So, to begin with, look at the following position: Of course, black has inactive Ns, but even so, passive defense is still usually enough to draw endgames (though active defense is often better). If not for the b and a pawns for both sides, the position is drawn despite such passive positions for the N. However, with the a and b pawns, the Ns may easily be tied down to these pawns. When you have a B v N, it is often a good idea to get your opponent to push and fix their pawns on the same colour as your B. After a few moves (my opponent played quite innacurately and left his pawns on light squares which is why I will not make it a puzzle [eval changed over those moves from +1 to +2.1]), I was very much winning: As you can see, their N is tied down now thanks to the B. They tried to activate the other N but it went quite badly and though I played slightly inaccurately, I was completely winning and eventually won the game after getting low on time (there are so many people who keep trying to flag me...): But overall, I wanted to show how dominating minor pieces in minor pieces can help quite a lot, especially with a B in hand.

Whenever we think of maintaining a good pawn structure, we often believe that it should be connected, at least 2 pawn islands, but no "weaknesses": Maybe an open file or something like that, but above is what we often think of when we hear "Good" pawn structures. But at almost no point do we consider doubled pawns to be part of these "Good" pawn structures. "Well, but these pawns cannot support each other, so they cannot possibly be good." Well, below you will often see very strong players (in the ruy lopez) committing the pawn structure below. And in fact, the doubled pawns are the whole point of why this pawn structure is so strong: Here, if the pawns were not doubled and white still had a d pawn, black could easily strike at the centre. However, with doubled pawns, a R on the d file makes it very hard to strike a pawn break in the centre. Of course, there often is also a N on c3 as well as the R on the d file to stop the pawn break, but it still just shows how doubled pawns can actually improve your pawn structure! So, I have shown a rather solid pawn structure, but doubled pawns cannot exactly attack other pawns, as they are not connected to support each other, right? Wrong! Doubled pawns can still be used as an offensive weapon as shown below: Well, but in that position, black was forced into having doubled pawns, but it wasn't actually bad for black at all. Deliberately doubling pawns, though may feel weird, can actually help more than not as in the game below: So as you can see, the most common way that doubled pawns are truly a complete weakness is when they are unconnected to neighbouring pawns. As they are unconnected, it means that they both are unprotected and therefore weak. However when connected to a neighbour, at least one is defended and therefore the other may be useful for keeping a pawn cover, initiating a pawn break, etc. So as you can see, doubled pawns are not as bad at all as you think. So you may keep them in your list of "Good" pawn structures now

Last time, I was putting an emphasis on the importance of developing your pieces, especially having a safe K. Castling a K often leads to a safe K, but not always. A sacrifice is often needed to break apart the pawn structure around a K to make it unsafe, but before we go into that, let's first look at how a K may become unsafe despite being castled. Below is a K that is very safe: Here, there is also a N and a R, but even without these 2 pieces around the K, the K is still fairly safe. The only way it is unsafe is if there are issues with the back rank as there would not be any breathing room for the K, so a R would be more useful than a N if you were to leave a piece to defend the K. Below is a K which is castled into a fianchetto: This K is very very safe with so many pieces around to protect it. The only problems are that R-pawns could be quite dangerous as the g pawn may act as a "hook". The main problem (and the way to make the K unsafe) is to remove the B by trading it off, as their will be a huge lightsquared weakness. Below is a pawn cover which doesn't weaken a specific colour complex: Of course, in all three positions, the N and R make the K quite safe, but you often must try to help them as much as possible by letting them into your plans. In the position above, the K has breathing room without too much of a colour complex weakness, but this pawn advancement may act as a "hook". So, I have mentioned the term "hook", but what exactly is it? Hooks are advanced pawns which may allow the pawn cover to get destroyed, or open up pieces for your opponent. Since pawns cannot go backwards, be careful before making a pawn move to allow your K "breathing space" for the future. In the following game below, I used the advanced pawn my opponent had committed to sacrifice a B to break their pawn structure. It was not a winning sacrifice, but it did not worsen my position either, but unfortunately my opponent hung a mate in 2: With their doubled pawns, they were unable to open the position and punish me for not developing pieces, but I still should've tried to find a good square for the B. However, I hope it shows you why you should think before committing, or allowing a hook to be committed as these are what makes Ks unsafe.

When you are first starting out in chess, it is always emphasised to develop all your pieces. We often take this for granted and will sometimes not even bother developing pieces, just for the sake of attacking your opponent! However, "be kind to your pieces" (from a Judit Polgar book I read) and give them good squares and they will produce a good game for you. After all, if you develop these pieces, you increase the relative value they possess (the value of a piece is determined by how many squares on the board they possess). In the game below, a 2000 (yes such high rated players still do not develop pieces occassionally) did not bother developing pieces, and ended up getting crushed in 18 moves with a series of intermediate moves and a royal fork: Of course, this is just one example, but black just got torn apart in that game. But even in a vote chess game we played, our opponent got torn apart because they did not castle their K, which I will still consider as a developing move: As you can see, developing pieces (especially getting your K safe), is very very important and will lead to very quick losses if you do not do so. So try to develop as quickly and effectively as possible, especially before trying to attack your opponent.

Blindfold chess is definitely the most useful chess variant that is there. It is not about memorising all the previous moves, but where your pieces are. Of course, try not to accidentally flip the board around (like ChatGPT or me when trying to say moves), but other than that, even remembering where the pieces are (let alone tactics!) can be rather difficult. So how do you do that more easily? 1. Pawn Structure Try to remember what pawn structure you have as much as you can. This is because certain pawn structures help pieces more than others and you will be able to remember where certain pieces are because of this. For instance, let's take the following position below: Well, I have not added black's pawn structure, but let's say you have gotten this pawn structure. Just by looking at it, the first thing you can say is that the light-B belongs to g2, so you probably have a fianchettoed B there, or on f3 if there has been a capture where you took with the B. If it is just a B on g2, then being a fianchetto, there is probably a N on f3 too. The Q side is a little more trickier, but where would your Rs belong in this position? That's right! c1 and d1. Perhaps there is already a Q on d1, but you vaguely at least know what your plan is too (another benefit). The Q-side N is a little trickier as d7 and c6 both seem valid squares. However, an N on c6 controls more of the centre. Finally, the B. The other B could also fianchetto on b2. Now you have a vague idea of where your pieces might be! OK. I am a catalan player so I know the placement of these pieces better, but let's say we take a middle game position from the sicillian (I am a french player). Ok, so again the first thing appears to be that the dark-B for black has fianchettoed, and black has castled K side. They are now launching an attack on the Q side while you attack on the K side. So plans sorted now. You probably still have probably moved the N or traded it at some point and it is no longer on d4 due to heavy pressure. You have probably castled Q side too and have a N on c3 from the opening. You probably plan to join the other R to g1 if you have not already done so, and you perhaps have a Q on d7 or e7 as you tried castling Q side. You probably have a B on e3 and one on d3 too... As you can see, you will have a vague idea as to where your pieces are. 2. Pattern recognition So now there is the following pawn structure (not showing the whole board): There is a weak d5 square in your opponent's territory. So, how must you have dealt with it? Yes. Outposting an N there. It is very unlikely a B got in there, and perhaps maybe a Q or a R got in, but the Ns are generally the best pieces to outpost. Well, it was an incredibly weak square, but keep common patterns like these in your mind when playing out positions. You should also keep common tactical patterns too in your mind, but in my view, it is much easier to see positional patterns (still look for these though!). Also learning patterns from your opening is quite useful. e.g in the sequence below: Learning these, especially in sharp openings, can be very useful. I would also therefore say that knowing how your opening looks (including plans) is very useful. 3. Knowing the colour of the squares Diagonals are the hardest things to visualise. Ns can be tricky but I somehow find them much easier to visualise than diagonals. Instead of remembering the diagonals, remember the colour of the square. a1 is a dark square, and that is actually the only square you need to remember the colour of. To remember the colour of a square, I do it like this: a = odd b = even c = odd ... 1 = odd 2 = even 3 = odd ... Then, add coordinate 1 with coordinate 2. Odd + Odd = Even, Even + Odd = Odd, ... If the final result is Even, it is a dark square. If the final result is even, it is a light square. From this, you can see diagonals much more clearly I hope it helps .

The opposition is a very important thing to know in endgames. However I have seen even on higher levels that players can make crucial mistakes. You need to understand what is the key of the opposition, because in positions like this usually you won't have enough time to calculate variations until the end. Today we will analyze this position below. It is a study, it didn't happened in a real game. The material is equal, you don't have to look for king safety here. It looks like an equal position. But it is not equal! White has the chance to win this game. It is a bit difficult. When my coach gave me and my teammates this he said I we have 15-15 minutes to figure it out how to win with white. I failed it. I only made a draw. Just for curiosity I gave this puzzle to an almost 2200 rated player, and he failed too. So can you find the only winning move here for white? The idea of this move is to stop the black pawns from advancing, and possibily making a pawn on the h-file, forcing a draw. From here you have to use the opposition. They play Ka3. How can you take the opposition here? Until here it was the easy part of this study. Now it is a bit harder. They play Ka2. You will not win this game if you will not try to take the black pawns. You need to slowly approach them, but how? Yes, and now take the opposition again! This manouver is useful, because, your goal was to reach this position, where it is black's turn. If you don't play like this you get this position with white to play and you lose the game. But it is still not over! They play Kg2 attacking our pawn, we play Kg6, and black has a very tricky move: Kh3. Should we take the h-pawn? Congratulations finishing this lesson! Did you made mistakes? I know it was a bit difficult, but it is all about the opposition. I hope I helped a few people to understand the idea of the opposition. Was it helpful? Tell me in the comments!

(I am probably still in the tilt, but I believe I can still teach something on the endgame.) Hi there, Do some of you ever feel that "I am bad at endgames" or that you cannot win them when they appear? Well, I for one did, and actually still do. But one of the key things to do is to settup a winning endgame or one where you have the advantage. You will definitely need to play with good technique too, but technique will only start to help you if you have created the best chances you can get initally. So, what do these winning endgames look like?