Engames, in my opinion, are the most important part to a chess game. The complexities that arise are astonishing given the seeming simplicity of the position. If you do not know what you are doing, then it is very easy to loose a drawn, sometimes even winning endgame. In one of my recent games, a Rook and pawn endgame arose. I was down a pawn and down on time. I don't exactly remember the postion becasue I did not notate it due to the lack of time on my clock. I knew activity was the most important part of the endgame, went for active moves instead of checks, and ended up putting him into an extremely passive position. Soon, not only was he passive, but he was loosing a pawn. The second was soon to follow, and before you knew it, I was in the famous Lucena winning postion, which I handly won. Don't think I am some endgame guru, for I have as well lost or should have lost endgames were at some point I was technically winning.
Becasue endgames are so important, it makes sense to start with them. I am going to start simple, followed by working my way up to tougher positions such as the lucena winning position which I afore mentioned, and beyond. In this group, I will expect that you know how to mate with a queen and with a lone rook. Today I am going to begin with queen vs. pawn on the 7th rank. Our next lesson will be on how to win a king and pawn vs. King position which might be technically more simple, but I wanted to start this group off with something at least superficially more difficult for the better players! This is taken from the Student and His Game, my old group.
As so often happens, you get into a pawn race to deside the game. Unfortunentally, after you queen, his pawn moves to the seventh rank and threatens to promote! What's to stop him? The only way to win in this situation is to bring your king over to his pawn and take his pawn with your queen. To do this you must imobalize his pawn. If you can get your queen to the queening square than you win. You block the pawn, and your king comes and shews off the opposing king and you win the pawn and the endgame. If your queen cant get to the queening square safely, than you must put the only other peice that is close enough infront of that pawn. You use your queen in successive checks to force the king infront of the pawn. Once that happens you start the king's journey toward the pawn. When the king moves again he's threatining the same thing, thus you start the checks over. When his king moves infront of the pawn you move your king again. Note the following example on how the king gets to the pawn and wins.
That was a d-pawn, which means it's winning. the same type idea is consistent with b, d, e, and g pawns. But what about rook pawns and bishop pawns (a, c, f, and h pawns)? Rook pawns are drawn if the opposing king is close enough. At the crutial moment when you just forced him infront of his pawn, you must reatreat. Note the next diagram.
If the king had been close enough, like in any of the situations for any pawn the game is winning. When the opponent queens you can checkmate you can checkmate by putting your queen diagonally right next to the King. Again this is only if you are close enough with your king.
In the bishop's pawn's case (c and f pawns) the king has a lucky escape route to save the game. When you do the same prosess as before, you will find the opponent move his king to the corner. You then are either forced to stop the queening by moving behind or to the side of the pawn, in which case the king moves back and pretects the pawn, or you take the pawn and you stalemate the king
In recap, check your way to the pawn, make him move infront of the pawn, move your king closer, check the free roaming king again till you force him infront, move your king, and reapeat the process agian. Rook and bishop pawns are drawn becasue at the crutial moment, the king will be stalemated by the queen and the pawn alone.
I will now break off into two categorys of topic, one will be this, the basic endgame principles, the other, will be intermediate endgame study. This will help stronger players and weaker players learn how to take advantage of your advantage.
Good luck with your games, and thanks for your time! Jonathan Rasberry - Rasberry Chess
Engames, in my opinion, are the most important part to a chess game. The complexities that arise are astonishing given the seeming simplicity of the position. If you do not know what you are doing, then it is very easy to loose a drawn, sometimes even winning endgame. In one of my recent games, a Rook and pawn endgame arose. I was down a pawn and down on time. I don't exactly remember the postion becasue I did not notate it due to the lack of time on my clock. I knew activity was the most important part of the endgame, went for active moves instead of checks, and ended up putting him into an extremely passive position. Soon, not only was he passive, but he was loosing a pawn. The second was soon to follow, and before you knew it, I was in the famous Lucena winning postion, which I handly won. Don't think I am some endgame guru, for I have as well lost or should have lost endgames were at some point I was technically winning.
Becasue endgames are so important, it makes sense to start with them. I am going to start simple, followed by working my way up to tougher positions such as the lucena winning position which I afore mentioned, and beyond. In this group, I will expect that you know how to mate with a queen and with a lone rook. Today I am going to begin with queen vs. pawn on the 7th rank. Our next lesson will be on how to win a king and pawn vs. King position which might be technically more simple, but I wanted to start this group off with something at least superficially more difficult for the better players! This is taken from the Student and His Game, my old group.
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Check out my Youtube Video on this topic for more learning:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0XxdVfrgyY4
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As so often happens, you get into a pawn race to deside the game. Unfortunentally, after you queen, his pawn moves to the seventh rank and threatens to promote! What's to stop him? The only way to win in this situation is to bring your king over to his pawn and take his pawn with your queen. To do this you must imobalize his pawn. If you can get your queen to the queening square than you win. You block the pawn, and your king comes and shews off the opposing king and you win the pawn and the endgame. If your queen cant get to the queening square safely, than you must put the only other peice that is close enough infront of that pawn. You use your queen in successive checks to force the king infront of the pawn. Once that happens you start the king's journey toward the pawn. When the king moves again he's threatining the same thing, thus you start the checks over. When his king moves infront of the pawn you move your king again. Note the following example on how the king gets to the pawn and wins.
That was a d-pawn, which means it's winning. the same type idea is consistent with b, d, e, and g pawns. But what about rook pawns and bishop pawns (a, c, f, and h pawns)? Rook pawns are drawn if the opposing king is close enough. At the crutial moment when you just forced him infront of his pawn, you must reatreat. Note the next diagram.
If the king had been close enough, like in any of the situations for any pawn the game is winning. When the opponent queens you can checkmate you can checkmate by putting your queen diagonally right next to the King. Again this is only if you are close enough with your king.
In the bishop's pawn's case (c and f pawns) the king has a lucky escape route to save the game. When you do the same prosess as before, you will find the opponent move his king to the corner. You then are either forced to stop the queening by moving behind or to the side of the pawn, in which case the king moves back and pretects the pawn, or you take the pawn and you stalemate the king
In recap, check your way to the pawn, make him move infront of the pawn, move your king closer, check the free roaming king again till you force him infront, move your king, and reapeat the process agian. Rook and bishop pawns are drawn becasue at the crutial moment, the king will be stalemated by the queen and the pawn alone.
I will now break off into two categorys of topic, one will be this, the basic endgame principles, the other, will be intermediate endgame study. This will help stronger players and weaker players learn how to take advantage of your advantage.
Good luck with your games, and thanks for your time!
Jonathan Rasberry - Rasberry Chess