When the time comes to end the game, are you willing and able to deliver the mate? Here are three different types of mating patterns key to winning many chess games.
King & Pawn vs. King
This one pops up all the time and you need to know how to win it. There are two important aspects of this endgame CRITICAL to know! They are opposition and critical squares. Once you understand these two concepts, making a queen is a piece of cake. Here we go:
Opposition:
Opposition in chess, is when both kings are lined up one square apart as in the figure above, and it is the opponent’s move. So if you are white above, and it is your move, then you are said not to have to opposition. If you are white and black is to move, you have the opposition. Basically, why opposition is so powerful is because if you have it, than you can force your way forward. In the position above white to move, if black desires, white will never get to the next rank up, all black will do is shoulder away the king by following white in whatever direction he went. If we go left, he will move left as well. If we go southwest, back to d2, than he goes southwest to d4. We cannot force black out of the way and advance our king unless we have another move somewhere else on the board to make. Opposition is a critical aspect to chess, not just to this endgame so learn it well! Opposition also exists when there are three squares in between the kings. Basically if white were to move up and left, than black would move down and left and then you would be in opposition. This is called distant opposition. Opposition comes in many different and hidden forms, so be well prepared in it, and you will reap rewards!
So why is opposition critical here? Firstly, if white does not have the opposition with the king in front of the pawn (more on that later…), than we can never bring our king forward in front of the pawn and reach the critical squrares, and we have to push our pawn to lose a tempo. Sadly, if black knows what he is doing, once the pawn and king arrive on the sixth rank, there is a drawing tactic with stalemate. Thus for now, just know, having the opposition with the winning or drawing side is key, so make sure you learn opposition well!
Critical Squares:
The “critical squares” are the three squares two rows in front of the pawns. In the picture above, the black pawns represent white’s three critical squares. If the white king can get to one of these squares, he can win. If he cannot (I.E. if the king has opposition :) than the game is drawn, based on the drawing tactic afore mentioned. So, if the pawn is on e2 as it is now, d4, e4, and f4 are the critical squares for the king to reach. The point is with that, is if the king gets to e4, and black has the opposition, than white can wait by bringing the pawn up to e3 and regaining the all important opposition. If the pawn were on c4, the critical squares would be b6, c6, and d6.
How to Win:
Now that you know about opposition and critical squares, time to put it together. As mentioned in the last paragraph, use the king to get to the critical squares, gain opposition if you don’t already have it, then bring the king up and upto the next two levels of critical squares as if your pawn were on the fourth rank. Once you do that, bring your pawn up to the fifth rank. If you then have the opposition, bring your king to the open seventh rank square, and your pawn queens. If you don’t, move your king over to either side, he moves to block your king, push to the sixth, then up to the seventh, and because his king is back on the queening file, he has to move out of the way and you get to the seventh. The drawing resource that was mentioned can be forced so that when you are forced to push your pawn to the sixth, then the king can go strait back, then the king comes up black opposes the king, you push the pawn again with check, he moves in front, and the only way to hold the pawn is with stalemate, and the game is drawn. Below is the winning example, and below that, the drawing ones. I have made annotations to go with some of the moves, so that you understand the concept the best!
King and Rook vs. King
Ok, yes I know almost all of you know how to do this one, but if you don’t, here is a refresher! The basic idea (same with a queen, if you can’t mate with a queen, use this rook method!), is to lose (the opposite as in the king and pawn endgame) the opposition, force the king to the side and then to gain direct opposition, and then when that happens, bring your rook down and check the king, the king has no forward squares to go to, and the king backs up. You do this until you get to the back rank, using the rook moving from side to side to loose tempos when you can not get the opposition, and then check him and he cannot go forward, sideways, or back and you win. Here is how below:
King and Two Bishops vs. King
This one does not happen as often, but for anyone over 1500, you should have this learned and if you are below 1500, now is a good time to learn! The patterns here are easy, but you need to remember a couple of things, so to do that, you should go over this lesson a couple of times to cement this in your head. First put your two bishops beside each other as shown in the example below as step one. Step two, bring your king up to the bishops, and, if necessary, triangulate (explained below!) to get your king one row in front of the bishops next two one of them. Then your opponent’s king will be driven backwards. Next step is taking the correct bishop and bringing it one square forward so that it takes away the square from which the king just came. Step four is getting back the step two’s position, only one rank farther up! Do this again and again if necessary until your opponent’s king gets to the last rank. Once that happens, choose which side you plan to mate him on, and bring your king over right beside the bishop on the third rank or file. Step six is bringing the king to the corner. In a technique shown below, you can easily do that. You do this all the way until the king is cornered, and you deliver mate! Pay attention to what the annotations say, practice a few times, and you will memorize this in no time!
The End?!
Seems like I have been gradually building up to the bishop and knight vs. King position, but for now, we will leave that one be, it will be a lesson all to itself when we get into more advanced stuff. It happens so rarely, that you don’t need to learn it today. If you do wish to, then go search it on youtube, and you will find plenty of vids there on how to do it! So, as for now, we are done, let me know what you think by leaving your comments below!
When the time comes to end the game, are you willing and able to deliver the mate? Here are three different types of mating patterns key to winning many chess games.
King & Pawn vs. King
This one pops up all the time and you need to know how to win it. There are two important aspects of this endgame CRITICAL to know! They are opposition and critical squares. Once you understand these two concepts, making a queen is a piece of cake. Here we go:
Opposition:
Opposition in chess, is when both kings are lined up one square apart as in the figure above, and it is the opponent’s move. So if you are white above, and it is your move, then you are said not to have to opposition. If you are white and black is to move, you have the opposition. Basically, why opposition is so powerful is because if you have it, than you can force your way forward. In the position above white to move, if black desires, white will never get to the next rank up, all black will do is shoulder away the king by following white in whatever direction he went. If we go left, he will move left as well. If we go southwest, back to d2, than he goes southwest to d4. We cannot force black out of the way and advance our king unless we have another move somewhere else on the board to make. Opposition is a critical aspect to chess, not just to this endgame so learn it well! Opposition also exists when there are three squares in between the kings. Basically if white were to move up and left, than black would move down and left and then you would be in opposition. This is called distant opposition. Opposition comes in many different and hidden forms, so be well prepared in it, and you will reap rewards!
So why is opposition critical here? Firstly, if white does not have the opposition with the king in front of the pawn (more on that later…), than we can never bring our king forward in front of the pawn and reach the critical squrares, and we have to push our pawn to lose a tempo. Sadly, if black knows what he is doing, once the pawn and king arrive on the sixth rank, there is a drawing tactic with stalemate. Thus for now, just know, having the opposition with the winning or drawing side is key, so make sure you learn opposition well!
Critical Squares:
The “critical squares” are the three squares two rows in front of the pawns. In the picture above, the black pawns represent white’s three critical squares. If the white king can get to one of these squares, he can win. If he cannot (I.E. if the king has opposition :) than the game is drawn, based on the drawing tactic afore mentioned. So, if the pawn is on e2 as it is now, d4, e4, and f4 are the critical squares for the king to reach. The point is with that, is if the king gets to e4, and black has the opposition, than white can wait by bringing the pawn up to e3 and regaining the all important opposition. If the pawn were on c4, the critical squares would be b6, c6, and d6.
How to Win:
Now that you know about opposition and critical squares, time to put it together. As mentioned in the last paragraph, use the king to get to the critical squares, gain opposition if you don’t already have it, then bring the king up and up to the next two levels of critical squares as if your pawn were on the fourth rank. Once you do that, bring your pawn up to the fifth rank. If you then have the opposition, bring your king to the open seventh rank square, and your pawn queens. If you don’t, move your king over to either side, he moves to block your king, push to the sixth, then up to the seventh, and because his king is back on the queening file, he has to move out of the way and you get to the seventh. The drawing resource that was mentioned can be forced so that when you are forced to push your pawn to the sixth, then the king can go strait back, then the king comes up black opposes the king, you push the pawn again with check, he moves in front, and the only way to hold the pawn is with stalemate, and the game is drawn. Below is the winning example, and below that, the drawing ones. I have made annotations to go with some of the moves, so that you understand the concept the best!
King and Rook vs. King
Ok, yes I know almost all of you know how to do this one, but if you don’t, here is a refresher! The basic idea (same with a queen, if you can’t mate with a queen, use this rook method!), is to lose (the opposite as in the king and pawn endgame) the opposition, force the king to the side and then to gain direct opposition, and then when that happens, bring your rook down and check the king, the king has no forward squares to go to, and the king backs up. You do this until you get to the back rank, using the rook moving from side to side to loose tempos when you can not get the opposition, and then check him and he cannot go forward, sideways, or back and you win. Here is how below:
King and Two Bishops vs. King
This one does not happen as often, but for anyone over 1500, you should have this learned and if you are below 1500, now is a good time to learn! The patterns here are easy, but you need to remember a couple of things, so to do that, you should go over this lesson a couple of times to cement this in your head. First put your two bishops beside each other as shown in the example below as step one. Step two, bring your king up to the bishops, and, if necessary, triangulate (explained below!) to get your king one row in front of the bishops next two one of them. Then your opponent’s king will be driven backwards. Next step is taking the correct bishop and bringing it one square forward so that it takes away the square from which the king just came. Step four is getting back the step two’s position, only one rank farther up! Do this again and again if necessary until your opponent’s king gets to the last rank. Once that happens, choose which side you plan to mate him on, and bring your king over right beside the bishop on the third rank or file. Step six is bringing the king to the corner. In a technique shown below, you can easily do that. You do this all the way until the king is cornered, and you deliver mate! Pay attention to what the annotations say, practice a few times, and you will memorize this in no time!
The End?!
Seems like I have been gradually building up to the bishop and knight vs. King position, but for now, we will leave that one be, it will be a lesson all to itself when we get into more advanced stuff. It happens so rarely, that you don’t need to learn it today. If you do wish to, then go search it on youtube, and you will find plenty of vids there on how to do it! So, as for now, we are done, let me know what you think by leaving your comments below!
Thanks
-Jonathan Rasberry