Chess Endgames

"Why call it mindless? It's like calling people who study a subject at a university a mindless zombie, because they dedicate themselves to learn the stuff they're studying."

For me it takes the fun out of the game... I like to plan and think (and trying to outhink my opponent). If I already know the best move or "right move", there is no thinking involved? For me chess should be fun; unlike most university studies. 😁

I respect your opinion, I play chess for fun as well, as I said in another forum already, but there are parts which you just have to study. Chess is a pattern recognition game, not a game in which you can freestyle and hope for the best, you asked for an advice and I gave you some.

Thanks, I still appreciate it. Bottom line: memorization is key. From my perspective, I am still going to try and avoid end games by trying to force a check mate in the middle game. ;-)

It's not the most optimal way to mate, but if it works for you and you have fun doing it, go ahead. If you like sacrificing pieces, feel free to try the Halloween Gambit.

of course! lichess has a practice page, go check it out!

There's also a really fun and sacrificial line in the Torre Attack where you sack pretty much everything for checkmate. Here's a video from Remote Chess Academy on it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JQznba5mPx4&ab_channel=RemoteChessAcademy

Endgames call for a LOT of calculation power too, not just book knowledge. Understanding also plays a role. It's hard to remember the right techniques, if you don't understand why they are right.

Some of the most important concepts in endgames are opposition and zugzwang.

To piggyback on that point, you have to drill these concepts into your mind in practical games/puzzles. Opposition has saved a lot of games for me (as well as cost me many games), so make sure you're aware of these small details that may separate you from your opponents.

maybe dvoretsky's endgame manuel is good for advanced players for others Silman's complete endgame course is good

What are the most important endgames to learn as an intermediate player? (1500) Perhaps at this level certain endgames aren't as important to learn as concepts, so perhaps those as well?

As far as theoretical endgames go, some of the best to learn are Philidor postion, lucena position, vancura position, and some basic king and pawn endgames

At 1500, I don’t think you should worry about memorizing super obscure theoretical endgames. Focus on mastering key pawn and rook endgames, and especially on understanding the principles that guide play when there are only a few pieces left. Endgames don’t have to be boring, they can actually be really fun when you start recognizing patterns and seeing the logic behind them. The most important concepts at our level, I think, are zugzwangs, triangulation, distraction tactics, knowing when to trade and how to create a passed pawn. Another important thing is to know pawnless draws, e.g. rook vs bishop, rook vs knight, rarely, they can be a win for the side with the rook, so it's good to know them. My last advice would be to also study the basic endgames, like Lucena, Phillidor or the Frontal Defense.

LOve dat book

You can learn basic concepts for endgames. Like the strenghts of every Piece and how It IS better to coordinate them in each situation. I Will do a video on that.

It seems like a complex and interesting topic. After doing that I Will focus on specific endgames

That will be nice, thank you... :-)

I sometimes strugle in end games

I have already done the video I will post it in 2 days and put in this forum

I reccomend you to look at some games of the World Blitz and Rapid Team Championships, there are a lot of endgames to see there the nice tecnique and the resilience are really nice to see and I believe seeing and analysing those games will help you improve your endgames

After being greedy and taking a pawn, blundering in the process I managed to find a resource and my opponent did not find the counter, the interesting part is that when I managed to trade the queens for a second I thought I was better, but then I realized that I was losing my pawns to the strenght of the bishop pair. So when my opponent offered me a draw in that position to assure herself a prize I was really relieved I thought about accepting or not because I needed a win to get third place but after thinking about it I realized that the only thing that I was able to do in that endgame was to try to defend and to get a draw so I accepted because why would I try to work for a draw if I had it already. Would you have accepted the draw in that position?