Endgames are Boring how do I get motivation to study them?

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shlaquamer

Hello I usually love to figure out middle games their tactics when to trade how to advance the position and the openings to if their interesting.

But when it comes to endgames I just am so bored, and don't have motivation to study them. 

How do I fix this?

MasterMatthew52

The motivation is getting better. You won't win games if you can't win the endgame and you'll end up losing drawn endgames if you don't know how to hold the draw.

Brudo_the_Chess_King

IM levy Rozmen 50 endgames masterclass course at chessly.com 50% off now.

ManonFire_Jer

“To improve at chess you should in the first instance study the endgame.”

In order to improve your game, you must study the endgame before everything else. For whereas the endings can be studied and mastered by themselves, the middle game and opening must be studied in relation to the end game.

— José Raul Capablanca

 

I enjoy the beauty of the endgame. For example, start with the basics, King and pawn vs. king; Rooks: Lucena Bridge Building; Philidor Draw; Kling & Horiwitz rook endgame. Read José Raul Capablanca's Chess Fundamentals. 

fpawn

Boredom leads to endgame failure. You must be able to calculate all the nuances as a single tempo may be the difference between winning and losing.

staygo

I must be very bored

Nevermoreless

looking at your blitz profile of original poster... just study different types of checkmating patterns and pawn structures, in conjunction with basic endgame principles, opposition, box, etc. Studying checkmates in 2,3,4,5 builds up understanding for late middle game and endgame. At least then you have some patterns you can aim for. Lazlo Polgar had his daughters do that and even put out a tome way back. It can be useful but also remember people are creating these things and there can be typos or wrong solutions printed. but you can always feed the position into chess.com analysis board if it seems unsolvable.

Peano724

I read a couple of Chess Books, But One that helped me big time is Jeremy Silman "Complete Endgames, From Beginner To Master" Very Easy to read and understand. If your serious about improving I Highly Recommend this Book.

0JChess

Learn positional chess. Here's a list (with examples) I put together of things you want, in order of how valuable it is:

1. King safety: Make sure your king is safer than your opponent's

2. Material: Who has more material points? (Bishops count has 3.25, especially in many endgames)

3a. Piece activity: Make sure your pieces are doing what they should. Generally, knights are best on defense but rooks should not be blocking pawns, the king should do that.

3b. Pawn structure: I put this as even with piece activity because both are crucial. An outside connected passed pawn is much more valuable than an active king, but focusing on if your pawns are doubled or in many islands isn't important

4. Time: Time can actually be quite important! Even if a player loses by checkmate, not time, the clock can still be what caused the loss.

[No example necessary]

There may be more factors (like opposite colored bishops,) but those are the main ones. You should never need to think in the endgame; it should all be planned out during the middlegame. An IM once told me that when it's your turn, you should be thinking of tactics and other moves of that sort, but when it's your opponent's turn, you should create a plan for the entire game.

shlaquamer

Thank you all for all this advice I will definitely change how I look at the games and endgames.

Themightygopher

I'm probably going to get a lot of disagreement from this post, but I've found for me personally. Rook pawn endgames are the most common endgames so if you get really bored with it at least look at those. You'll see puzzles " how to mate with a knight bishop and king vs a king" or 2 bishops vs a king. ( I can do it in most positions, but I definitely need time to figure it out. The 2 last positions I mentioned I've literally never have had happen a day in my life. Been playing 26 years.... I watched a game at the Chicago open over Memorial weekend. Ended up being the exact position I was just talking about the fellow couldn't figure out Mate and drew the game ( he happened to be one of the the highest rated players in the U2100 Section) I guess it depends on exactly what level you're trying to achieve, but my number one priority is to always enjoy the game win or lose.

Hailey

Motivation to get better at chess.