Help in Endgame technique.

Hello.

I am an improving beginner of 1750+- elo strength. I was wondering, what is the best method to improve your endgame play? I am a fairly good at tactics for my level, and I don't have any problems in sharp games which are decided by direct  tactical fights in the middlegame or even in the opening. I also tend to reach a lot of endgames with huge advantages. But somehow a large majority of these games I cannot convert...it's really frustrating. I have studied "Silman's Complete Endgame Course", and have a fairly good grasp of the basics, such as opposition, activity, basic KP, minor piece and Rook  endings etc. Strangely, I try to solve a lot of puzzles and endgame studies, and I don't have have this problem there. OTB however...I always seem to get paralyzed by my opponent's counterplay, my pieces get passive, and...

Oh and not to mention the "equal" endgames I sometimes get out of Ruys or Caro-Kanns. It has come to a point where I simply start playing for draw out of panic. I should mention that I always play against slightly stronger opponents (elo 1800-2150+-).

So what should I do? I already spend atleast 3+ hours in OTB/sparring against Shredder. I don't play Blitz. So solve more problems? Analyzing my mistakes? I try to do it...when I'm not feeling absolutely disgusted with myself.

You may be better than me already in the endgame, so take my words with a grain of salt.

1. Analyze your endgames you feel you did not play well in. It takes time and may be painful if they ended up in losses, but understanding where and why the errors occur is the beginning of how you can improve.
2. Study great endgame players - Capablanca, Smyslov, Karpov. Their games will have more "game-like" feel than a chess problem or composition would, so may help you with more "practical" situations. Maybe play "solitaire" chess with their games...set up the position and try to figure out what you should have played, then see what the master played.
3. Review your fundamentals. You shouldn't just read Silman's endgame course once...you should occasionally review the fundamentals because these are the building blocks of the more complex positions.

Hope you find this helpful.

Best regards,

Bryan

www.betterchesstraining.com

I've been watching the Tata Steel 2014 streams on youtube and there was a lot of good commentating on those endgames.

You definitely don't have to watch the whole thing but there were some very instructive endgames here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lZ69BlpMrwY&feature=share&t=4h31m27s

Thanks, backrankbrawler:

1. I try. Sometimes the problems seem not so obvious...My last game saw a RB(anchored)pp vs Rppp(2 connected) on the opposite flank. A clear win...but Stockfish took 25or so more moves of precise play (until Q) which may simply be beyond my capacities atm. And sometimes I just start blundering as my situation gets worse and worse.
2. I absolutely love doing this. I own OMGP (Garry Kasparov), and I play through the games while analyzing on my own. I have discovered many hidden gems, brilliant combinations, and spectacular defences on my own (with help of 2014 engines as opposed to 2002 ones...thinking about moves and asking it for opinion.) But it takes 4+ hours to get through ONE game this way :) I am a college student with a chess addiction. Apart from the usual amount of time I spend playing, I just don't seem to have enough time...This is why I mentioned my time restriction.
3. I will try that. At least it's a nice book, and doesn't read like an anatomy text. Any other book suggestions, please?

The videos were interesting. Thanks.

Thanks a lot, Bryan. i'll check them out. The worst thing about my situation is that not only am i sqandering wins, i am also steering away from promising simple endgames to complications simply out of panic. And naturally, blundering some more in the process. It's a bit hard to do on your own, I guess.

neoindian wrote:

Hello.

I am an improving beginner of 1750+- elo strength. I was wondering, what is the best method to improve your endgame play? I am a fairly good at tactics for my level, and I don't have any problems in sharp games which are decided by direct  tactical fights in the middlegame or even in the opening. I also tend to reach a lot of endgames with huge advantages. But somehow a large majority of these games I cannot convert...it's really frustrating. I have studied "Silman's Complete Endgame Course", and have a fairly good grasp of the basics, such as opposition, activity, basic KP, minor piece and Rook  endings etc. Strangely, I try to solve a lot of puzzles and endgame studies, and I don't have have this problem there. OTB however...I always seem to get paralyzed by my opponent's counterplay, my pieces get passive, and...

Oh and not to mention the "equal" endgames I sometimes get out of Ruys or Caro-Kanns. It has come to a point where I simply start playing for draw out of panic. I should mention that I always play against slightly stronger opponents (elo 1800-2150+-).

So what should I do? I already spend atleast 3+ hours in OTB/sparring against Shredder. I don't play Blitz. So solve more problems? Analyzing my mistakes? I try to do it...when I'm not feeling absolutely disgusted with myself.

So what should I do?

The following is a list of endgame principles and techniques:

 I. Endgame Principles

   a. The primary goal of the endgame is pawn promotion. 

       All of your strategies and tactics should aim step by step toward

       that main goal, while simultaneously killing counterplay ( pawn

       promotion strategies and tactics on the part of your opponent)

   b. Almost all R+p(s) endgames are drawn.  Almost all opposite color

       B+p(s) endgames are drawn. 

   c. When you find yourself in a losing or lost position seek out variations

       that lead to perpetual check, stalemate, or 3-move repetitions.  If

       you are up material in a losing or lost position, seek out variations to

       return material for achieving equality or regaining the initiative

       while simultaneously killing counterplay.

   d. The more pawn islands your pawns are divided up into the harder

        your defensive task will be.

   e. The principle of 2 weaknesses.  This I will explain with the next post

       if you are interested

II. Endgame Techniques

  a. Bs can gain or lose a tempo (even when reflecting off of the edge of

      the board)

  b. Ns CANNOT EVER GAIN OR LOSE A TEMPO

  c. Most B vs. N endgames are won by the B if the following elements

      are in the position: 

     1. There are pawns on both sides of the board with at least 2-3 empty

         files of separation between the pawn islands.  If all of the pawns

         all on one side of the board then the position is almost always

         drawn.

     2. The pawn structure is open

     3. The N CANNOT establish an outpost on a central square where it is

         defended by one of its own pawns, and cannot be driven from its

         outpost by an enemy pawn.  If the N can establish an outpost then

         in almost all cases the game is a draw.

 If you are interested I will post more there is considerably more.  I am not a coach and  this is not a solicitation for chess lessons. All of the info. I share is free.

Hello, roi_g11.

I can understand the confusion. I created my profile at chess.com only a little while ago. I started playing (and still play) correspondence chess at gameknots.com (again, I don't know if it is against site etiuette to discuss this). Moreover, I'm constantly having problems in this site (board and pieces all jumbled up, wrong smiley, posts getting eaten etc.) and this has pretty much forced me to stop playing here, as I can't view or post a single diagram any more. This is also why I couldn't post some of the positions I lost, which is what I wanted to do. I posted in the help forum, and waiting for reply.


As for OTB, I play at a chess club in Kolkata (IND) where there are many juniors (unrated-1800) and experts (1900-2200+). Chess is my hobby, not career choice, and I'm not fide rated (I don't have a registration etc.) But I play pretty consistently and the strongest player I'v beaten was 2160 in standard time control. My estimate of 1750 was maybe somewhat conservative, because a)I spar against Shredder regularly, and it calculates my strength at 1950+-. b) Ratings and playing strength at junior level are constantly flucuating, kids 12-16 years play one game like an expert and get checkmated in 10 moves the next. Consistency isn't a problem against the computer (Shredder is very good at mimicking Human play, probably the best out there).


 "I tried looking at your games, but you only have two that just started, and your profile, which was just created a week ago, says you're a beginner that just learned not to drop pieces in the opening."
 

This was meant to be humorous. I had Kramnik's candidate 2014 performance in my mind when I wrote that :) Sorry for the confusion.

 

"If you're blundering pieces and pawns in the endgame it is probably more of a thought process problem than a technique/knowledge gap."

This is dead on. As an example, I as White have a Knight on d6 which is completely dominating the enemy Bishop, but I must support it with a pawn. here somehow urgency sets in, followed by panic, and before long I completely lose control of the situation. A lot of the times I also struggle with conflicting priorities (Move the King up?  Or Play the Rook to this file? etc.) I know what's the right thing to do, but not when. And my absolute main problem is controlling opponent's counterplay when I have clearly superior position. i can see it coming from a mile away, but can't seem to stop it without being passive myself.


I'll try to post a few of my games here. Any further thoughts and comments are always welcome.

@ Yaroslavl:

Thanks, man. really appreciated your post. Of course I'm interested in learning a few things and discussing a few practical problems, if you have the time.

Specifically:

1. "Almost all R+p(s) endgames are drawn.  Almost all opposite color        B+p(s) endgames are drawn." I'v studied a few basic Rook endgame positions, and I thought that by having a good king(not lettting it get cut off, protecting it from rook checks by my rook etc.) having more and far advanced pawns (This is what is generally thought to be an advantageous position), avoiding rook-pawns or Knight-pawns in lieu of central ones, I'd have good chances of winning in a practical game. Could you please expand on it a bit more? In case of opposite coloured B+p(s), "Material is nothing, position is everything" is what I'v found true in my games, especially if your B is of correct colour, and anchored (which is what I always aim for) and the overall position, of course. My main problem is not being  able to prevent enemy Rook-infiltration, while I am busy protecting everything. Any thoughts on this?
2. "The principle of 2 weaknesses." I understand this in K+p endgames, but could you explain this in more general terms?
3. ".....while simultaneously killing counterplay ( pawn promotion strategies and tactics on the part of your opponent)."  This would be really, really helpful. Thanks.

Got it right away...Because Minev works closely with Yasser Seirawan, whom I absolutely love. But I didn't know about this book!

Be back with my thoughts (and hopefully games) shortly. You guys are getting my hopes up.

I play Shredder not at full strength (My God!) but set to "2200 (expert)"., and with "limit book knowledge" on.  In this setting, it is very good at mimicking real human play (plays occasional suboptimal moves, forgives occasional inaccuracies but punishes mistakes, misses winning lines if they are too deep, sometimes plays passively etc.) I enjoy it.  I'm a bit too tight-scheduled to carry my butt over to the club more than 2-3 times a week (hello. this is neoindian live from physics lab. :P) And frankly, I'm crushing anybody =< 1800 well before the endgame in OTB. So Tactics isn't a problem, I think. It's just my inability to convert endgames with material and positional advantages, where opponents almost always seem to slip away. Like I said, I don't know how much of it is psychological- i seem to solve endgame puzzles and studies reasonably well.

On another note, can you guys suggest a collection of endgame studies and problems that I can try to solve? The few books i have don't contain enough problems. Thanks.

I think engines are perfect for practicing forced wins like K v K+Q. I think you have to turn them down for stuff like K v K+B+N because they always defend in the same way. But for "practical" endgames it's probably going to be frustrating.

I started online chess about a month ago...I have been playing Chess since childhood and joined this club about 2 years ago, when I moved into the city. Most club members are fide rated, I am not guessing their rating. Since then my interest grew, I started buying books, downloading databases, browsing chess sites (mostly cg.com),  and only recently I created a couple of accounts. Online correspondence chess never appealed to me, since it mostly transtates into engine competitions.

Here's an example of me losing a perfectly equal position:

In this case, when I played Rd7, I was thinking about winning Black's kingside pawns and maybe win the game. I completely misevaluated the position. Still, without that Ke3?? I still could have drawn. But somehow pushing the king forward seemed like a good idea, and it became very difficult.

Try NimzoRoy's blog for lots of positions. Some are basic, but there are some tough cookies mixed in. Usually courtesy of Horwitz and Kling, Grigoriev, Rinck or Troitsky. Those are some good names to Google too, their compositions are old (some over a century old!) but mostly sound and very very instructive.