Endgames that beginners need to know?

Hey guys,

So I am about to upload a video to YouTube about reaching 1200 elo in rapid. I thought I had finished the video and then realised I had said nothing about endgames!! This might be because I honestly haven't really worked on endgames much myself. I learned King & Queen vs King, and King & Rook vs King, which has come up during my games. At my current level, I have never experienced a situation where I needed to know more than that. But are there any other endgames that you usually recommend? Any more that you think will actually come up in beginner games? I mean specific endgame situations, not general endgame principles (like activate your king, cut off the enemy king, etc).

I saw in the other thread someone recommending:

KQ vs. K, KR vs. K, KBB vs. K, KBN vs. K, KNN vs. KP.

Is that generally what coaches recommend? Again, I've never needed to know the final three of those.

Thanks!

From my experience and observations, the answer depends on the coach.

My personal experience on BNK was once ever in like x thousands of games played.  My last coach who went onto get his NM discounted that lesson as well.

Some would argue as Capablanca fans and others enjoy coordinating their minors pieces for fun; I can see those points as well.

Rook and king ending is definitely a must show.

A majority of my wins are resignations or checkmates but I’ll work on my end game thru rated puzzles, which is suffice.

Thanks Chuck639 That's very useful to hear

Well it seems like people here don't have too strong of an opinion. So I'll include your advice in my YouTube video and my own experiences.

An experienced friend of mine mentioned king opposition; definitely a must know. 

Beginners and intermediate players must know how to utilize king opposition especially in king and pawn(s) end game.

Again, I get the exposure and practice thru doing rated puzzles daily. Practicality wise, you are guaranteed to run into this.

nail the basics first,  rook or queen vs king, b-g pawn vs king, two bishops, bishop+pawn and knight+pawn, know that 2 knights can't do it (this is the only place where >5 points can't force a win).  Know K vs K (the concept of opposition of kings) so you can draw or run the clock etc. and use it to win pawn and king games.   After that you can get into the special cases, which are largely pawn games, to polish up your set.  

Back in the early 1980s, I played in a major tournament, where there were two instances of B+N endgame.  One was mine -- my opponent was about 1800 and beating me handily.  But as the endgame approached I saw a way of sacrificing to force a B+N vs K situation.  He went right for it, but he then proceeded to checkmate me in only 17 moves, playing each move instantly.  Afterwards, he said he'd been waiting his whole life to get to demonstrate that in a tournament game.  So even though I lost, it was actually kinda satisfying making someone so happy.

The other instance (and in the same tournament!), happened between two strong masters.  I won't mention who the master was (although he was a friend of mine, and 2300+), who also got stuck with a B+N vs K.  He admitted that he had never learned it, so he had to figure it out over the board.  I think he achieved checkmate in 48 moves.

I think it is valuable to learn Q vs P, with the pawn on the 7th.  How to win with the queen (if the pawn is on a knight, king, or queen file), and how to draw with the pawn if the pawn is on a rook or bishop file.

That’s hilarious! The chances of that, I dunno?

I once had a Friday and Saturday poker session, both times I got pocket kings and got re-raised all in, I was taught never fold pocket kings; what are the chances of running into pocket aces twice?

The first 4, yes.  KNNvsKP is not all that useful (though learning how to hold a draw on the weak side of a KNNvsK endgame is useful).

The other endgames you want to know around that level are the Lucena position, Philidor position, and Vancura position (all of which are KRPvsKR endgames), and the basic KPvsK endgames.

Opposition - The Most Important Endgame Concept

https://www.chess.com/blog/RussBell/opposition

For instructive resources specifically relevant to this forum thread, search 'endgame' here...

Improving Your Chess - Resources for Beginners and Beyond...

https://www.chess.com/blog/RussBell/improving-your-chess-resources-for-beginners-and-beyond