Major Piece alone and King Checkmate - Endgame Principles - Chess Forums

PointlessR

Mar 29, 2023

0

#1

During an endgame, You might have lost all your pawns and be left with a major piece and the king. Some players don't know how to checkmate with the king + rook, or king + queen, so they settle for a draw(because most beginners use ladder chekmate technique.

KING + ROOK

to checkmate with the rook, always cut the opposing king off first(it doesn't matter where the king is on the board, as long as you repeat these steps the opposing king will be on the edge of the board). For example:

The opposing king is now restricted to a minority of the board. Now, we should put the king on knight opposition of the the opposing king. If the opposing king starts approaching the rook, move the rook to the other side of the board while still restricting the opposing king's space. When this happens, the king will no longer be on knight opposition of the opposing king. To get back on knight opposition, you must play a waiting move. For example:

The white rook just played a waiting move so the king could come back onto knight opposition.

Now the black king is forced to enter opposition against the whte king:

Now that the black king is opposing the white king properly(and it is white's turn), the rook moves back and checks the black king. For example:

The black king cannot move forward(because of the white king) or sideways(because of the check), so it must move backwards.

Repeating these steps will mean that the black king will be checkmated on one of the sides of the board. A full checkmate with the rook would look like this:

One on another edge of the board would look like this:

There are other ways to take the opposing king to the edge of the board, however I think this is the most risk-free. You can post links to easier ways of taking the king to the edge of the board.

KING + QUEEN

This checkmate is easier than the rook + king. First, put the queen on kinght oposition of the opposing king(your king doesn't matter at the moment). For example:

Now let your opponent play a move. Copy this move, to keep knight opposition. Keep on copying the opponent's moves until they are on the edge of the board. For example:

Now that the king is on the edge of the board, stop copying moves and cut the king off. We stop copying to avoid stalemate. For example:

make sure to give the opposing king at least 2 spaces to move across so you avoid stalemate.

Now that you have got the king to the edge of the board, walk your king to the side of the board you are on. Put your king on knight opposition of the opposing king. If you need one, use a waiting move.

For example:

Your king is now on knight opposition of the opposing king. Now you should copy the opposing king's moves with your king until the opponent's king is face on with your king(while it is your turn). For example:

You can now deliver checkmate! Put your queen in between both kings to give checkmate. For example:

CONCLUSION -

These endgame principles will help you win more games. Please put other ways of doing these checkmates in comments.

magipi

Mar 29, 2023

0

#2

The thing is that mating with the queen works exactly the same as mating with the rook. There is absolutely no need to learn a new method for that.

PointlessR

Mar 29, 2023

0

#3

not really becuas eyou can mate quicker using the method for queen + king than using a rook method(if you're lower on time). That is a good enough reason to learn a second method in case you are low on time.

magipi

Mar 29, 2023

0

#4

PointlessR wrote:

not really becuas eyou can mate quicker using the method for queen + king than using a rook method(if you're lower on time). That is a good enough reason to learn a second method in case you are low on time.

Actually, the first method is faster. The method that you've recommended for a queen, that crazy time-wasting dance is just complete nonsense.

BOWTOTHETOAST

Mar 29, 2023

0

#5

magipi wrote:

PointlessR wrote:

not really becuas eyou can mate quicker using the method for queen + king than using a rook method(if you're lower on time). That is a good enough reason to learn a second method in case you are low on time.

Actually, the first method is faster. The method that you've recommended for a queen, that crazy time-wasting dance is just complete nonsense.

What you just said was complete nonsense. I completely agree with Pointless R. Very funny username by the way