I think it's important to be patient in such a position. OK you don't see anything concrete, but your advantage won't disappear either. Looks like you tried to force it. I like the bishop on f5 it is nicely secure there. 3 options come to mind for me... Firstly Kg2 just improving your king position and asking black to find a useful move. There is also f4 as exf4 looks bad for black (Bxg7 Kxg7 gxf4 you have 2 connected passers and threaten Rd7+ winning the a pawn). Then there is perhaps the simplest Rd7 immediately attacking a7. Then if a5 or a6 you can bring the rook behind whichever pawn is weak on the a or b file. Either way, all 3 plans are somewhat interlinked. If you go Re7 then f4 has more bite because exf4 hangs the Bg7 for example. Kg2 is a move you want at some point anyway to bring the king into the action etc. The bottom line is that black has no immediate counterplay or threats so in such a situation if you don't see a forcing line or are unsure of your analysis then you can make a slow move like Kg2 gradually improving and pass it over to black. It's horrible to be a pawn down with no counterplay so most players will lash out somehow and further weaken their position rather than shuffle about waiting.
Throwing away a winning game - i need ideas for a better endgame plan
I think it's important to be patient in such a position. OK you don't see anything concrete, but your advantage won't disappear either. Looks like you tried to force it. I like the bishop on f5 it is nicely secure there. 3 options come to mind for me... Firstly Kg2 just improving your king position and asking black to find a useful move. There is also f4 as exf4 looks bad for black (Bxg7 Kxg7 gxf4 you have 2 connected passers and threaten Rd7+ winning the a pawn). Then there is perhaps the simplest Rd7 immediately attacking a7. Then if a5 or a6 you can bring the rook behind whichever pawn is weak on the a or b file. Either way, all 3 plans are somewhat interlinked. If you go Re7 then f4 has more bite because exf4 hangs the Bg7 for example. Kg2 is a move you want at some point anyway to bring the king into the action etc. The bottom line is that black has no immediate counterplay or threats so in such a situation if you don't see a forcing line or are unsure of your analysis then you can make a slow move like Kg2 gradually improving and pass it over to black. It's horrible to be a pawn down with no counterplay so most players will lash out somehow and further weaken their position rather than shuffle about waiting.
Reading your words hit me straight on. I will remember them during my next game. I have lost dozens of games due to lack of patience and i am the one starting to lash out. I thought that my advantage would somehow disappear unless i acted quickly. I didn't know that black didn't had any useful moves, but thought that given a few free tempo he would come up with a deadly counterattack or something. I should have spent more time analyzing the position and blacks resources to realize that i had nothing to fear.
Okay, so I did what you asked and went right to move 38 - I didn't try to examine anything earlier. Rd5 is fine I think. When he played 38. ....Nb3 the very first thought that went through my head was OMG he just gave up control of the 7th rank!
You are possibly already aware of the importance of the 7th and 8th ranks for rooks. This is true in the middlegame, but is especially important in the endgame. If you get a chance to penetrate to the 7th rank with one rook, you normally have an advantage. If you can get two connected rooks on the 7th, it is usually decisive.
In terms of the strength of an attack, the order is as follows - 1) front, 2) flank, and 3) rear. Meaning a rook attacking a pawn in front of it is the weakest attack, a rook attacking a pawn from the flank (i.e. a side) is the next strongest, and a rook attacking a pawn from the rear is the strongest attack.
The 7th rank is important and useful for a rook as it frequently limits the enemy king movements (i.e. traps him on his first rank (or the 8th rank from your side), and it allows the rook frequently to simultaneously attack many of the pawns that may still reside on their original squares. if any pawns advance, then can often be attacked from the rear.
If your game, moving the rook to d7 would have attacked the a-pawn. If he moved his own rook to back it up, you could have attacked the isolated pawn from behind. if he moved the a-pawn you could have attacked either it or the b-pawn from behind. In short, you likely would have had enough pressure to win another pawn. And being two pawns up you would probably already have a winning advantage.
for thought and consideration..
I would posit that it is not ideas or thoughts that 'lose games' early, mid, or endgame.. It is the execution of them, and whether that is precise enough to win the day.
I know my earlier phases of the game was far from perfect, but i reached the endgame with a solid advantage but failed to convert it to a win, therefore i am focusing on improving my strategy & planning during the later phase of the game. This is the area i usually make my worst mistakes in.
morphys-revenge: Thanks of elaboration on attacks and the potential of rooks on seventh.
First of all, playing and converting an advantage into a win in an endgame is a very hard task. You should not feel bad about yourself. Many other chess players have the exact same problem.
Inorder to improve your endgame's skills, you should study ENDGAME TECHNIQUE books, NOT ENDGAME BOOKS.
Well what's the difference?
Endgame books are collection of endgame positions, and the author explains the winning series of moves.
Endgame Technique books are collection of endgame positions, and the author explains HOW SHOULD YOU THINK, AND HOW TO IMPROVE YOUR POSITION LITTLE BY LITTLE UNTIL VICTORY.
So let's talk about your endgame in the game you mentioned:
Move 42: d6?!
This is a dubious move, you shouldn't advanace your pawns too much in endgames.
The reason: whenever you advance a pawn, it becomes weaker and harder to defense.
A better move was Bc2, this prepares b4 and maybe Be4 or "Ke4" (in the future).
46.f4??
was a blunder, instead Kg2 Kf3 Ke4 Kf5 was much much better.
52.Kf3?
it was your last mistake, Bb5 Kc5 a4, gives you drawing chances.
Small note:
DON'T GET DEVORETSKY BOOK ON ENDGAMES, IT IS A VERY HARD BOOK TO ANALYZE AND UNDERSTAND, I HAVE PROBLEMS WITH IT AND I HAVE A 2000 NATIONAL ELO.
Again download/buy only endgame technique.
Good Luck With Your Chess,
CrushKings
- Keep It "Simple"/Simplify -- Basically, if either side possess more than a full piece (minor) advantage (and in some cases, a clear two pawn advantage is good enough) they should be looking for every opportunity to trade piece. Simplify the position down to its "purest" form (kind of like doing "fractions" in math). This is a principle of technique that applies in both Middlegames and Endgames, but you would be surprised how often amateur games get "blown" simply because whomever was winning dismissed their opportunities to trade pieces.
- Keep an Eye Out -- If/when you've achieved a significant advantage, your opponent's threats just became more important than your own brilliant plans! I know that's hard to take in, but the point is that "tricks" are all your opponent has left. The bad news is that that means chess at the highest level isn't as fun as it looks, and that there isn't nearly as much creative thinking required to become a great chess player as you think there is... The good news is that, technically, if you have a clear advantage and play perfectly from then on out, it wouldn't matter if your opponent got up and Garry Kasparov sat down -- if your position is winning, you should win it! It's that simple. So, if you can have a "defensive" eye and not get careless about your opponent's tricks, you will convert all your endgame advantages into a full point!
- Keep Playing Chess -- The game isn't over, despite your advantage. So, pay attention to all the other principles in this article and remember that if there isn't a clear "path to victory" by trading pieces, you have to keep playing good moves!
Push your passed pawns if you have them.
One thing that really separates the final stage of chess from the rest of the game is King play! Every great endgame player in history not only understood the importance King activation, but they anticipated precisely when the middlegame was ending, and that it was time to activate the king.
Generally, as soon as the Queen's have been traded you should consider the possibility of bringing out your King. In cases where there still exists lots of enemy forces (particularly the two Rooks and at least two minor pieces) -- you might want to put the reigns on your leader, but don't lose a game because you brought your King into the battle too late!
Be Concrete and Calculate
Unlike any other phase to chess, the endgame requires more knowledge of specific positions and patterns. What if you realized that in the majority of the endgames you play, the result is likely already decided or forced if the best moves are played by both sides? That's kind of scary when you think about it, right? It means that being general and/or trying to evaluate things intuitively is very risky.
As a beginner, you can't expect yourself to have the knowledge of technical positions that a master level (let alone a GM) player would have. BUT what you can do is take my piece of advice as something similar to the "never turn your back on the ocean" saying, i.e. -- approach the endgame like every move could be your last! Be concrete, calculate, "don't move until you see it", etc... If you play chess with a healthy fear of endings and that they are actually the hardest stage of the game where there is the most to calculate, then you will be on the right track already.
Less Pieces = Less Room for Mistakes
This principle is in place to remind you of the scary fact that endgames require the most precision of any stage of the game. Unless you are simply lost and only postponing things to avoid going home, or totally winning and enjoying the torture of your helpless opponent -- then you are by definition involved in a relatively equal ending that requires, here it comes, your complete focus and hard work.
CrushKings: Thanks, i agree - learning what to do in an endgame or when an endgame is approaching is what i am focusing on. The only specific endgame positions iv'e studied are the must-know, like philiodor & lucena position, some common king & pawn endings and concepts like opposition, outflanking, triangulation etc.
IMRonilm1204: Thanks for your advice. I think i will play through the endings from my games against the computer and try to win them to practice my technique and gain more experience.
Interestingly d6 is not a bad move. There is no way for black to win the d-pawn without giving up the e-pawn. 42... Bf6 43. Bc6 Kg7 44. Kg2 is a possible continuation and Kf7 going for the pawn fails due to Bd5+. Black is stuck, the bishop is defending the e5-pawn and black's king is defending the bishop to prevent f4. That is why the computer suggests 44....e4 in that line, giving up the e-pawn even though that leads to a completely lost position after 45.d7.
Also in the game the threat of f4 forces black to defend the bishop on f6. 44.f4 was a missed opportunity and 46.f4 was a serious mistake, because the bishop is defended. f4 should have been kept for when black decides to leave the bishop undefended.
One of your biggest mistakes was to leave your king sat back doing nothing for as long as you did. You should have centralised it much earlier, it's a powerful endgame piece.
I think I would play something like this.
I think 39. Bg6 wins a pawn, doesn't it?
I recommend the RAR: http://rar.host22.com/
It’ll teach you that in the end good moves aren’t all that matter, but rather you need to be able to make your opponents play worse, not necessarily playing better.
Take my advice with a box of salt, but...
After move 38 you had a won game. But a few issues.
1) You made a long term plan (queening a kingside pawn) without any real idea of how to achieve it.
2) Once you got a queenside passed pawn not sure your assumption is correct (support it with the bishop pair). The bishop pair has advantages but I’m not sure this is one of them (any square he puts his knight on that is the same color as his bishop becomes an unassailable blockade point).
3) Keep it simple. If one pawn up doesn’t show a clear win, then 2 pawns up probably will. 39 Rd7 or 39 f4 (didn’t look at it closely but if he takes after bxb and gf, you end up with a nice pair of connected passed pawns) both look good.
Recently i played this OTB slowchess game and was qute happy about my performance, until the endgame, where i just lost my aim completely and started making one shitty move after another. Lets fast forward to move 38 and analyse the position.
There are no concrete threats or tactics for either side as far as i can see. White has to come up with a plan to convert these small advantages into a win. That is where i failed and would like your input!
I wasn't too happy about my bishop on f5, since it would get restricted if i started to advance the kingside pawns, so i started to think about moving it to queenside. Maybe it was perfectly happy there, and aiming at advancing the kingside pawns was the wrong idea?
I allowed a rook exchange, getting rid of my active rook for blacks more passive. I created an advanced passed pawn in the process, which may not be that bad. But i never had a good plan regarding how to use it effectively. Bringing the king closer to the action may have been a better idea?
Perhaps the best way to play this position is to continue slowly improve bit by bit, marching my pawns forward, restricting my opponent and bringing the king closer to the action until some winning tactics start to appear almost by themselves, or trying to force piece trades to reach a winning kings & pawns endgame.