Help ! Equal Endgames !

Nowadays ive started to realize that the hardest endgames ever is...

EQUAL !!!

well sometimes we can see with equal pieces and position its hard to say draw or win but sometimes we can see there is a possibility for both sides to win but most of it i personally think is draw. 

but the point is... what is the main objective of playing and practising equal endgames ? ist to find better way to win ? or to maintain the position for a draw ? if i gotta know what is actually they want, then i have a clear motive when playing and training equal endgames !

Hope everyone can help ! thanks !

To play for a win in the drawn endgame is a good way to lose.  If it's equal, just be extra sensitive to how each move effects activity of your pieces and weaknesses/targets.  The first rule of endgames in my mind is activity -- more deadly than falling behind in material is falling behind in piece activity (king+ whatever non-pawns are left). 

As for weaknesses, for example don't advance any pawns without a good reason because in general each time they move up a rank exposes them more to attack, puts more space behind them for enemy infiltration, etc.

In practice if you can correctly evaluate it as a draw, and just stay active and patient without really doing anything but marking time with your moves, a less experienced opponent is sure to get impatient and give you advantage after advantage and eventually let you win.  On the other hand if you yourself aren't too handy with endgames, that's why you practice them -- because in a real game a stronger player will just torture you for 50 moves waiting for a mistake.

WOW ! Thanks !

In my limited experience I've found that most endgames are much more complicated than they look at first glance. Often some innocent looking move can tip an equal endgame into a win or loss. Pawn structure and king placement can be crucial. I think equal endgames are great practice because they may not be as equal as they appear. Try putting what looks like a drawn endgame into an engine set to a rediculously high level and you'll probably find it'll tear you apart rather quickly. At least, they do me.

The key to equal endgames, should be fairly obvoius: play them as objectively accurate as possible {i.e. you play solid (no speculative sacs) and for the draw.} That said, playing for a draw doesnt mean that you have to passively, rather, play as forcefully as it is sound (for example, place your king in the most aggressive square possible but only if it is sound to do so) and wait for a mistake.


Here is a extract from an OTB game of mine, which will hopefully demonstrate some of the above. my oppeanant (playing white) was about 120 ECF (1600 FIDE). The endgame we arrived at was equal and probably objectively drawn as well. However, he made mistakes (due to the pressure I was placing on him, I like to think) and ended up losing.

Blackadder wrote: That said, playing for a draw doesnt mean that you have to passively, rather, play as forcefully as it is sound (for example, place your king in the most aggressive square possible but only if it is sound to do so) and wait for a mistake.

Man, I think that's great advice. Right on the money IMO. Often, even usually, the only way to get the draw is fighting... there are defensive draws for sure, but at my level at least, they seem be more the exception than the rule. The player who goes defensive first seems to lose rather often.

Again, it's all about activity -- 36.Kb3 is obviously bad because a knight (3) is tying a king (lets say worth 4) to defense on a square where the king is out of play.  The # doesn't matter too much, it's just that the king is obviously worth more so white should look hard for a way to defend with the knight... and we find 36.Nb3 instead, which should draw easily.

Using one piece to tie a more valuable piece to a weakness is a common theme in endgames and a very useful one to be aware of.  In this case it wasn't tied for long, but the king had to stay centralized and after it went out of play on the b file black suddenly has a lot to hope for.

after a bit on analysis I'm inclined to agree that 36.Nb3 is better.  I provide some analysis as demonstration of a prevoius point: sound aggression can make things very difficualt for your oppenant, in the lines below there are lots of things white must consider, and failure to consider these points could lose the game, this is not the case for black. Thus an interesting observation would be to notice that although the position is equal in terms of material and position, it is greatly unequal in terms of the effort, care and attension required to draw.  This concept might also help explain JG27Pyth 's observation {"The player who goes defensive first seems to lose rather often"}...if it is far harder to play defensivly then why try and play defensivly? 

And further tying in with my prevoius post: How hard it is for one side to find the right moves, is often a direct result of sound aggression.

hey ! Thanks for your example game ! now i get what u mean... recently i played equal endgames and usually the mistake is caught that way ! zugzwang ! then as the example above, after zugzwang white cant break into black's territory becuz there are pawns blocking. moreover, black's king and knight is pushed further forward. so black has a great advantage to give up his knight for a pawn and pushed in his pawn for promotion.