The Most Important Endgame Concept

(Please note, this forum is for players under 1800 elo)

So, you've mastered triangulation and opposition. What do you do next? Useless bishop and knight endgames? A random rook endgame? No....

Instead of studying certain endgame concepts you'll almost never use, there is one main endgame idea/concept that wins many games I play, and is one of the most useful endgame tricks I have ever used. This trick does require some brute-forcing, as you must calculate every good pawn move in the position. 

The concept is.....

Zugzwang.

So, what IS Zugzwang?

Simply put, zugzwang is a position in chess where your opponent cannot make good moves. This might be because a piece is guarding a important square; stopping a piece from being attacked, etc. This almost always happens in the endgame(except for a few select games), as your opponent has less pieces, and less moves. 

So, why is this concept important?

This concept of zugzwang is important because it allows you to win pawns in the endgame through proper planning, usually forcing the opponent's king to stop guarding a precious pawn.

Here's an example known as the Trébuchet position.

Let's say it's Black's turn. They must move their king, as that is the only piece they can move. However, if they move their king, they stop supporting their pawn, allowing White to capture it and win the game.

(This position is known as a mutual zugzwang, as whoever moves loses...)

Sounds great... but how do I use this?

One major time you can use this if all pawns on the board cannot move. Through this, you can force the opponent king into an disadvantageous position, winning a pawn and the game. Another time you can use this idea is when ONLY pawns can move, as you can carefully move pawns 1 or two steps in order to force the opponent's move, winning pawns in the process.

For example, here is one game I recently played.

I put the White king in a terrible position. No matter where the White king moves, I can force them into a zugzwang OR force them to lose a pawn... essentially, the White king cannot move.

Now, in order to take advantage and force the White king to move, you must move your pawns in order to force White to move.

This is a key concept, and blundering in a position as such will likely cost you the game. (However, in the position shown below, you can basically do anything and still win... I wish I had a better game to show this concept, but I didn't notate a very nice game that showed this concept OTB once.)

Try to use this concept in one of your games! However, remember, your opponent might also know this concept, so plan every move and every pawn response.

I hope you enjoyed this forum about Zugzwang!

Please tell me how I can improve this forum before I post a blog on it.