What are some of your rarest endgames you've found yourself in?

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Avatar of ichiro_bloodmoon

For me so far since I've been playing Chess my rarest endgame scenarios I've found myself in have been Queen vs Knight, Bishop vs Rook, Rook vs Knight and Bishops of opposite colors. How about you fellow Chess players?

Avatar of wanmokewan

Needing to promote to a knight to avoid stalemate.

Avatar of ichiro_bloodmoon

wanmokewan wrote:

Needing to promote to a knight to avoid stalemate.

That's an interesting scenario for sure. Ever had to underpromote to a Bishop in order to avoid getting checkmated outright?

Avatar of LM_player
2 Bishops endgame. (I won)
Avatar of wanmokewan

Was it a forced mate? And no, I've never had to promote to a bishop although in that situation I could have. I just couldn't promote to a queen or rook.

Avatar of ichiro_bloodmoon

LM_player wrote:

2 Bishops endgame. (I won)

I love the two Bishop mate!!

Avatar of ichiro_bloodmoon

I also forgot I had to mate with Bishop and Knight with King vs solo King!

Avatar of ichiro_bloodmoon

wanmokewan wrote:

Was it a forced mate? And no, I've never had to promote to a bishop although in that situation I could have. I just couldn't promote to a queen or rook.

I have had to once or twice underpromote to a Bishop. A couple times to a Knight as well.

Avatar of ThrillerFan

WEIRDEST ONE!  I ended up winning.  I can't remember if we both had a Knight and 2 or 3 pawns or if it was a Rook and 2 or 3 pawns, but take what we had in common, and here was the imbalance:

 

W: Q and 4 extra pawns

B: R, 2B, and N

 

I had Black and won.

 

As for the basic endings, I've had them all.  In almost 2700 OTB tournament games, I've had:

 

BNK vs K (once on each side)

BBK vs K  (once on winning side)

Lucena's position (At least half a dozen times on the winning side)

Philidor's draw (At least 25 to 30 times on the drawing side, maybe a few with the pawn - usually I know it's a draw before that happens)

Q vs BBN w/ pawns (I had the Q, barely drew!)

RN vs BBP w/ pawns (I had the Bishops and won)

Avatar of Talnivarr_the_Sleeper

I had my e-pawn vs two knights. My opponent didn't want to suffer driving my king into a corner and offered a draw. And I don't know why all the engines in the world say the stronger side wins in positions like that.

Avatar of ichiro_bloodmoon

ThrillerFan wrote:

WEIRDEST ONE!  I ended up winning.  I can't remember if we both had a Knight and 2 or 3 pawns or if it was a Rook and 2 or 3 pawns, but take what we had in common, and here was the imbalance:

 

W: Q and 4 extra pawns

B: R, 2B, and N

 

I had Black and won.

 

As for the basic endings, I've had them all.  In almost 2700 OTB tournament games, I've had:

 

BNK vs K (once on each side)

BBK vs K  (once on winning side)

Lucena's position (At least half a dozen times on the winning side)

Philidor's draw (At least 25 to 30 times on the drawing side, maybe a few with the pawn - usually I know it's a draw before that happens)

Q vs BBN w/ pawns (I had the Q, barely drew!)

RN vs BBP w/ pawns (I had the Bishops and won)

Nice!! Some extremely rare endgames indeed!

Avatar of ichiro_bloodmoon

tired_of_ignorance wrote:

I had my e-pawn vs two knights. My opponent didn't want to suffer driving my king into a corner and offered a draw. And I don't know why all the engines in the world say the stronger side wins in positions like that.

That is crazy!

Avatar of varelse1
tired_of_ignorance wrote:

I had my e-pawn vs two knights. My opponent didn't want to suffer driving my king into a corner and offered a draw. And I don't know why all the engines in the world say the stronger side wins in positions like that.

Normally, 2 knights vs a king is a draw. best the stronger side can do is stalemate.

But if the weaker side has a pawn, the strong side can unblock the pawn, and give his opponent moves to avoid stalemate. and then complete the mating net.

not easy at all though.

Avatar of chuddog

Probably the following game. It took me over 80 moves to convert the Q vs. 2 minor pieces. It's a very tough endgame to make progress in. There was a method to my madness, but it look a very long time.

 

 

Avatar of ichiro_bloodmoon

chuddog wrote:

Probably the following game. It took me over 80 moves to convert the Q vs. 2 minor pieces. It's a very tough endgame to make progress in. There was a method to my madness, but it look a very long time.

 

 

I actually played s game against the computer and the endgame was my Rook and about three pawns versus the Bishop pair and their three pawns. Was interesting for sure!! Wow that's a tough endgame you played as well as that Black King had a nice little fortress going on with the Knight, Bishop and pawns to hide behind.

Avatar of jbent02

Q+K v.s R+K

Avatar of ichiro_bloodmoon

varelse1 wrote:

tired_of_ignorance wrote:

I had my e-pawn vs two knights. My opponent didn't want to suffer driving my king into a corner and offered a draw. And I don't know why all the engines in the world say the stronger side wins in positions like that.

Normally, 2 knights vs a king is a draw. best the stronger side can do is stalemate.

But if the weaker side has a pawn, the strong side can unblock the pawn, and give his opponent moves to avoid stalemate. and then complete the mating net.

not easy at all though.

That sounds like a nightmare scenario m Or should I say Knightmare?

Avatar of Saleron

I actually had a B+N+K vs K ending TWICE. And my opponents resigned in both cases. They believed in me, I guess.

Avatar of hitthepin
Definitely my game with five white knights.
Avatar of jbent02
hitthepin wrote:
Definitely my game with five white knights.

If you find that game please post.