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What's the most powerful thing to try for in a chess endgame?

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River_Reaper

Now I know that there are generally 4 major things that I believe are at play in any chess endgame. These 4 things seem to be king activity, passed pawns, piece activity, and material. Furthermore, I know that in every endgame things depend and one simply can't make a generalization for every position. 

However, if you had to rank these between 1 and 4 (1 being the most important and 4 being the least important) what would you rank these as in terms of importance in any general endgame? 

My personal ranking would be:

1. Passed Pawns

2. King Activity

3. Piece Activity

4. Material

Feel free to agree or disagree. I'm mainly just looking to see how I can shift my mindset when it comes to endgames because I'm noticing a lot more now the importance of pawns and I kind of feel like they are the most important in endgames in general.. even more than the king or other pieces. Furthermore, I think material is almost irrelevant because anyone that promotes a passed pawn can quickly get a lot of material back. Anyone that has active pieces can give their opponents a lot more trouble even if they have less material. Anyone that has a much more active king, similar to active pieces, can also give their opponent a lot of trouble for even the price of 2 pawns etc..

Curious to know your opinions and your rankings on passed pawns, king activity, piece activity, and material!

Alexeivich94

Id take check mate above those

nov04-inactive
Alexeivich94 wrote:

Id take check mate above those

well if you can't?

nov04-inactive

I do agree with the 1st ranking, but material should be higher because you can't just sac a piece for a pawn and some good pieces (most of the time) so I would rank material 2nd, then the rest after that

JBarryChess

1. Material. A queen and a rook or two rooks makes life easier.

2. Pawn management - (begins in the beginning of the game and this eludes me often)

ChessMasteryOfficial

Ensuring your king is active and centralized is often the top priority in endgames.

nov04-inactive
JBarryChess wrote:

1. Material. A queen and a rook or two rooks makes life easier.

2. Pawn management - (begins in the beginning of the game and this eludes me often)

but if you are a knight up, but your opponent has 3 connected passers, now material does not matter

nov04-inactive
ChessMasteryOfficial wrote:

Ensuring your king is active and centralized is often the top priority in endgames.

yes an active king in an endgame is almost 4 pawns

songdamei
1. King activity
2. Piece activity
3. Passed pawns
4. Material
If you are only down a couple of pawns in the endgame, but your pieces and your king are very active you can still win.