I'm starting to study endgames more closely and I think I understand the basics of opposition, distant opposition, pushing pawns to promote, etc.
One thing I'm struggling with though when analyzing a position in some of my study materials is determining whether the position is winnable. Can I take their pawns and push? Or is the best result a draw?
I've included an example position, but there are many like this where it's unclear to me whether there is a win and I'm trying to advance my pawns, or whether the position is a draw and (as in this position) I am simply trying to hold, keep the opposition and stay in front of my opponent's pawn so they can't promote. Here's the book line for this position. Black to play:
1. Kh7! 2. Kf7 Kh6 3. Kg8 g5! 4. Kf7 gxf4 5. gxf4 Kh7! 6. Kf6 Kg8 7. Kxf5 Kf7!
When I play out the lines with an engine of course it makes sense why winning doesn't work, but I don't always see it beforehand.
If I knew whether I'm trying to win or trying to hold it would change the way I look at positions like these. If the goal is to win maybe it makes more sense to push the king and attack their pawns. If the goal is to hold then maybe sacrificing my pawns just to keep the opposition makes more sense. Is there some sort of trick or rules when looking at positions such as this one to determine whether it's winnable, drawn or just losing?
https://preview.redd.it/xxynfuk0ni881.png?width=458&format=png&auto=webp&s=6fb1db04861bb9afb60f8f398c7b4664a4e527a5
Hi, just played this rapid game where I got to an endgame up 2 pawns, but struggled to think of a plan on how to convert.
This was the specific position where I was unsure how I should continue: https://i.imgur.com/VnfIOcw.png (I was white and white to play)
I ended up playing Rd4 to try pressure the knight and indirectly the pawn on b6, but the moment I played it I realized that it didn't really do anything since my opponent could just keep his rook on the c-file. I was gonna try bring my king up after Rd4.
Even though I was up two pawns, I was really not confident in converting this endgame since both pawns were isolated and my king was so inactive compared to his king. What would be an appropriate long-term plan for this position? Target their b-pawn and try queen my a-pawn? Or try to get my rook more active and attack his pawns on the king side? Or slowly push my 4v3 majority? I really dont know. Any help would be appreciated.
Looking at the engine line it seems that winning the b-pawn and pushing the a-pawn with the kingside pawns is a good idea.
Full game if interested (imported from chesscom): https://lichess.org/9LarDDiq
Today I was doing puzzles on Lichess and ran into this one:
https://lichess.org/training/Xp4Lg
I got the first move Kd3 correct, but after black's ..Kd6 I failed the puzzle by trying Kd4. My idea was to keep black's king from invading with ..Ke5, which obviously was not the key idea here. Basically now the game is drawn because black's 3-2 advantage on the kingside can promote with check the move after white's pawn promotes.
My question is, how am I supposed to see that this position is drawn while this position is winning for white (black to move in both)? Would a skilled player calculate this all the way to the end? Or is there some kind of intuition that makes it obvious that the latter position is winning without having to do the full calculation?
I miss king + pawn endgame puzzles all the time so it seems like there must be some kind of trick or tip that I'm missing. For reference I'm around 1800 blitz on Lichess.
I recently played a game where I ended up with the following situation. I had gone back and forth checking my opponent's king multiple times but couldn't figure out a way to stop at least one of the two passed pawns. I ended up accepting draw offer from my opponent but looking at analysis afterwards, I can see how I would be able to stop both pawns and win...
Hopefully, what you learn could help you someday!
https://preview.redd.it/oa7n3attslo61.png?width=880&format=png&auto=webp&s=5eeda6b39c659cf881b94f1d88230a46cb329e42
It starts with getting the king away from protecting the g2 pawn. Also, since both pawns are promoting to squares of same color, Queen can triangulate them and keep them in check. Starting with Qd6+, you're forcing the King to move while also attacking a3 pawn. Remember it still can't be takes as King to f2 will allow pawn to queen right after.
The aim should be to force King to queening square g1 so that either our queen or king can attack the other pawn. It's an intricate dance of keeping king from protecting the g pawn while also keeping a pawn from marching down to its queening square.
Feel free to look at analysis on lichess.org or chess.com to see how the engine suggests you approach this problem.
Beautiful Endgame of Pawn vs Rook: A David vs Goliath story
https://www.chess.com/blog/michechess89/nice-endgame-king-and-pawn-beating-king-and-rook-video?ref_id=43048838
As an intermediate player, I still find myself needing to practise king and pawn endgames. To avoid messing up a winning endgame, I strongly advise testing yourself against Stockfish in a variety of opposition scenarios. This video helpfully demonstrates typical examples, and GM Huschenbeth is really good at explaining how to convert as White.
Sorry for the rather basic question, but looking for some guidance on basic strategy in the following scenario:
There are only kings and pawns on the board (say each side has 5 pawns). They both have 3 – 2 majorities, on opposite wings. The Kings are both still on their back ranks (say one is with their majority and the other is with their minority, OR they are both with their majority or minority, as you prefer). What should I be looking to do here?
My current strategy is to get the King centralized and then, basically, see what happens and play it by ear. I guess at some point, I want to aim to create a passed pawn with my majority and try to queen it, but whether or not I need my King for that seems to depends on what the opponent is doing with his. I’m generally unsure if I should run to their majority and try to defend, or run to my majority and try to attack. Essentially, I seem to end up waiting for my opponent to take the initiative and then reacting as best I can, but this seems like a poor strategy
Are there are any guiding principles in such a situation? Where should I go with the King? What decides whether I should try to attack or defend? How should I feel about pawn trades?
For info, I am about a class C player. Have started reading Silman’s endgame course. I am quite comfortable in basic King and single pawn endgames – I understand the opposition and the rules on whether such a position is winning or drawing, and the technique to enforce it. But I don’t see much information about this scenario described above with multiple pawns, and it happens (or the threat of it happens) quite often, and I’m unsure what my plan should be
OK - I promised I'd do this, so here goes. I may EDIT a couple of times to get the FEN and PGN tags working correctly, I always seem to have a problem with that.
/u/JL_3240 already offered some very useful information, so thanks for that... I'm going to try to make this a bit more "official" in that I will put it in PGN's and diagrams and hopefully anyone who doesn't understand something can ask questions.
Anyone who doesn't understand basic K + P endgames, just click through the PGNs, read the annotations, and ask questions in the comment section below.
Quick note about PGN's - whoever has the move in the initial position is shown on the bottom... so if it's black's move, white pawns move down, and vice versa. I think this is a problem with the pgn viewer, but I dunno how to fix it.
[pgn] [White "JensenUVA"] [Black "JensenUVA"] [Result "1-0"] [SetUp "1"] [FEN "3k4/8/3PK3/8/8/8/8/8 w - - 1 1"]
- d7 {This is the basic winning position in K+P vs K endgames. Each of the following moves are forced.} Kc7 {The only square available to Black's King}
- Ke7 {Now Black cannot stop the white pawn from promoting, and the game will be over in a few moves. But not all K+P vs K endgames are won, many are draws. See game 2 for the drawing position} 1-0
[White "JensenUVA"] [Black "JensenUVA"] [Result "1/2-1/2"] [SetUp "1"] [FEN "4k3/8/3PK3/8/8/8/8/8 w - - 1 1"] {It might take a second glance to recognize what is even different about this position! With white to move, the only difference is that Black's king is on e8, not d8. Let's see why that matters:}
- d7+ (1. Kf6 {is equally futile} (1.Kd5 {doesn't work either} 1. ... Kd7 2. Ke5 Kd8! 3. Ke6 Ke8) 1. ... Kd7 2.Ke5 Kd8! 3.Ke6 Ke8)
- ... Kd8
- Kd6 1/2-1/2 {So why was Black able to draw this position, but was totally lost in the first game, which appeared so similar? The answer relates to a concept known as "the opposition." In the first game, White had the opposition, and in the second, black had the opposition. Obviously it's good, we want it, but what is it? Check out the position in game 3.}
[White "JensenUVA"] [Black "JensenUVA"] [Result "1/2-1/2"] [SetUp "1"] [FEN "8/4k3/8/4K3/8/8/8/8 w - - 0 1"] {Obviously this position is a draw, there are only Kings on the board. But let's say the object of this position is for White to get his King to the 6th rank, and then he wins. He's only 1 square away! he'd like to try 1. Ke6 1. Kf6 or 1. Kd6 but he can't! Because black's king "Opposes" the white
... keep reading on reddit ➡I'm looking to improve my endgame by playing against an engine in a variety of positions. In some the goal would be to draw and in others to win. Ideally some would not be the very end of a game, but instead still include some pawns and pieces. Does this exist in Lichess studies or anywhere else? Thanks
