How to win with a King and Pawn against a King
Is a single Pawn so very important?
Even a single Pawn can be the difference between winning and losing. This simple fact is vital for beginning chess players to understand. The material at your disposal is important — and that means every Pawn is important. Just winning a Pawn can be the edge that allows you to win; and losing a Pawn can be the edge that allows your opponent to win.
That little material advantage — a single Pawn — often comes down to the question of winning the King and Pawn vs. King ending.
Of course, knowing how to defend the ending can be the difference between a loss and a draw — but that will be the subject of a future blog post.
Use your King to fight!
The first simple rule to remember in most King and Pawn endings is this: get your King in front of your Pawn. If you do just that, you’ll win a lot more endgames. (And this rule applies to more than just King and Pawn endings.)
Texas Tech Has a New Grandmaster
Here’s an item from newswise.com about a Texas Tech student, who is the world’s newest chess Grandmaster.
International Master Davorin Kuljasevic scored five wins and four draws at the 2010 Pula Open in Croatia to become the first Knight Raider to enter the elite ranks of the approximately 1,000 grandmasters worldwide.
The news item says that Kuljasevic is Coratian, and as I couldn’t find him listed on the “top” lists at uschess.org, he has likely played in the U.S. only very recently.
Nevertheless, it’s a great achievement for Kuljasevic, Texas Tech, and the Susan Polgar Institute for Chess Excellence.
Free Online Chess Database — 365chess.com
I found a really nice free chess database online. It’s 365chess.com.
The site boasts a 3.5-million game database, which is regularly updated. It has several nice search functions The site has a very clean appearance and the interface works very well. Registration is free, though registration is required to search the database.
You can search the database by player names, by a particular board position, or using the opening explorer.
The one down-side is that you must be a “supporter” (i.e., pay for the service) in order to download games as pgn files. The up-side is that the service costs only $10.00 per year. Very inexpensive database!
Overall, the site is very nice and can allow you to do a lot of opening analysis for free.
Chess Ending Strategy – More About the Square of the Pawn
In my first video on the square of the pawn, I mentioned an important warning about how to calculate the square when the pawn is on its home square. I mentioned it in the video — but failed to mention it in the blog post; so I’m remedying that omission now.
When the pawn stands on its home square, you must imagine the square of the pawn as if it were standing on its third rank instead of its second. The reason for this is that the Pawn can move two squares for its initial move. That being the case, the square of the pawn must account for the double move.
For example, if White’s a-pawn stands on a4, the square of the Pawn is drawn with the Pawn standing at the lower-left corner of the square, as in the following diagram.
When the Pawn stands on a4
But if the a-pawn stands on a2, the square of the Pawn is drawn as if the Pawn stands on a3.
Square of the Pawn on a2
Knowing the rule for the square of the Pawn is extremely useful in calculating endgames, but you must keep in mind the possibility that a Pawn on its original starting square has the possibility of moving two squares for its first move.
Tags: chess endgame strategy, chess strategy, square of the pawn
Two Bishops v. King Checkmate
One of the elementary mates that every chess player ought to be familiar with is the mate with King and two Bishops against King. This mate is of less importance than King and Queen v. King or King and Rook v. King because it rarely comes up in practical play. But it is good to know for those rare occasions when it does occur; but especially for learning how the Bishops can cooperate with each other to cut off large areas of the chess board.
Most chess books devoted to teaching beginners how to play chess and many basic endgame books (such as Reuben Fine’s Basic Chess Endings or Pandolfini’s Endgame Course) will show how to execute this checkmate. I recommend studying the examples in one of those books, as well as learning the example I give here.
As with most of the simple checkmates, the first important goal is getting your King to the center of the board. The two Bishops can checkmate the opponent only with the help of their own King!
Second, the Bishops should work together.
Notice how, in this diagram, the two Bishops placed next to each other prevent the enemy King from attacking them. The Bishops guard four squares directly in front of them, thus preventing the King from immediately attacking either one of them. In fact, the Bishops have the enemy King completely imprisoned, and the White King can now stroll up to the scene to aid in further confining the opponent.
The Official Rules of Chess
Here’s a story to illustrate why you should have the official rules of chess. I was playing in a tournament once against a higher-rated player (a couple hundred points higher). I had played a good game and my opponent was struggling to get a draw with a three-fold repetition while his time was running out.
In fact, he had made the move to give the three-fold repetition when his flag fell. He claimed the draw and I claimed a win.
How should the point be awarded?
If you have the official rules of chess, you can probably make a reasonable answer to the question … and perhaps vindicate my claim for a win!
If you would like to play tournament chess, you should learn the official rules of chess.
Official Rules of Chess
If you’re just starting out and haven’t played a lot of chess, you will first want to review my articles and videos on the rules of chess for the absolute beginner. But when you decide you want to play a little more seriously, play a few tournaments to get the feel for it; and to see if you really want to stick with it. If you decide you do want to play tournament chess in even a half-way serious manner, you really should read the official rules and keep a copy with you at every tournament. The official rules should go in your travel bag with your clock, set, and board!
Get the official rules of chess and enjoy a fun-filled tournament career!
Garry Kasparov’s View of Chess Computers
Of all the top grandmasters who could give their views of chess-playing computers, Garry Kasparov is probably the best qualified. He has played several matches against computers at a time when programmers were trying with all their might to make a computer that would defeat a world champion.
In his review of Chess Metaphors: Artificial Intelligence and the Human Mind, Kasparov makes several interesting observations about the affect computers have had on humans who play chess.
Chess Endgame Strategy – The Square of the Pawn
How to tell if the King can catch a Pawn in a race
(Video below the jump.)
Often a game of chess will end with two Kings and one Pawn: King and Pawn vs. King. And very often in those situations, the question is simply this: can the King catch the Pawn?
In the following diagram we have just such a situation … the King would like to catch the Pawn before it reaches the 8th rank to become a Queen, and the Pawn is trying to race to its 8th rank. Who wins? There is a simple rule to decide which side wins these races.
An Illustration of the Power of the Queen – How the Pieces Give Check
We all know that the Queen is the most powerful piece on the chessboard. What some beginners (and even some intermediate players) don’t appreciate is the great trouble the Queen can create for the other player. I want to try to give you an idea of how the Queen can be used by showing you how many ways a Queen can make trouble against the enemy King.
To show you the Queen’s great power, I will first show you a feature of the other pieces that they have in common. The Bishop, Knight, and Rook can all give check to the enemy King in at most two ways in any given position.
Free Online Chess — Play Against Real Opponents Today
If you’re looking for a good game of chess online, there are lots of places to play; and a few of them offer a very good chess experience that is comparable to the experience you would find in a good local chess club.
Free Internet Chess Server (FICS)
One of the best is a free service provided at www.freechess.org. The site has a lot of very strong and serious competitors, regular tournaments, relays of grandmaster tournament games, a lively community, ratings, and more.
Most of the games played at FICS are blitz (speed games) played at 3 to 5 minutes per game, though many blitz games are played with shorter or longer time limits. Many standard games are played at 15 minutes per game. Again, many games are played at longer time limits. FICS features many tournaments, including a popular team tournament played at 45/45 (meaning 45 minutes per game with a 45-second increment added for each move made).
Queen Alice Internet Chess Club
Another good free chess site is Queen Alice Internet Chess Club (www.queenalice.com). This is a “correspondence” type of chess, where games are played with a time limit one move every week, or even more slowly. Again, the site offers ratings and a lively community. If you prefer to play correspondence style, Queen Alice is a good choice. And the price is right!
I don’t have any affiliation with either of these chess clubs … I’m not making money for recommending them.
And if you have any other recommendations, please feel free to leave your recommendations in the comment box below. Please make sure that you are recommending free sites only.
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