Chess Endgame Strategy – The Square of the Pawn
chess strategies, endgame strategy, winning chess strategy January 27th, 2010
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.
King and Rook v. King Checkmate Patterns
checkmate, chess beginners, endgame strategy June 7th, 2009
One of the first things a new chess player must learn is how to finish off the checkmate when you have won the game. Often this boils down to one of the basic checkmates: King and Queen v. King, or King and Rook v. Rook. I previously gave some rules about how to checkmate with King and Queen against King, and you might want to review that if you’re unsure how to finish that mate.
This article is about how to finish the mate with King and Rook against King. This mate is slightly more difficult than the one with the Queen, but relatively easy once you see the method and understand the concepts.
I will have three posts about this checkmate: the first shows the checkmate patterns with Rook and King against King, the second has rules and tips for mating with a King and Rook against King, and the third will show a 15-move checkmate from a difficult starting position to the final checkmate.
The checkmate patterns
There are three, and only three, patterns for checkmating with King and Rook v. King. The first pattern is the checkmate on the side of the board. This checkmate can occur on any edge of the board on any square that is not a corner square. The Kings stand opposite each other and the White Rook checks the Black King along the side.
In the diagram above, the Rook gives check along the rank, and could be anywhere on that rank except c8 or e8. (If the Rook were on c8 or e8, the Black King could get out of check by capturing the Rook.)
The second and third patterns occur with the Black King in the corner. In this next one, the Black King is in the corner with the White King a Knight’s-move away and the White Rook checking from the side. Again, the White Rook can be anywhere along the 8th rank, provided he’s not right next to the Black King on b8.
The third pattern is really just a variation of the first and second patterns; the Black King is in the corner and the White King stands directly opposite the Black King.
If you know these patterns, you will have a goal to reach for your King and Rook v. King checkmate. The video has examples of how you might reach these positions, and my next post will give rules for reaching these checkmate positions.
Chess Endgame Strategy – King & Queen v King & Pawn
chess strategies, endgame strategy, winning chess strategy May 24th, 2009
The importance of chess endgame strategy
It is very common for chess games to come down to an endgame, and very often those endgames amount to a single Pawn or a Pawn for each side (plus the Kings, of course). In order to win more chess games, you must know endgame strategy.
Queen v. Pawn strategy
Take a look at this endgame diagram:
The players each have a simple overall strategy for winning (or drawing) this game. White’s strategy is to capture Black’s pawn. In order to do that, he must do two other things: he must first prevent Black from promoting his Pawn, and he must attack the Pawn with both his King and Queen (the Queen alone can’t safely capture the Pawn as long as Black’s King guards it). In order to do this, White must bring both his King and Queen to bear on the Pawn; both must attack the Pawn at the same time.
Preventing Black from promoting the Pawn can be done by pinning the Pawn and keeping Black busy with checks against his King. Bringing White’s King closer requires that Black have his King in front of his Pawn, physically blocking the Pawn from the promotion square. This will give White a free move (a tempo) to move his King closer to the Pawn. Each time Black’s King sits on the promotion square, White has a free move to bring his own King closer to the action.
Black, on the other hand, wants to promote his Pawn to Queen (which would result in a draw). In order to do that, Black wants to both protect his Pawn from capture while leaving the promotion square open so that if he gets a chance, he can push the pawn to e1.
Black’s strategy is simple; and while White’s strategy is equally simple, executing the strategy requires careful maneuvering.
Here are the moves for finishing this mate. The starting position is in the diagram above. Also listen to the video for my additional comments about the position and White’s techniques for winning the game.
- Qf6+ Kg1
- Qe5 Kf1
- Qf4+ Kg1
- Qe3 Kf1
- Qf3+ Ke1
- Kb7 Kd2
- Qf2 Kd1
- Qd4+ Kc1
- Qe3 Kd1
- Qd3+ Ke1
- Kc6 Kf2
- Qd2 Kf1
- Qf4+ Kg1
- Qe3 Kf1
- Qf3+ Ke1
- Kd5 Kd2
- Qf4+ Kd1
- Qd4+ Kc1
- Qe3 Kd1
- Qd3+ Ke1
- Ke4 Kf2
- Qf3+ Kg1
- Qe2 Kh1
- Kf3 Kg1
- Qg2# …
White has driven the Black King in front of the Pawn (which Black has resisted as long as possible), preventing Black from promoting and giving White time to bring up his King. Achieving this position is one of White’s intermediate strategic objectives. Watch how White brings about this position several times in order to give his King opportunities to move closer to the action.
Avoiding Kf1, which would be moving into a pin and would give White a “free move” to bring the King closer.
Now the White King is close enough to help in both attacking the Black Pawn and delivering checkmate to the Black King. You can’t give checkmate with the Queen alone … the Queen needs some help (from either friendly or enemy pieces) to checkmate the King.
This ending works every time against a Knight-pawn or center-pawn (the b-pawn, d-pawn, e-pawn, or g-pawn). The Rook-pawns and Bishop-pawns can be more tricky and sometimes impossible to win. That will be the subject of another post soon.
This chess endgame is very important to know, and it is surprising how few average tournament players know this ending. If you play enough chess, this will come up. You should know this well enough to be able to play it without thinking. Well … at least not thinking too much. 
You can find this endgame in Reuben Fine’s masterwork, Basic Chess Endings
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