Selection of endgames.
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BorgQueen
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Blue Devil Knight
HangingKing
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Selection of endgames.
by HangingKing July 14th 2009, 4:47 pm
While reviewing my games, i have made a selection of endgames that i learned from.
I wish to share this with you.
It was difficult to select games, because a lot of them are poor play, or easy wins. I think there is no reason to review games with big material difference, since i believe everyone here is able to figure out what to do in such a case.
So these games are games where there is something to learn, some have very simple, some are much harder. Of course it is not "perfect play" since neither me neither my opponents are that good, but there are some mistakes full of knowledge.
The games are gathered into this file :
http://zwim.free.fr/ics/endgames.pgn
But i will comment only a few of them everyday (or when i have time) until the list is finished.
I hope you will find interesting ideas in them.
I wish to share this with you.
It was difficult to select games, because a lot of them are poor play, or easy wins. I think there is no reason to review games with big material difference, since i believe everyone here is able to figure out what to do in such a case.
So these games are games where there is something to learn, some have very simple, some are much harder. Of course it is not "perfect play" since neither me neither my opponents are that good, but there are some mistakes full of knowledge.
The games are gathered into this file :
http://zwim.free.fr/ics/endgames.pgn
But i will comment only a few of them everyday (or when i have time) until the list is finished.
I hope you will find interesting ideas in them.
Last edited by HangingKing on July 14th 2009, 5:24 pm; edited 2 times in total
HangingKing- International Master
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Join date : 2009-04-21
Re: Selection of endgames.
by HangingKing July 14th 2009, 5:14 pm
game 1 : Rook ending, pawn on the edge.
game 6: Pawns ending, importance of tempo
game 11: Rooks ending, a missed win with 1 pawn down
- Spoiler:
- In this position i'm 1 pawn down, but was able to win because of white mistakes, but Rybka analyse this position as a drawish game.
My idea was to push my pawn phalange just to be able to get tempo to grab f,g,h pawns. I cannot promote because my king is too far and has to guard the f,g,h files.
So after 40. the game is a draw.
But white seems lost and don't do well to draw, especially 49.Rh1 is a blunder and allows me to queen.
- Spoiler:
- Pawn endings are rather difficult because you have to count a lot.
The start position is a draw, but on one side i have 3 vs 2 pawns, and on the other i have my king to block the 4th pawn.
40... e4+ is a mistake from my opponent
43. h4 is a mistake from me
So the game is again a draw.
Then after the simplification at 50. black forget to count and instead of going to his back rank for the king opposition, he stays in the middle of the board, so i win the queen race.
- Spoiler:
- Here i am 1 pawn behind so i seek for the draw.
The kingside is quite stable but with some weakness for white pawns, so the battle on queenside should use this weakness.
The important battle is after 38. and white blunders, i am able to get back the pawn down.
Fortunately my bishop guard the promotion square c8, so after exchanging it should be a draw on kingside.
The manoeuvers from 45. to 52. are impressive but it is still a draw.
Then 54. Kg7 was important to me because the white dark square bishop is inactivated. So i push my pawn as far as i can and protect it with my bishop.
Then at 62. my opponent blunder and i am able to conclude.
- Spoiler:
- Sometimes, with an opponent that have difficulties in endgames you can also play the flag. This game is an exemple of this.
It is P vs N so i should loose, but in the same time there is 3 min or so to our clocks. I decided to take my chance...
- First i chase the knight to win some precious seconds.
- then i push my pawns to complicate the position at maximum
- 2 queens are promoted, so it's hard to do with limited time, my opponent does well but slow.
- the very last moves are crap but the clock is very low for him
Finally i draw. So take your chance if your opponent is about to flag.
- Spoiler:
- I let you find the way to win on this one.
Don't hurry too much in endgames because you can loose by only 1 stupid move.
Here with 2 pawns up i let my knight hanging and loose it.
I saw the idea of exchanging knight but forgot to look of the back rank mating possibility so i cannot capture the knight back and must move my king.
So when you are ahead in material just KISS (keep it stupid simple). I asked for complications and get them.
Finally I was forced to draw, but in my mind it was a full lost.
game 6: Pawns ending, importance of tempo
- Spoiler:
- This one is very interesting, it shows how you can go from a winning position to a loosing position only by a subtle tempo mistake.
Here i have a passed pawn but long black pawn chain is strong !
Anyway i believe in my free pawn (with reason), so when my opponent offer to exhcnage rook, i take it with pleasure.
The critical move is 52. g5
I simply played too fast and ruined my chance to win.
By taking with hxg5 i loose immediately because black has now a free pawn and king is far.
The winning move was just Kb3, move the king to temporize, and black CANNOT take for the same reasons, so he has to free a4 square and i invades and win.
- Spoiler:
- The very first move Rd1 is natural and also a pity. It ruins the position.
In fact the good move is to sacrifice the rook and advance the king to Kf1 in order to grab the 2 defenseless doubled pawns.
Anyway, the evil is done, so it is now a queen race in favor of drawing the game.
The first race is easy to win since i have 3 free pawns.
But i loose the second one, after 66. black has a winning position !
Fortunately for me, you can notice he does everything to let me draw, which thing i does at the first occasion.
Learn about the king moves around the pawn for white, and learn from tempo gain to approach the king for black.
But first, don't ruin a won game with silly moves.
- Spoiler:
- This endgame is bishop against knight suported by rooks.
Here you can notice that the dark squared bishop is useless at grabing white light squared pawns on the queenside, so my target was to take advantage of this.
So i use my knight and rook to grab opponent queenside pawns, here the knight is important to control the king and allow tempo wins by checking him. You can notice the the bishop is almost useless.
Finally it is an easy win with pawns superiority. The last fork just accelerates things.
- Spoiler:
- In this game i am 1 pawn down, and white supplementary pawn is a passed one. So i go for a draw.
Since kingside is stable, the battle should takes place at queenside ?
There are interesting ideas on both sides. I manage to grab some white pawns, and in exchange of them, white is weakening my kingside pawns.
So i do the same, i let these pawns to my opponent and concentrates on queening a6 pawn.
I even have to sacrifice a rook AND a pawn to be able to promote.
Then c6 pawn is near to the edge and well protected, my only chance is perpetual check and it is a draw.
- Spoiler:
- In the endgame i have the bishop pair vs rook and pawn. I have no illusions, and unless a mistake from my opponent i will have to give one of the bishops to stop the pawn.
Effectively after a few moves it is a theoretical KRkb draw.
I proposed a draw to my opponent immediately and a few moves later and he refuses them both, so i have to go up the 50 moves rules.
This is very annoying, i loose my patience and blunder. I remember i managed a draw in same conditions some time ago with KRkn endging up to the 50 moves rule.
Can you spot the wrong move ? *** 78. Bf8 is wrong, play Bf4 instead for example ***
Conclusion, in such endings, keep your nerves, and play sharp.
game 11: Rooks ending, a missed win with 1 pawn down
- Spoiler:
- In this game both players played poorly, but it is instructive to see why.
White position looks terrific with these 2 mighty passed pawns in the center.
First 31. Rd4 is wrong, it defends the wrong file.
Passed pawns should be pushed and the right continuation is : d6 Rxe5 d7 Rd5 Re4! (with back rank mating threat)
Then white continue to weaken its position, till 39.g5 give a pawn for free.
So after 42. the roles are inverted, i must win.
But it's my time to blunder, the idea of giving the 'a' pawn in exchange of the 'd' pawn is not so good. The 'a' pawn was fixing the white rook, without it white can adopt a more active defense.
Anyway after 53. the position reached is still great for me and i missed the win here with 53. Re3+.
The white king is badly placed (on the edge, blocked by his pawn) and forced to retreat on the 2nd rank, leaving the h4 pawn without defense.
So after 55. it is a dead draw.
I took my chance as K+P vs K but it is a draw.
I learned a lot from this endgame, and hope to not reproduce the same mistakes in the future.
- Spoiler:
- Here the material is equal and it's hard to see how one could take advantage, it seems drawish.
My idea was to try to avoid exchanging the queens (unless necessary) in order to place my king in a more favorable position.
After 43. Kf6 my king is more close to battle.
Of course it is still drawish, but never underestimate the fault capacity of your opponent.
Finally the exchange happened at 47.
What to do in this position ?
You have nothing to fear, the draw is easy to find, so just play quiet moves and wait for a mistake from your opponent if any, else just draw.
And 49. h3? happens, cut the other king moves, force it to retreat and this is victory !
- Spoiler:
- In this game i'm in bad shape, 2P vs B, and kingside pawns are not ideally placed, so i go for a draw if possible.
I occupy the open file, and try to defend my queenside pawns.
The first thing learn from is the great 35.g5! move from white, and combination that follows.
I was overwhelmed by this attack, and though about resigning, but i did not.
What's follow unfortunately (for him) is very poor and after 43. i manage to get a draw.
But i did play poor also did not succeeded in defending my 'g' pawn.
So after 55. it is a classical R+P vs R ending, the next moves shows clearly why it is important to learn the Lucena, white do not remember the theory and in this conditions, it is a draw.
- To defend, just block the king behing his pawn with opposition, and if it goes, just check it with the rook. I fpossible just took the place behind the pawn with your own king.
- To win, white just need to put both his king and his rook on the 'b' file above the pawn.
- Spoiler:
- This one is quite spectacular, with not less than 5 pawns against a rook, i let you imagine how the whole game was crazy!
Anyway i believed in my chances here and was able to win easily.
But, there is a spectacular way for white to draw the game, can you spot it ?
Solution *** 55. Rxg3!! fxg3 or Kxg3 stalemate, and any other move just loose the game. ***
- Spoiler:
- This one does not need a lot of comments. I have the bishop pair while my opponent has only 1 bishop, and i'm also 1 pawn up.
How could the hell can i loose this game ?
Just look and see...
Last edited by HangingKing on July 16th 2009, 11:21 am; edited 11 times in total
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Re: Selection of endgames.
by HangingKing July 14th 2009, 6:00 pm
game 16: Hey, the game does stop after the opening! R+N vs R+R+B+N+P
game 21: Bishops of same color, great possibilities.
game 26: this one can be deleted, it is not interesting afterall (poor play on both sides)
game 27: Fortress game ! When an early game is already an endgame.
- Spoiler:
- This game is very fun and shows why you should practice endgames.
My opponent was particularly good at opening and early middlegame, and i lost a lot of material, and then suddenly it was like another player. He seems completely lost in the endgame not knowing what to do with his pieces.
I did what i can with the material i had, and managed to grab remaining pawns and exchange my knight for the bishop and last pawn.
But what to do with only a single rook against two rooks and a knight ?
Well, just check the king, and check again, and move your king avoiding unpleasant edges.
And you can notice how this good player from the beginning is in the cosmos at the end.
Finally the issue was predictable : incredible draw.
So, practice your endgames if you do not want to be such ridiculous.
- Spoiler:
- Here is another Lucena position we have already seen before. This position occurs often since R vs R+P ending is very common.
It's not very difficult to learn, but surprisingly i often manage to draw in this position with the inferior material.
- To defend, just block the king behing his pawn with opposition, and if it goes away, just check it with the rook. If possible just took the place behind the pawn with your own king.
- To win, you just need to put both your king and your rook on the file above the pawn.
- Spoiler:
- I discovered in my endgames that a rook + a bishop is not bad in endgame against two rooks, i played this kind of endgame a few time and the player with the rooks has to play sharp in order to win.
What happened in this game ?
In fact from move 32. (eval -3.00) to move 41. (eval 0.00) white is weakening his position very progressively by small amounts.
Then he does not use the power of his doubled rooks to grab the pawns.
So till move 69. with some complicated manoeuvers, i just push these pawns forward to the back rank (eval 0.00, a fine draw).
Then 70.Rxg2? is a blunder, and i conclude easily.
Conclusion, if you are in bad shape in the middle game think about giving a rook if this can lead to an endgame with the R+B couple.
It's not working everytime, but it might work.
- Spoiler:
- In this game the material is not balanced, a pawn against a knight, there is not much to do, you can only hope for a mistake.
So after pawn simplification, the strategical position is 43.
The good think is that this pawn is on the edge, and more difficult to promote.
The idea is K+N cannot mate, so i have to find a way to exchange rooks. But it cannot be a simple exchange of pieces, because there is still the pawn.
The ideal position (i waited for) occurs at 51.
My rook taking the pawn and checking, force the king to take it back and let his own rook defenseless.
So avoid such positions where only the king defend the rook, use the knight instead.
- Spoiler:
- Material is strickly equal, and in this kind of endgame with different bishops, no matter what you try, it is a dead draw.
Just look at the game to get convinced.
game 21: Bishops of same color, great possibilities.
- Spoiler:
- This game seems identical to the previous one, but this time bishops are of the same color, and the fight is more wild!
In this kind of endgame, bishops are likely to be exchanged at some point, and as a consequence it will be a pure pawns endgame.
So it is very important to place your king at the ideal location BEFORE the exchange.
32. to 44. the queen side is blocked with a lot of pawns, so i put my king on the kingside to eat the passed h pawn.
Black is moving his king as well, maybe targeting at a4 or d5 squares.
Anyway you can see that after the exchange, the position obtained at 48. is very critical, such a thing that do not occur with bishops of different color.
Black found a better position for his king, but did not take advantage of it (exd3?), and i finally win that endgame.
- Spoiler:
- In some games with no complicated position, you are 1 pawn ahead. What to do ?
There is no need for searching the optimal way to win, just exchange all the pieces (rooks, queens, knights, bishops) and simply push your supplementary pawn.
Here after 30. all the pieces are gone, and it is easy to see that the pawns ending poses no special difficulty.
- Spoiler:
- Sometimes i play poorly too, here i'm 2 pawns up and my opponent manage to draw because of careless play.
Careless because i do not defend my pawns, and of course black feel free to eat them.
The first 2 moves Re1, Rae3 are silly and loose any material advantage.
Don't be to optimistic because you have more pawns, play sharp.
You can notice that the game continued with not less than 43 moves !
So it surely worths to spend some more time thinking at move 25., a better, better use of your clock than pushing wood for so much more moves...
- Spoiler:
- Well, this endgame is a nightmare, 14 pawns on the board, with complicated position. At least the status of 'b' file is clear :-)
I tried to perform some calculation, but it was quite difficult and get lost in my mind .
So i pushed wood...
And i only tried to defend my pawns, exchange whenever possible to decrease the complexity and CUT the other king moves at maximum.
After 40. the position seemed clearer to me, and i decided to attack d6 pawn to force the other king to move there in order to push my g-h pawn phalange.
But he doesn't bite, and since i cannot afford 'e' pawn to promote, i just get back in e4.
The 'e' pawn is critical, i nevertheless took my chance on g-h files, but the draw is forced since i must guard the 'e' pawn.
If you have some nice ideas, please share.
I'm interested for this game.
- Spoiler:
- This game is more instructive when analysed through an engine.
I had a knight up in this endgame and one more time i played careless chess.
Of course this game is a win, and seems an easy win, so you may think one can be satisfied of it.
In fact, when analysed with an engine, there are at least 4 consecutive tactical blunders ! (41.Rd4?, 42.Rd3+?, 43.Kg8?, 44.Rxb3?)
Not counting the strategical mistake of trapping my king behind this wall of ennemy pawns.
So this game is instructive to learn that in endgames, even if you are pleased with the result, a second look with the engine often reveals dramatic mistakes.
I manage to concentrate on difficult endings, and play carelessly with material advantage, there certainly is a lesson to learn out of this.
game 26: this one can be deleted, it is not interesting afterall (poor play on both sides)
game 27: Fortress game ! When an early game is already an endgame.
- Spoiler:
- Here only 2 pieces are missing from the initial position, a knight and a bishop.
Anyway, because of the fancy pawn structure, the game is already finished.
So after exchanging a few more pieces on the only available file 'h', the game is completely blocked, each player stucked in his own camp, and we both agreed a draw.
I read somewhere that this kind of play is (/was) used as an anti-computer strategy.
- Spoiler:
- Yet another rook ending.
Material equivalence, but d7 pawn is strong and my kingside pawns are not ideal.
Till move 52. is good play, but after at the time of the game, i found no real solution and was forced to give up 1 pawn.
So the game is a Lucena, but one more time white does not know the theory.
But 71. Ra2 ? is very surprising.
I try to find reasons for such a sacrifice, which i think was deliberate from my opponent and not just a mouse slip, since he spent some time to think about it.
- my first idea is that he thought about an exchange and forgot that my rook would still be on the board after Rxa2.
- my second idea is that he overlook the 76.Rg3 move, move that i myself missed on the first try.
- Spoiler:
- I presented an endgame of opposite bishops before, but here there are more pawns, nevertheless the result is unchanged, there is no way to make progress, and it is a dead draw.
- Spoiler:
- In this endgame the number of pawns is identical, but it is bishop against rook, and normally the rook should win.
The simplification goes on, and till move 45. there is no real error from any side.
Then i pushed my 'c' pawn, which i know is not terrific, but when you are loosing you can do crazy things to change the situation.
Without surprise i lost it.
But now after 52. with the bishop ideally located on e6 i can control easily both h3 and h1 squares.
Which seems to worry my opponent a lot...
Black do not see the solution and attack my bishop continuously and pointlessly for more than 30 moves.
Nevertheless the position is a forced "mat in 27", and my opponent proposed a draw in a winning position.
I think that he focused too much on tactical elements (eliminate the bishop) instead of strategical (promoting the pawn).
One more time, believe in your chances even with a single bishop, because not all opponents are good at endgames.
The sole risk is to loose an already lost game, no big matter.
Last edited by HangingKing on July 16th 2009, 12:26 pm; edited 4 times in total
HangingKing- International Master
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Re: Selection of endgames.
by Blue Devil Knight July 15th 2009, 8:40 am
I am taking a break from chess for a bit, but when I get back I will definitely look at this as it seems very useful!!!
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Re: Selection of endgames.
by fanat July 15th 2009, 8:59 am
Thanks hanginking! I will be taking a look at all these games this week.
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Re: Selection of endgames.
by HangingKing July 15th 2009, 10:34 am
Take any time you want, i want to force nobody.
In fact i think that just looking at the games is good.
I put the comments as a reference, if you do not see immediately what the purpose of the game, just read the comment.
game 31: Pawns ending, the mistake is still so easy.
game 36: The mighty queen against minor pieces.
In fact i think that just looking at the games is good.
I put the comments as a reference, if you do not see immediately what the purpose of the game, just read the comment.
game 31: Pawns ending, the mistake is still so easy.
- Spoiler:
- I have already said pawns ending are difficult because every move is important and you have to count a lot.
Here is another example of this.
The critical instant is 39., i have a winning position and must make a decision about the strategy to follow against passed a4 pawn.
Of course the basic plan is to promote kingside.
But i did choose the wrong pawn, pushing h7-h6 instead of g6-g5 (and so loosing the h7-h5 2 squares tempo necessary to win).
After this single mistake, there is no way to do better than a draw.
Be very attentive in pure pawns endgames.
- Spoiler:
- Here white has a clearly superior position, no doubt about it, there is no way i can prevent the 'b' pawn to promote.
But what if ?
- white is doing is best to loose tempos
- white king goes behind his pawn instead of preceding it
- and finally forgot about the opponent passed pawn
Well the answer is simple, he just loose the game.
- Spoiler:
- Here the PME is a knight vs two pawns, but my pawns are not connected, so it will be difficult the defend them both.
And effectively i loose one of them a few moves later.
Then i managed to exchange another very important pawn.
It is important because now, black has only 1 pawn left and this pawn is absolutely necessary to win.
So my goal is to push my passed pawn in order to exchange it for this black pawn, which happen at 43. (with the help of bad move 39... Rg2).
And what do we have now ?
A final KRNkr which is a theoretical draw except in some very specific positions.
- Spoiler:
- Well, pawns on each side, who will win the promoting race ?
Indeed i lost it, but is there a way to do better ?
Engines give white as favorite, i guess because of the doubled pawns for black.
- Spoiler:
- Here the PME says that the knight have a slight advantage but it is not so easy to concretise.
I made some errors, but white did not take advantage either of them and it is finally a draw.
I find this endgame good at practising against an engine (as black or as white), because there are many possibilities.
game 36: The mighty queen against minor pieces.
- Spoiler:
- Well there is not much to say about this one, except the fact that a queen, even alone in an endgame is a very powerfull piece.
And if your pawn structure is weak (like black's one), the queen will just grab one piece after the other until there is no more on the board.
My though according to PME document was to reach this superior position with R+B+N vs Q.
But i didn't pay attention and lost the knight early.
So beware about the Q, i requires skills to fight against it with minor pieces.
- Spoiler:
- This time i managed to draw a deseperate situation while 2P down.
Can you spot the very wrong move for white ? Solution *** 53.a4? ***
In fact white has a great winning position till this move, but this apparently natural move ruins everything.
Again, in pawn endgames, every move is critical.
- Spoiler:
- Here is a game i should not have won, but which illustrate how much doubled rooks are frightening.
Of course white blunders in this game, but you should remember the idea.
I do not have much comments on this one, since there are a lot of possible alternatives, sometimes the psychological effect is important against human players.
Last edited by HangingKing on July 16th 2009, 1:51 pm; edited 2 times in total
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Re: Selection of endgames.
by Blue Devil Knight July 15th 2009, 12:12 pm
Hey that spoiler function is very cool!!!
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Re: Selection of endgames.
by HangingKing July 16th 2009, 1:55 pm
That's all folks.
I have finished reviewing my endgames.
It was indeed a good exercise i wanted to do, and i figured out many things while writing these comments.
Hope you will find interesting ideas as well out of it.
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Re: Selection of endgames.
by HangingKing December 8th 2009, 9:20 pm
I found some interesting videos on endgames made by Roman Dzindzichashvili (i won't write it twice...).
https://www.dailymotion.com/tag/Dzindzichashvili/3
The format of the videos is not very attractive (poor quality and contrast), but the content itself is good so don't reject it at first glance.
I have not reviewed all material from him, but for the moment only endgame techniques and particularly :
- "rolling with rooks and pawns"
- "shattering minor pieces endings"
- and i'm about to see "minor piece endgames weapons".
At least these videos are full of practical advices to be successful in endgames.
https://www.dailymotion.com/tag/Dzindzichashvili/3
The format of the videos is not very attractive (poor quality and contrast), but the content itself is good so don't reject it at first glance.
I have not reviewed all material from him, but for the moment only endgame techniques and particularly :
- "rolling with rooks and pawns"
- "shattering minor pieces endings"
- and i'm about to see "minor piece endgames weapons".
At least these videos are full of practical advices to be successful in endgames.
HangingKing- International Master
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Re: Selection of endgames.
by Blue Devil Knight December 9th 2009, 1:13 pm
Great thread only getting better. Thanks HK.
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Re: Selection of endgames.
by HangingKing January 11th 2010, 11:19 am
FEN : 3b2k1/5ppp/p2p4/1p1Np3/4P3/2P5/PP3PPP/6K1 w - - 0 1
Here is one solution for this endgame i presented on 2kEloGoal game3 topic.
Try to do it by yourself before cheating at the solution, it will be more profitable.
You can download the PGN here :
http://zwim.free.fr/ics/hasbun_endgame.pgn
And here is the chessflash animation :
Here is one solution for this endgame i presented on 2kEloGoal game3 topic.
Try to do it by yourself before cheating at the solution, it will be more profitable.
You can download the PGN here :
http://zwim.free.fr/ics/hasbun_endgame.pgn
And here is the chessflash animation :
HangingKing- International Master
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Re: Selection of endgames.
by HangingKing January 16th 2010, 3:47 pm
A very instructive Queen -vs- Rook endgame video study.
http://www.viddler.com/explore/Fuzz/videos/86/
I recently had a game where i finished in such an endgame, and was unable to win in the 3 minutes left to my clock. It's really frustrating to go up to the promotion of your last pawn, and still stalemate or draw your opponent with superior material (in order to not flag).
http://www.viddler.com/explore/Fuzz/videos/86/
I recently had a game where i finished in such an endgame, and was unable to win in the 3 minutes left to my clock. It's really frustrating to go up to the promotion of your last pawn, and still stalemate or draw your opponent with superior material (in order to not flag).
HangingKing- International Master
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Re: Selection of endgames.
by HangingKing February 9th 2011, 7:38 pm
Queen -vs- 3 minor pieces, not that often it happens !
For sure i went for slaughtering variation, chess's not always serious.
Anyway, funny game, ha ha :-)
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Re: Selection of endgames.
by BorgQueen February 9th 2011, 10:19 pm
Thanks HK, good game!
Pity the QvR video is gone :-(
Been struggling with certain aspects of that ending for ages.
Pity the QvR video is gone :-(
Been struggling with certain aspects of that ending for ages.
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Re: Selection of endgames.
by HangingKing February 9th 2011, 10:57 pm
BorgQueen wrote:Pity the QvR video is gone
http://zwim.free.fr/ics/29045dae56d612bb119a8bf99432bb32836d3ae1.flv
Found on youtube some long time ago, do not find the original url back.
HangingKing- International Master
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Re: Selection of endgames.
by BorgQueen February 10th 2011, 12:50 am
Thanks HK, I will be watching that with interest tonight. I will post back if I have questions. I will try to beat an engine with a few random QvR endgames and see if I can do it.
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Re: Selection of endgames.
by BorgQueen February 10th 2011, 2:06 am
Couldn't wait... watched it already. I think I am actually starting to get a feel for this endgame.
Again, I will try to win it vs an engine soon enough and I'll try to remember to let you know how I go. Thanks again HK :-)
Again, I will try to win it vs an engine soon enough and I'll try to remember to let you know how I go. Thanks again HK :-)
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Re: Selection of endgames.
by HangingKing February 10th 2011, 5:50 pm
When you understand it, just explain it to me, because i'm stuck with it too !
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Re: Selection of endgames.
by BorgQueen February 11th 2011, 8:40 am
Nup. I still can't do it in 50 moves against my engine :-(
I don't think I will ever get this endgame, it has no followable pattern and I can't calculate so many lines well enough to use the 'zugzwang principle'.
I don't think I will ever get this endgame, it has no followable pattern and I can't calculate so many lines well enough to use the 'zugzwang principle'.
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Re: Selection of endgames.
by BorgQueen February 11th 2011, 8:41 am
Actually, I don't think I could do it in 200 moves against my engine!
I wish there was a pattern I could follow...
I wish there was a pattern I could follow...
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Re: Selection of endgames.
by HangingKing February 11th 2011, 12:46 pm
When i play it against the ICC bot who indicates the numbers of moves to mate, i noticed you often start between M27 .. M30 (Mn= n moves to mate).
I more or less go easy till M20 but get stuck there because of the famous 3rd rank defense (rook preventing my king to get closer). If i move the king, i get perpetual check, if i move my queen oponent king escape.
If i manage (don't know how, by chance) to go throught this step, you find the zugzwang position explained in the video and not so difficult to win following the principles explained in the video.
So more or less, it is the moves in the range M20->M15 that are hard to find. I often do moves after M20 that put me again in an M24 or more position.
So a method to break this 3rd rank defense, is what i need, but i found nothing terrific on the web. People show how they do, but nothing is explained.
I more or less go easy till M20 but get stuck there because of the famous 3rd rank defense (rook preventing my king to get closer). If i move the king, i get perpetual check, if i move my queen oponent king escape.
If i manage (don't know how, by chance) to go throught this step, you find the zugzwang position explained in the video and not so difficult to win following the principles explained in the video.
So more or less, it is the moves in the range M20->M15 that are hard to find. I often do moves after M20 that put me again in an M24 or more position.
So a method to break this 3rd rank defense, is what i need, but i found nothing terrific on the web. People show how they do, but nothing is explained.
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Re: Selection of endgames.
by BorgQueen February 12th 2011, 12:07 am
Yup... that is exactly where I get stuck too. I find this ending infinitely harder than BNK v K.
And QvR goes back on the "too hard" pile.
It's just as well that most players actually resign when QvR comes out.
And QvR goes back on the "too hard" pile.
It's just as well that most players actually resign when QvR comes out.
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Re: Selection of endgames.
by HangingKing July 3rd 2011, 7:23 pm
I reach this position in an endgame, i must admit at the beginning it was KN vs KN with same amount of pawns each side, and i messed it up. I gave up my knight in g7 to avoid promotion, and to my surprise this position is completely drawish.
It never occured to me that with a lone king against KNP it could be so, but here it's not even difficult, i just have to oscilate between b7 and a8 (b7 to protect a6 invasion of the king, a8 to force a stalemate if king tries to approach), and if knight moves just get rid of the remaining pawn.
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Re: Selection of endgames.
by BorgQueen July 3rd 2011, 11:01 pm
A similar thing can happen with a bishop and rook pawn vs lone king... if the rook pawn's promotion square is not the same colour as the bishop and the king gets in front of the pawn, it's a draw.
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Re: Selection of endgames.
by HangingKing July 4th 2011, 7:40 am
Yes you're right, i knew it for the bishop but though that with knight it could not occur, i was wrong.
It's important to try to confine ennemy pawns on the edge of the board if possible.
It's important to try to confine ennemy pawns on the edge of the board if possible.
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