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Rather than annotating a game from the opening to the endgame, I've decided to only focus on the endgame. Lately I've been getting a lot of complicated endings in my games, so I decided to annotate an endgame only, please ignore the huge un-annotated part of this study, as it is just a quick way of skipping over the opening. Even if you never get this endgame in your life, it is still useful to study since it will improve your endgame, and you can use some of the ideas in similar endings. |
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1. e4 Nf6 2. Qh5 Nxh5 3. a4 Ng3 4. Ra3 Nxh1 5. Rg3 Nxg3 6. Be2 Nxe2 7. Nf3 Nxc1 8. Ne5 Ne2 9. Nxd7 Ng3 10. Nxb8 Nh1 11. Nc6 Nxf2 12. Nxd8 Nxe4 13. Nxf7 Nxd2 14. Nxh8 Nc4 15. Ng6 h5 16. Nxf8 Nxb2 17. Ne6 Nxa4 18. Nxc7+ Kf7 19. Nxa8 Ke6 20. Nb6 Nc3 21. Nxc8 Ne2 22. Nxa7 Nd4 23. Nc6 Nxc2+ 24. Kd2 Nb4 25. Nxb4 Kf5 26. Kc3 Kf4 27. Kc4 Ke3 28. Kb5 Kf2 29. Kb6 Kxg2 30. Kxb7 Kxh2 31. Kc7 Kg1 32. Nc3 h4 33. Nbd5 g5 34. Nxe7 g4 35. Nf5 h3 36. Kc6 Kf1 37. Nh6 Ke1 38. Nxg4 Kd2 39. Nd5 Kc2 40. Nh2 Kb2
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This is the starting position in the desired endgame I would like to study and demonstrate to you. It is White's move here, and there are loads of players who would just offer a draw here as White. King and two knights vs. lone king is known to be a dead draw, so if you ever get close to reaching this two knights endgame, you should keep one of your opponent's pawns on the board, because it is possible to mate with two knights, if your opponent has remaining material, and you have the technique to win (like I will show you). |
 
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41. Kc5
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White has a forced win (that will take many many moves). Black's pawn close to promotion on the h-file is a traitor, because without it, the position would be dead drawn. Two knights can usually win against a king and pawn if the pawn's promotion is blocked and sufficiently far from promotion (in this case 2 squares is far enough, but it usually isn't) and the losing king isn't close to helping the pawn. |
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41... Kb3
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Black is fighting for a draw, so it's logical that he would want to try restricting the attacking king from coming in, but this just stalls White's win. It's up to Black to make it as hard as possible for White to win. |
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42. Kb5
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White forces the enemy king back with opposition, and with the help of the knight. The other knight is a blockade to prevent pawn promotion. That knight will move later and allow a pawn move so that the black king won't be stalemated when the knights focre checkmate. |
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42... Kc2
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Black wants to get toward the pawn and attack the blockader. It is pretty much the only hope for a draw. |
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43. Kc4
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It is important to have an agressive king in and endgame, especially when your opponent has minimal material. White's king is the most powerful piece on the board, where it restricts Black's movement. White's three pieces must cooperate accurately to win this. White has an offensive knight, and a defensive knight. The offensive knight helps the king to restrict the enemy king's breathing space, while the defensive knight simply blockades the pawn and then comes in later to complete the final mating maneuver. |
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43... Kd2 44. Kd4 Ke2 45. Ne3
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This is a big decision for Black. Black can head toward the kingside and White will play Nef1 and there is no hope of Black's king breaking the blockade with both knights supporting each other. Black can stall the win longer by going to the queenside, where there is more free space. |
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45... Kd2 46. Nc4+
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If Black heads to the kingside toward the pawn with Ke2, then Ke4 Kf2 Nd2 and White can set up the supporting knights strategy to continue the pawn blockade. |
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46... Kc2 47. Na5
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Restricting the king from b3. This time if Black keeps heading toward the queenside with Kb2, then Kd3 Ka3 Kc3 Ka4 Nb7 and the king will be pushed back toward White's territory, and then pushed to the kingside. The reason the king needs to be pushed toward the pawn, is because White has a knight sacrifice tactic later. where White mates with a lone knight. |
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47... Kd2 48. Nb3+ Kc2 49. Kc4 Kb2 50. Nd4
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The king and knight alone are able to restrict the enemy king until it is forced to get cornered on the kingside. The other knight comes in for the finish later. |
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50... Ka2 51. Kc3 Ka3 52. Nb3
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The knight cornering method is complicated to master, but the ideas will come in handy in knight endgames, and especially in variants of this endgame. |
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52... Ka4 53. Kc4
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The only winning move. Other moves allow the king to escape into a drawn position. |
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53... Ka3 54. Nc5 Ka2 55. Kd3 Kb2 56. Kd2
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Cornering with a knight takes time and practice to do effectively, and maneuvering must be precise. Opposition is the main idea of pushing the enemy king back (being two horizontal or vertical squares away from the defending king is the strongest) |
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56... Ka2 57. Kc2 Ka3 58. Kc3
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Once again the only winning move. There are other variants of the last few previous positions that would've reached this position quicker. Pay attention to how the king and knight maneuver to control where the Black king is forced to move. White's goal is to get the black king toward the pawn where White has the sacrifice tactic. |
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58... Ka2 59. Nd3
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If Ka3 here, then White plays the restricting Nb2. Now that Black's king has been effectively restricted in the corner, White must figure out how to zugswang the king into having to move toward the pawn. Don't worry if the winning process seems complicated, if you just play logical restricting moves and calculate ahead, you should be able to manage a win. |
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59... Kb1 60. Kb3 Ka1 61. Kc2 Ka2 62. Nb2 Ka1 63. Nc4 Ka2 64. Kc3 Kb1 65. Kd2 Ka1 66. Kc1
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Since kings and knights cannot waste moves, White needs to have a good grasp of triangulation and opposition knowledge. Triangulation is when you make a series of moves that reaches almost the same position as before, except that the other player has to move. If you learn this technique then you will have a better understanding of how to corner with a king and knight. |
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66... Ka2 67. Kc2 Ka1 68. Kb3 Kb1 69. Nd2+
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Finally White has made some progress in cornering Black's king. Black cannot play Ka1 here because play continues Nhf3 h2 Nd4 h1=Q Nc2# |
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69... Kc1 70. Kc3 Kd1 71. Nb3 Ke2 72. Kd4
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This is a very important restricting move. Black can draw if he gets to e3 where it is impossible to corner him from the center. |
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72... Kf2 73. Nc1
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Here, Ke1 is the move that stalls the win the longest, but I will show this variation since most players would play this as Black, attempting to break the knight blockade while the knights are not supporting each other.
So attacking the knight by moving the king to the g-file seem to draw the game right? |
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73... Kg3
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How can White win now since the blockade has been broken? |
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