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archduke_piccolo 20-Apr-15, 14:03	Endgame studies... I think I must be one of the few who, almost from the beginning, developed a strong interest in the endgame and late middle game. Some people find the end game dry and boring - and so they can be at times - but, even with few elements remaining on the board, exciting possibilities may lurk. Here's one from today's article from the log-in page. If you want to try ity for yourself, check out the diagram but read no further: White to play and ... draw! (There is but one way to draw). ... How did you get on? Nor did I - not even close. I thought the motif might have had to do with blocking the dark long diagonal by 1.Rg7 or 1.h6 ... 2.Rg7. It turns out that even if White promotes (a move after Black does) Black still wins by eventually forcing a skewer on the h-file (driving the king onto it, then checking him off and capturing the unprotected Q on h8). The key move proved totally unexpected, and creates a resource usually unlooked for in this type of game configuration. 1.Nh6!! ... An astonishing move! It blocks off the h-pawn from any possibility of promoting, and seems to make the knight an irrelevance. But wait: there's more! A] 1...Rh4ch 2.Kg3 Rxh5 3.a8=Q Rxa8 4.Rxa8 Rxh6 5.Rxa3 Draw B] 1....Rxa7 This is where it gets interesting: 2.Rg7ch Ke6 3.Rg6ch! ... It's no good taking the rook on a7. 3...Ke5 4.Rg5ch Kf4 5.Rg4ch Kf3 Have you seen where we're going with this? It turns out that Black can not escape the checks, as the White rook can stand, safe from the sable monarch, anywhere he likes on the g-file. Nor has Black any element that can block a check. Eventually a position will appear three times, at which time White can claim the draw. c] 1...a2. The same line as B] follows this attempt to promote. What this does is teach one to take note of any adventitious feature of a given position, even unto Black's pieces and pawn all lined up on the far edge of the board. Specific static and dynamic features is what alerts the tactician. It ought as much to inform the strategist.
archduke_piccolo 12-May-15, 00:42	This one... ... I found in one of the articles on the opening Gameknot page. Check out this end game: White to play, what result? You'd think it would be a draw, eh: material dead level, bishops on opposite coloured squares... But, note that White has much the greater mobility, Black is pretty much hemmed in. If White can drive Black back even further, and prevent the enemy bishop from breaking out at the same time, the win seems possible. In fact White wins within a few moves. Try it.
redfoxrising 13-May-15, 05:30	tried this check mate just kept pushing!
redfoxrising 13-May-15, 07:04	Endgame Studies Reading no further I was clueless and did not find the answer I will not go into details to allow other people a chance at this exercise
redfoxrising 13-May-15, 07:07	Endgame Studies Reading no further I was clueless and did not find the answer I will not go into details to allow other people a chance at this exercise
archduke_piccolo 13-May-15, 14:47	@ redfox17... ... You were on the right track! One approach to this is to examine the position imagining that it were Balck, not White, to move. The first thing to note is that he has precisely three possible moves! There are two ways to draw that spring immediately to mind. 1. Black plays 1...Bh7ch, followed by 2...Bg6. This presents an impenetrable barrier past which the White pawn can never go. 2. Even more 'decisively' drawn is 1...Kg3! There will be no saving the White pawn, and with it go White's winning chance. 3. In fact even 1...f6 will draw, as aftyer that the Black bishop stays on the h2-g8 diagonal from which it can't be shifted. In this, by the way, you see why bishops of opposite colour squares have such a strong drawing potential. So White has to force the issue, and the only way is by checking, or mating threats. The Black King is to be driven. There are three checking moves. The pawn check (1.g3ch) is obviously useless: it drops the pawn. So White has to choose from which bishop check. Over to you.
redfoxrising 13-May-15, 20:18	examine the board Always good to look at your moves in relation to what was played and why. I remember when I would get tricked by taking a piece (trap) and end up in a worse position. When taking a piece I heard you are at a loss of tempo if your taking is not really forwarding your plan of attack. I think the same is true as you are forced to move an attacked piece.
archduke_piccolo 13-May-15, 22:38	Process of elimination: White has to choose from 1.Bf2ch and Bf6ch Let's try the latter: 1.Bf6ch Kh5 2.g4ch Kh6... Suddenly we are already at an impasse: White has no move that does not allow Black to escape to freedom. If the Bishop moves, then 2...f6, the Black bishop gets out and guards the g8-square, or better, 2...Bh7ch then 3...Bg6. Remember that a King and Bishop can not mate alone... (well - we'll come back to that!). If the King moves, 2...Bh7 will still draw. Finally, 2.g5ch Kh5 and the King escapes. Clearly, then, 1.Bf6ch won't do. That leaves us with 1.Bf2ch Kh5 2.g4ch Kh6 3.Kf6! ... The beauty of this move lies in the fact that if Black now plays 3...Bh7, 4.Be3 is checkmate! So Black's king must perforce move again. There is but one legal move: 3...Kh7 4.g5! Kh8 Again Black has been reduced to the one move. At this point, it gets a bit tricky: 5.Bd4! ... The idea here once more is to keep Black reduced to the minimum mobility whilst avoiding stalemate. If now 5...Bh7, 6.Kxf7 checkmate! So... 5...Kh7 At this point we have the hardest move to find, though as you will see in a moment, Black has four (!) winning moves here. How is White to avoid letting Black out? At the same time he wants the Black king on h8 with White, not Black to play. 6.Ba1! ... White plays a 'waiting' move. He simply maintains the essentials of the position by 'marking time.' Note that Bb2, Bc3 or Be5 would have done equally well. 6...Kh8 Forced. 7.g6!! ... Killer move. Again forcing. Black has two possible responses, both fatal: [A] 7...fxg6 8.Kxg6 checkmate. I said earlier that King and bishop can not deliver mate alone. But here you see it happening! There are special circumstances, requiring the presence of enemy material in addition to the King, in which K and B can deliver, even force, a checkmate. [B] 7...Bh7 8.Kxf7 checkmate. Sometimes drawing material ... isn't!
redfoxrising 23-Jul-15, 17:14	studies I forgot about this most interesting threads... Hope other people will comment here, more the better!
archduke_piccolo 23-Jul-15, 18:23	Learning puzzles... a good deal can be learned from studies. Often they make use of well known motifs that ought to become part of one's end game technique. Consider this made up position. White to move can win in several ways, including the obvious 1.fxe6. But check this out: 1.Qxe6! Nxe6 2.fxe6 ... Yes, White, down a rook for two pawns, has a winning game! 2...Rf8ch 3.Ke3 Rf6 4.e7 Re6ch 5.Kf4 ... And the rook can not stop both pawns. That, on an otherwise empty board, and with kings out of the action, two pawns on the 6th rank will defeat a rook is worth knowing. It can win you games that might otherwise be drawn. The two pawns vs rook, though rare, is something tthat can crop up in end game play. Much less likely is this sort of thing: Even if it were Black's move, White wins: 1...Rf5 2.c6 Rxe5 3.c7 or d6 are both winning options. 1...Re8 2.c6 OR 1...Rd8 2.d6 ... is my preference, although any pawn move will win (2.e6 Rxd5 3.c6 Rc5 4.e7 Re5 5.c7). Contrast this: White has 5 pawns for the bishop ... and can not win! White has no useful pawn moves, and if the King moves, Black just maintains the Opposition. But add a White pawn at h2. Has anything changed? Oh yes it has! White plays 1.g4 ... (any pawn move will do, though I would not recommend 1.c8=Q just yet. Kepp that blow in reserve._ 1...Bxg4 2.h4! ... And suddenly we have an end game example of an overworked (or overloaded) piece. Committed to preventing the promotion of the c-pawn, the bishop can not as well stop the advance of the h-pawn. I have to admit this posting was less in the way of a study than as a tutorial. But I hope readers will get some use from it. Cheers, archduke_piccolo.
baddeeds 23-Jul-15, 19:52	I did not see this thread, until today. I also like your quizzes and would take some as it reminds of other quizzes I've taken as HW. And, I will say that endgames are vital. One thing, but you don't want to overdue is that, sometimes, opposition are vital. So, is centralzing your K. Actually, I posted a little about endgames in the KOH (Knights of Honor) club which some saw in one of my more recent annotations. Although we generally move on, I do, but not with endgames because as shamash said something like, "It's not about how much you learn, but rather, applying what you learn and using them towards your games."
baddeeds 23-Jul-15, 19:57	Deleted by baddeeds on 23-Jul-15, 20:18.
baddeeds 23-Jul-15, 20:18	With that being said, this is a perfect example of endgame studies. gameknot.com This, however, should apply if you play against a Class A Player or stronger. It's generally ideal, however, if you're up against, at least, a master. But, you'll usually see these in GM games.
baddeeds 23-Jul-15, 20:19	And, the truth is, "You must know endgames."
archduke_piccolo 23-Jul-15, 22:00	Joe... In this position, White did have a mate: 1. ... Ke7 2. Rb7+ Kd8 3. Bd6 Bd7 White threatened 4.Rb8ch, and this is the only defence - 4. Rxd7+ Ke8 Otherwise 4...Kc8 5.Ra7 and mate next move. 5. Re7ch Kd8 6. Ra7 and mates.
archduke_piccolo 23-Jul-15, 22:56	Deleted by archduke_piccolo on 24-Jul-15, 05:31.
archduke_piccolo 24-Jul-15, 05:37	shamash is correct... ...You can 'learn' all sorts of stuff, but the trick is applying it.consider this position that I have just composed. I'm Black and two pawns down in the end game. I want to salvage a draw. Is it possible? It seems to me that it might well be possible, and I would base my defence upon three pieces of knowledge: 1. that if this position were absent the g-pawn - EVEN WITH NO BLACK KNIGHT - it would be drawn, so long as my King could reach h8. This is known as the 'rook-pawn and wrong bishop' draw; 2. with the minor pieces gone and only rook pawns to play with, even if doubled, Black can draw, again provided the Black King can reach h8; 3. even if the King can't reach h8, a K vs K plus RP is still drawn if the attacking King can be confined to the Rook file IN FRONT OF THE PAWN. This point probably won't apply here, but it might be worth bearing in mind.... Before carrying on, there is another, elementary, piece of knowledge that everybody knows, but is apt to forget 'in extremis.' 4. King plus minor piece is ALWAYS insufficient to win against a lone King. So my first move as Black will be: 1...Kg5! Black has quite a few threats going, and also prevents certain moves by White. For instance, there is no pawn sacrifice possible at h4, on account of 2.h4? Kxh4 3.Ke4 Nf6 and whether pawn or bishop falls, White will be left with insufficient material to win. (It turns out this is the only move that offers Black any prospect of a draw) Rather than go through the whole thing, I'll give a couple of 'sample' lines to illustrate how the plan works... [a] 2.Bf7 Nf6 3.Be6 Nh5! Showing class! But 3...Kh4 draws safely enough too. These are the only moves to draw, so Black has to have his plan clearly laid out in his mind. I don't mean planning every move several in advance; merely know the purpose of each move you make: what it is intended to achieve. This knight offers up his freedom to leave White with the flank pawn and 'wrong' bishop. White tries a different tack. 3.Ke4 Kh4 4.Kf5 Ng3ch 5.Kg6 Ne4 6.Bf5 Ng5 7.Bd7 Nxh3 Now, it might be inferred from the foregoing that all Black's efforts have striven towards winning the wrong pawn. But what now? If White plays 8.g5, then 8...Nxg5 leaves K+B vs K and an immediate draw. But whatever else White now plays, Black will move his knight back and forth between h3 and g5, and there is absolutely nothing White can do about it. Draw. [b] 2.Kg3 Nf6 This looks very risky, doesn't it? 3.h4ch Kh6 4.g5ch ... Surely Black is busted here? 4...Kxh5 5.gxf6 Kg6 6..Kg4 Kxf6 ...and now, whatever White does, Black makes a run for the h8 square and makes bally sure he never strays further away from it than an adjacent square. Draw. As an exercise, see if you can determine whether [1] White has the means to win from the diagram position, or [2] Black can draw whatever White tries. Answer later.
archduke_piccolo 24-Jul-15, 14:36	Overloaded piece... This was a tactical motif mentioned by jkarp recently. This sort of thing can crop up in any phase of the game, even late in the end game. Several decades ago, this situation arose in my first (and penultimate) entry into the North island Championship in New Zealand. After Black's 63rd move, this was the situation. I had the White pieces. This has been one very tough, dour positional grind for over 60 moves, but the point now reached was clearly winning: White is two passed pawns to the good. But how to force them home? The knight was busy protecting both, and the advance to promotion was effectively sealed off for both. A good plan here would have been 64.Kg2, planning 65.h4 gxh3e.p. 66.Kxh3 and invade via the dark squares on the K-side. Instead I decided to bring my King to help on the Q-side. 64.Ke2 Kd6 65.Kd2 ... Inviting Black to 'win' the knight! Doing so would have left the bishop alone to stop the pawns, and there was no way, so close to promotion, was this possible. The bishop would have been overloaded. 65.... Bc6 Covers both queening squares... 66.a7 Kxc5 Too late. But after 66.Ke7, say, the WK would simply have marched up into the attack. 67.e7 ... Both pawns will promote, and one Queen will survive. Black resigned.
baddeeds 25-Jul-15, 08:14	Looking at your post from yesterday, at 5:37, as an opponent resigned with my extra pawn, and after wards, a homework assignment by Jack, those two questions are both very possible. Yes, white can win, if he or she plays it right, forces the K to one corner, and is able to deliver mate. But, black can also draw, if white makes a mistake. I used to think the second option wouldn't be possible, but Jack showed otherwise, so even in a position like that, I wouldn't resign, for if white blunders, black can move the K in a spot that would end up in a stalemate.
baddeeds 25-Jul-15, 08:21	Well, that's in general, but I think that in this position, it's a draw, even if white didn't make a mistake. For example, after 7.h5, Kg7 8.Kg5, Kh7 9.h6, Kg8 10.Kg6, Kg8 11.h7, it's an automatic stalemate.
baddeeds 25-Jul-15, 08:32	I also looked at a different line which would be an intermezzo. Sure, it's unusual, and what I said before is the most common line, but in general, it wouldn't be a mistake. But, in this case, black is in a little better shape then normal. So, with that, the best move would be 7.Kh5 (as added protecting for the pawn and giving it a square to promote.) 7...Kg7 8.Kg5 (getting the opposition) 8...Kh7 9.h5, Kh8 10.Kh6, Kg8 11.Kg6, Kh8 12.h6, Kg8, 13.h7+, Kh8, and it's a draw, either by dead position or stalemate. That's because if 14.Kf8, black has 14...Kxh7, but if 14.Kh6 it's stalemate.
archduke_piccolo 25-Jul-15, 16:41	K plus RP vs lone K Except in fairly trivial circumstances, this type of ending is a known, and fairly easy draw. As jkarp has shown, if the King can stay in touch with the Queening square - and there is nothing the attacker can do to stop prevent that once it is reached, then the draw is very easy. I hinted that a draw was still possible even if the defending king could not reach the queening square. For a practical example of this, check out this game, from Gameknot about 10 years ago. The opening was a Petroff; I had the White pieces. game I've included the whole game as it was a fairly exciting and combative one. The rook end game was pretty eventful, and all! After a protracted but freewheeling rook end game, the final position was this: Black had just captured my rook at g7 and then offered the draw. After a little bit of study, I confirmed what I already suspected, and accepted. Why? It is clear that the K-side is gone, and whilst Black clears that up, White will knock out Black's remaining pawns, and, covered by his King, run the a-pawn home. Can the Black King reach a8 to hold the draw? Let us see: 56.fxg7 Kxg7 57.Kc6 Kf7 58.Kxb6 Ke7 59.Kxa5 Kd7 60.Kb6 Kc8 61.Ka7 ... The Black king unable to reach a8, Black has to fall back on a last line of defence: in effect, keeping the White King off the b-file - especially b7 and b8. 61... Kc7 Observe here that Black has 'the opposition' only conditionally. After... 62.a5 ... White now has the opposition. I believe the concept is meaningful really only when it forces one side to make a serious concession. Here Black has two safe moves: [a] 62...Kc8 63.a6 ... Pointless is 63.Ka7 Kc7, repeating the position 63...Kc7 64.Ka7 ... If 64.a7 Kc8 is Stalemate. 64...Kc8 65.Kb6 Kb8 and, having gained access to the queening square, Black draws. [b] 62...Kc6 63.Ka6 ... any other King move allows 63...Kb5, winning the pawn. The pawn move 63.a6 leads to a 'zugzwang', viz. 63...Kc7 64.Ka8 Kb6 (...Kc8 is equally safe) 65.a7 Kc7 Stalemate. 63...Kc7 64.Kb5 ... The only other move available repeats the position. 64...Kb7 and draws.
redfoxrising 25-Jul-15, 19:35	Draw Glad to see these endgames It was a pleasure to pull up a 10yr old game. Again thanks for sharing Redfox17
baddeeds 26-Jul-15, 13:49	I agree with Ron. And, while I usually don't post OTB games here, as that's reserved in another club for the jkarp campaign, I will do so here. That's because the moral that Jack gave, where he said I went wrong involves endgame study. Which is that you, sometimes, have to get a piece involved, if you're to prevent your opponent from promoting, with his or her passed pawn. So, this is the game where he taught me that. gameknot.com
archduke_piccolo 26-Jul-15, 15:50	In the 'shamash is correct' posting.... ... unfortunately, I let slip that from the diagram position, Black can draw with best play on both sides. That diagram, though composed, was not quite an endgame study, as such. Although 1...Kg5 was the only move, the thing didn't really involve any really unexpected endgame tactics. Nor did I really discuss what White's plan might be to force home a pawn. But the fact is that with ...Kg5, Black seizes the initiative, and harasses White's army to the point that the win becomes demonstrably out of reach. But for me at least it was a very worthwhile exercise, as I did not know immediately that Black could force the draw. It was set up to illustrate how Black might plan a defence, and what the basis of that plan would be.
archduke_piccolo 26-Jul-15, 15:57	An oldy, but a goody... Here is something that is a real end game study. This time I'll leave it to you to find the solution. I have posted this thing elsewhere before, but its simple elegance makes it one of my all-time favourites. The following was composed by Richard Reti, a strong master of the 1920s, and something of a composer of studies as well. White to play. What result?
redfoxrising 26-Jul-15, 18:58	The king must move 1st kg7 is a must! If white trys to out run the black pawn from promoting 2nd move needs to be kf6 on the diagonal. White can get a draw in the game. My point is the crucial first move by whites king. I used the Analyze the board and have my solution at the end of this post. to see it you will need to scroll down. Thanks for sharing this end game, I found it to be a great puzzle, I just had a hard time trying to determine how the White king was in the top right corner. You definitely have to think about how you can protect your pawn and at the same time go after the opponents pawn from promoting. Kg7,h4 kf6,h3 at this point black only has 2 more moves to promote so king must now protect white pawn by ke6,h2 1. ... Kg7 2. h4 Kf6 3. h3 Ke6 4. h2 Kd6 5. h1=Q c7 6. Qb7 Kd7 7. Kb6 Kd8 8. Qa8+ c8=Q DRAW in my opinion or Draw if White K was to stop black pawn from promoting K-K draw There would be insufficient material
baddeeds 27-Jul-15, 18:29	I originally would've said 1.c7, Kb7, 2.c8=Q+, and after 2...Kxc8, white keeps on advancing the K on the h file, towards the h file. Now, I'm keeping in mind, also as noted in the new annotation posted above, but based on what ION said earlier, which I mentioned in that annotation that even if you were to promote, with just one K V P+K endgame, the end result is known to be a draw. However, I like Ron's answer better as there are more variations and would guarantee a quicker draw.
redfoxrising 27-Jul-15, 19:05	i swear I post But I miss post now, I was going to say that is a great puzzle. At first you would white has no good moves, but being a puzzle you have to look for things that was when I found draws either way
archduke_piccolo 27-Jul-15, 19:11	Deleted by archduke_piccolo on 27-Jul-15, 21:33.
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