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From	Message
bigpeta 10-Jan-12, 07:54	a little endgame study in the following position with white to play is it a: a win for white b: a win for black c: a draw. Dont just guess i want some serious analysis to support your answers
zed2 10-Jan-12, 11:22	a little endgame study Black wins. In this game because of the touble white pawn black will end up with one pawn and with good play keeping his king as guard should be able to work his way to a Queen.
bigpeta 11-Jan-12, 01:23	Nice effort but needs more analysis there is something very specific (apart from the touble pawns)   which means that black wins
zed2 11-Jan-12, 01:29	Ummm... Can you give me a bit of direction please? I am a bit lost as to what you would mean.
bigpeta 11-Jan-12, 01:31	clue endgames rely on counting, opposition and a target end position. so whicj of these three is the most important in giving black a win?
zed2 11-Jan-12, 01:42	Well.... I would suggest then that the white king is too far from the pawns. If he had been in a closer position things would be different so I guess it is the number of squares he has to cover which put him at a disadvantage? The black king has less distance to cover to attack the white pawns. The white king should have been brought (ideally) much earlier in the game to the defence of his pawns as well as being in a position to be a threat to the black pawns.
bigpeta 11-Jan-12, 01:51	correct yes white can only attack the a-pawn which is one move more than black. but secondary is opposition to prevent white coming to the 4th rank and being able to protect the pawns. if you want to see the whole game and find out why white was unable to do as you suggested then look in my game history for the game against glennobrien
zed2 11-Jan-12, 01:55	ahhhh At a guess I would say you preempted his need to do as I suggested in the mid game? Hence your advice in the past about getting the King into the action!
twick 15-Jan-12, 05:15	black wins 1. Ke4 Ke2 2. Kd4 Kd2 3. Kc5 Kc2 4. Kc4 Kxb2 5. Kb5 Kxb3 6. Kxa5 Ka3 7. Kb5 b3 8. Kc4 Ka2 9. Kc3 Ka3 10. Kd2 b2 11. Kc2 Ka2 12. Kd2 b1=Q
zed2 15-Jan-12, 12:39	end game Thanks Pete for that little exercise and forcing me to think it through....it all adds to training my old brain for end game strategy and they why's and wherefore's etc.
hogfysshe 12-Jun-13, 19:21	bumping 3rd of 3 endgame threads.
porcho 14-Jul-13, 16:40	Deleted by porcho on 14-Jul-13, 16:47.
archduke_piccolo 15-Jul-13, 15:16	Deleted by archduke_piccolo on 15-Jul-13, 15:24.
archduke_piccolo 30-Oct-13, 13:37	Boring endings... It has long been my belief that endgames have a lot more to offer in terms of interest, excitement, and opportunities for creative ... erm ... creativeness, than many, especially beginners, appreciate. True, the gods in their wisdom placed before the endgame the opening and middle games, but they also, be it noted, made the endgame very often much longer drawn out than the other phases. If the game ends before the endgame, that is a signal that someone was decisively outplayed early on. An endgame struggle bespeaks a much more evenly balanced fight, and hence the more interesting in terms of a battle than, say, a middle game win, which can be revelatory in terms of discovering tactics and how pieces work together. This article I originally posted in the main chess forum several years ago ('Creativity in Endgames' thread). I thought I'd revive it here. Endgames are not without their combinations, but I thought I'd feature in this posting a pick-up game played several years ago. Black (Me) had played fairly indifferently in the opening and had reached this position after 22 moves: Black is two pawns down, but all his pieces were aimed towards the White King. You will observe for the moment that Black has two bishops for two knights. That didn't last long... After White's move, the game flared up into a wild tactical melee: 23.Re4?! Qa3+ 24.Kb1 Bxb3!! Black's assault columns come storming in! 25.cxb3 Rxb3+!! Has Black gone completely crazy?? 26.axb3 Qxb3+ 27.Kc1 Bxc3! White's King defences have been completely stripped. How can he save the homeless monarch now? 28.Rd8+!! ... Only by decoying the enemy rook away from the c-file... 28...Kg7! But Black isn't complying! A savage battle now rages on the c- and d-files. 29.Red4 Rc5 30.R4d5! Rc4! 31.Qxc3+!! Rxc3+ 32.Nxc3 Qxc3+ As so often happens, the tactical battle has burnt itself out, and the game enters an endgame that is, materially at least, dead level: 2R plus 3 pawns vs Q plus 4. Black has something of the initiative, and the extra pawn is passed, but it seems hard to believe this will end in a decisive result. Nor does it look all that likely to be full of incident, but ... well, let's see. 33.Kd1 a5 The pawn advances whilst the opportunity to do so exists... 34.Rd2 a4 35.R8d3 Qb4 36.h3 a3 37.Ke2 ... It looks as though White has successfully halted the a-pawn's onrush. What can Black do now? 37... Qe4+ 38.Re3 ... A King move would have led to 38...a2! 38... Qc4+ 39.Kf3 a2 40.Rd1 ... With his back to the wall, White finally halts the a-pawn, and has merely to arrange for its capture. How can Black create more chances? Black would kinda like to play ...Qb1 right now, but of course that isn't possible. But the idea does lead to the discovery of a remarkable manoeuvre not altogether unknown in endgames: the "ladder". But instead of ascending the ladder, this Queen descends: 40... Qc6+! 41.Kg3 Qc7+! 42.Kf3 Qb7+! 43.Kg3 Qb8+!! A finesse in the hope that the King would return to f3, whereupon Black plays 44...Qb1! 44.f4 ... "Nothing doing!" says White. 44... g5 45.Rf3 gxf4+! The pawn on f4 may not be retaken, on account of 46.Rxf4?? Qb3+ winning the d1-rook. 46.Kh2! Qb2 47.Rff1 f3 Now Black is attacking on both wings. Already it is clear that White's chances of survival have become very slender over the last half-dozen moves... 48.Rg1 Kh6 49.Kg3 fxg2! Even here, the pawn is inviolate. White carries on the fight as best he may, but he is already quite lost. 50.Rge1 Kh5! Hoping to induce 51.Rd5+ f5 52.Rxf5+ Kh6, but White is not having with that! 51.Rc1 f5 52.Red1 Kg5 53.h4+ Kh5 54.Ra1 ... Here it is not easy to see how Black can progress. Black's "non plus ultra" line of rooks appears to have stopped Black's pawns cold. 54... Qb7! Naturally, White has to leave alone the a-pawn (55.Rxa2?? Qb3+). Hence his choice of move... 55.Kh2 Kxh4 56.Rxa2 ... At last falls the paladin of the a-file, but others remain to carry on the fight. 56...Qf3 All's set for the final assault upon the White King. White could have resigned here but played it out until the result was well beyond doubt... 57.R2d2 Qf1! With the idea 58.Rxf1 gxf1=N+ 59.Kg2 Nxe2 and wins. That would have been a more fitting conclusion, one feels... 58.Rxg2 Qxd1 59.Rf2 Qg4 60.Rg2 Qxg2+ 61.Kxg2 Kg4 1-0 - Finally tossing in the sponge.
archduke_piccolo 28-Nov-13, 20:58	Bumpity bump bump... bump... I was glancing through some of Joanna's (zed2) recent games, basically looking for some clue why she might have left the club. One game particularly caught my attention - a pawn ending that Joanna (Black) resigned. Take a look: White to play Black has just played 42...Ke6-d7 but, upon reflection, decided her game was hopeless and resigned. Why? At first sight, perhaps, it seems reasonable. Sure, Black has rounded up the c-pawn, but her g-pawn is a goner and White's King apparently advances into Black's position. E.g. 43.Kg3 Kxc7 44.Kxg4 Kd6 45.Kf6 ... with the opposition and an apparent win: 45...Kc7 46.Ke6 Kc6 47.Ke5 ... zugzwang? Well, no. From the diagram position Black is in fact winning, and could even win from the final position of the line just shown (47...b5!). But Black can do better than that: 43.Kg3 b5! 44.axb5 a4 45.b6 a3 46.e4 a2! 47.e5 a1=Q 48.e6ch Kc8 49.e7 Qe1ch 50.Kxg4 Qxe7 etc. The seeds of the win for Black lie in the apparently crippled and unpromising looking majority on the Q-side. If White decides to leave his King to neutralize the g-pawn, we get this: 43.e4 dxe4 44.d5 b5 45.axb5 Kxc7 is absolutely safe, though Black could equally well continue instead - 45... a4 46.d6 a3 47.b6 Kc8 Now look at all Black's isolated pawns, spread right across the board such that White's king has not a hope of reeling them all in. All White's pawn are grouped together in a nice tight wedge, and so long as the Black King has no need to move that is where they will stay. I'm told that Joanna had lost much of her former enthusiasm for play, so she pulled the plug. Understandable, I've been feeling that way for a goodish while myself (I like 'talking' chess, but I find the games themselves a bit of a chore these days). That might also explain why she took a less than optimistic view of her prospects in this game.

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