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baddeeds 27-Jul-15, 19:36	I think, I've figured this out. What I know is that both Q's promote with 5...h1=Q 6.c8=Q After that, I gave it thought on if it would draw or win for win. When I looked at it, I realized that white doesn't have a win. For example, 6...Qc6+ 7.Qxc6+, Ka7 8.Kd7, Kb8 9.Qc8+, while it appears like a win for white, it would, in reality be more like an intermezzo. That's because, after 9...Ka7 (forced), now it appears that it'll either be a stalemate or draw by repetition. In other words, I don't think that white can checkmate black.
archduke_piccolo 27-Jul-15, 21:34	The problem... ... facing White is that in a straight footrace, his King has absolutely no chance of reeling in the Black pawn. Conversely, however, the Black King can catch the White pawn with ease. So after 1.c7 Kb7, White has no chance and will lose the K vs K and Q in a few moves. redfox17's suggestion 1.Kg7 makes a lot of sense, moving left wards and downwards in a single move. This is where the geometry of the chessboard comes in. That the distance between h8 and a1 is the same as between h8 and h1 makes all the difference. The solution offered by redfox17 just doesn't quite work: it just needs the slightest of tweaks at move 4. I'll give the first three moves of his line here, in a more conventional format: 1.Kg7! h4 2.Kf6! h3 3.Ke6! h2 Now, 4.Kd6 doesn't quite work though it is in the spirit of the thing. It's just a wee bit too slow. So what should White play instead? Note that in all these moves, you have to ask yourself, what if Black plays ...Kb6 instead of advancing the pawn? I'll do the first move, and you can analyse the rest: 1.Kg7 Kb6 2.Kf6 h4 (if 2...Kxc6, 3.Kg5=) 3.Ke5! h3 (If 2...Kxc6 3.Kf4=) 4.Kd6 h2 5.c7 = Both sides will Queen, and neither can gain a winning advantage afterwards.
archduke_piccolo 27-Jul-15, 21:40	This position... is a draw, as neither can force the win of the opponent's Queen. With Black to play, all White has to do is avoid skewers - moving into skewers or being forced into skewers. That is not difficult. The WQ stays on c8 (keeping the BK confined to the a and b-files), and the W-King moves on dark squares, staying away from the 8-rank. Simple.
baddeeds 28-Jul-15, 19:54	Yes, now I got one part, but it's important for me to analyze the rest based on how. For after 5.c7, 5...h1+Q 6.c8=Q, which is how we achieve this position.
archduke_piccolo 28-Jul-15, 20:14	I'll give this another half-day... ... and then respond. I would like others to chip in ...
archduke_piccolo 29-Jul-15, 14:38	Solution to the Reti Study. Whate to play: what result? Let us begin with the main line. redfox17 came very near the solution: 1.Kg7! h4 2.Kf6! h3 3.Ke6! h2 Now, 4.Kd6 doesn't quite work though it is in the spirit of the thing. It's just a wee bit too slow. So what should White play instead? Before revealing all, the slightly better 4.Kd7 is also not good enough. Although White gets a protected Bishop's Pawn on the 7th rank, the relative position of the Kings rules out any hopes of a the Stalemate tactic (after 4.Kd7 h1=Q 5.c7 Qd5ch 6.Ke7 Qc6 7.Kd8 Qd6ch 8.Kc8 Kb6 (NOT ...Ka7 Stalemate!) 9.Kb8 Qxc7ch and mate next turn). So White should go for promotion himself: 4.c7! ... Now, if 4...h1=Q, 5.c8=Q is check! So Black can't 'get in' the skewer by 5...Qh3ch! 4... Kb7 5.Kd7! h1=Q 6.c8=Qch ... And White draws easily by continually checking the enemy King, and taking the first opportunity to exchange Queens. In a previous posting I enquired into what happens if the Black King makes an early attempt to inhibit the White Pawn's advance. In the following ...Kb6 comes at move 1. You can try for yourself whether waiting until the 2nd or subsequent moves will make a difference. 1.Kg7 Kb6 2.Kf6 h4 (if 2...Kxc6, 3.Kg5=) 3.Ke5! h3 (If 2...Kxc6 3.Kf4=) 4.Kd6 h2 5.c7 = There you have it: both sides will Queen, and neither can gain a winning advantage afterwards. It is this sort of thing that can make end games as much a joy to play as other phases of the game. True, more often than not one has to grind out a win from a scanty advantage, or eke out a problematical draw. I have has quite a few of the latter!
baddeeds 29-Jul-15, 14:58	Nice. This thread is so good that upon starting a new thread at WTWLTR club, I copied and pasted this thread into that one because of how much there is to learn.
archduke_piccolo 29-Jul-15, 16:29	Thanks, Joe... I've begun a second, more general end game thread as well, hoping to reserve this one specifically for 'Studies'. Speaking of which, here's something - a study by O.Frink... White to play ... and win! White is a pawn ahead in a rook and pawn vs lone rook ending. Normally such endings are very difficult to win, unless there is some special feature that compromises the defence. Here, the Black king is for the moment cut off by the rook at d1. On the other hand how is the White king to help push the pawn through? In fact were the Black king standing at c6, there would be no win. With that hint, you might want to pause here and have a go for yourself... The difference between studies and 'problems' is that usually the first move of the study is obvious. The rook is doing fine where it stands, the pawn can't move, therefore: 1.Kf4 Rf8ch 2.Kg5 Re8 Checking again will only help White (e.g. 2...Rg8ch 3.Kf6 Re8 4.e5) 3.Kf5 Rf8ch 4.Kg6 Re8 What now? K back to f5 repeats the position, and if 4.Re1, the BK intervenes at d6 (5.Re1 Kd6) 5.Rd4! ... Protecting the pawn from a flank. Often this sort of thing is pretty awkward, but here it's a game winner. Note that had the Black King stood at c6, he could kibosh White's scheme by 5...Kc6-c4 6.Ra4 Kb5 7.Rd4 Kc4 etc. 5... Kc6 (hoping... But there's really nothing else to do) 6.Kf7 Re5 7.Kf6 Rh5 (...or Re8) 8.e5 Rh6ch 9.Kg5 Re6 10.Kf5 Rh6 11.e6 ... You can see from this that whilst the WR holds back the Black King, the White king will shepherd the pawn home against the attentions of the enemy rook. This closing motif, by the way, can be a game saver, and ought packed into your technical bag of tricks: This situation looks bad for Black after... 1.Kb7 ... One way or another, this is going to cost Black his rook. He bites the bullet: 1...Rxa7! 2.Kxa7 h4 3.Rg1 ... Hoping for a moment's carelessness from Black: 3...h3?? 4.Rg3 h2 5.Rh3 and White wins) 3...Kf4 And now there is nothing more that White can do except to return the compliment - exchange rook for pawn 4.Rg8 (say) h3 5.Kb6 h2 ... and as 6.Rg2 won't work (and will lose) ... 6.Rh8 Kg3 7.Rg8ch Kf2 8.Rh8 Kg2 9.Rg8 Kh1! 10.Rh8 ... ... a King move or any rook move on the g-file is Stalemate. 10... Kg2 etc. Very useful to know if ever you find yourself in trouble in a rook end game. Of course, this defence won't work if the enemy King is close by, and/or your own king is far away from the pawn.
redfoxrising 29-Jul-15, 16:33	There is alot to look over here. thanks for sharing It most take some time to make these for us thanks alot
archduke_piccolo 02-Aug-15, 17:19	Study by Herbstmann... This one is very instructive, and features what I think is quite an advanced drawing technique (Sorry! Spoiler alert!) In the diagram, White is in very serious trouble: His rook is under direct attack, and Black is about to promote the pawn. How can White possibly save the situation? As this one is pretty arcane and surprising to me as well, I'll play it through here, just for our entertainment ... and learning. 1.Re5 ... The first move is obvious, to gain time... 1... Kf6 But so is Black's, to retain the 'double' threat. So what now? If 2.Bxd4 d1=Q White has no good discovered check (e.g. 3.Rh5ch Qxd4ch [simplest] 4.Kxd4 Rxh5). There is nothing for it but to take the pawn. 2.Kxd2 ... Now Black can [A] take the rook at once, or [B] fork King and rook and take it with the knight. [A] 2...Kxe5 3.Kd3 Rh4 So White is not going to win the knight and draw the K+B vs K+R endgame (a standard draw unless the defender is VERY unfavourably placed). 4.Kc4 ... Suddenly Black has a problem: what to move, and where? He can not unpin the knight! Any King move by Black leaves White safely able to play Bxd4 and draw the bishop vs rook end game. The rook can shuffle along the rank, but the bishop shuffles along the diagonal maintaining the pin. And finally, Black can't hope for a counter-pin after, say, ...Rh3 as Bxd4 is check! A whole rook ahead, in a 5-man end game, and Black can not win! Talk about the power of the pin! OK, then, let's try ... [B] 2...Nf3ch 3.Ke3 Nxe5 4.Ke4 Rh5 5.Kd5 ... ! It's the same thing again! The action has simply been moved up a rank. To my mind this is astonishing chess, beautiful, and educational as well. The instructive bit, I think, is in the final tableau: the knight pinned so absolutely that even the extra rook can not break the deadlock. That can serve as a potential aiming point if you find yourself late in the game, and hence the basis of a plan. Of course, it will serve only if that position, or an analogue of it, can feasibly be brought about.
baddeeds 04-Aug-15, 08:51	I will play through these lines, as soon as, more time permits since I'm working a little more, these days. Yes, I like these endgame studies and find them very helpful for chess improvements.
archduke_piccolo 04-Aug-15, 13:38	Thanks... I appreciate the feedback on these, but one does need to take time over them.
baddeeds 05-Aug-15, 13:48	No problem, and I agree. You just need to find the time as it takes a while to play through everything, and is with a regular game, the one thing that you want to avoid is rushing through the variations because one needs the time to absorb the information and concentrate on the position.
baddeeds 10-Aug-15, 18:49	I looked at some of it. Yes, what I did some involves the K moving back and forth. That's called triangulation because you're moving the K in a triangle. What I recently learned from Susan Polgar is that this is very important in endgames. Not so much so for basic ones, but as complicated as one of the ones that you showed, yes. And, like you said, if there's a chance of a draw, unless you're K is close to your opponents K. That's why centralization is important. The idea being that you form a fortress so that your K is close as possible to your opponents, so that, he or she has no way out of trouble.
baddeeds 10-Aug-15, 18:51	In other words, there's no defense.
baddeeds 10-Aug-15, 19:00	In addition, I view those lessons and examples as chess courses because that's how much there is to learn.
baddeeds 04-Sep-15, 19:06	Now, I was going to post in WTWLTR, but I go by what easy19 said that maybe it's better to wait there until the rating climbs. But, I will post here because it's right in front of ION who's analysis is very good. Going back to endgames, but not to just anyone. Instead, it's the really complicated and unusual N+B, where you use your N+B+K against the lonely K to deliver mate. As you know, the sample was starting the B on f1 which was the light square, the N on g1, and K on e1, and black's K is on e8 I gave myself a D since I had to keep playing with the positions until I finally got it. Then, I said it wasn't good enough and would keep visualizing, until I could visualize it, with B and A. Well, I had to play a little, so I would've given myself a C with about a 72, and since this is harder then College a C is considered solid. But, considering the amount of ways I found to mate without a lot of options in the sample, I give myself a 75 marks (a 75% which is a C+) And, that's really solid since, in general, you'd have to be a GM to figure this out. So, while my rating didn't climb for a while, though, I have improved on knowing my endgame which is a very important.
baddeeds 04-Sep-15, 19:18	Plus, I attached it to my team, so that members, one from, what was, Chess Warriors, could see this. And, I found out how to do this in 20-21 moves, which is significant when you count the fact that there are 50 moves, before one would fail due to draw by 50 move rule since there are no further captures. So, with that being said, it starts off with 1.Kd2, Ke7 2.Ke3, Ke6 3.Ke4, Kf6 4.Nf3, Ke6 5.Bh3+, Kd6 6.Kd4, Kc6 7.Bf1, Kd6 8.Bc4, Kc6 9.Ne5+, Kb6 10.Kc3, Ka5 11.Kb3, Kb6 12.Kb4, Kb7 13.Kb5, Kc7 14.Kc5, Kb7 15.Bb5, Ka7 16.Kc6, and now, there are a few options, but no matter what black does, it's mate in 4 to 5 moves. If 16...Kb8 17.Ba6, Ka8 18.Kb6, Kb8 19.Nc6+, Ka8 20.Bb7# If 16...Ka8 17.Kb6, Kb8 18.Ba6, Ka8 19.Bb7+, Kb8 20.Nd7# If instead of 17...Ka8, black plays 17...Ka7, white has 18.Kb5, and there are two options. If 18...Kb8 19.Kb6, Ka8 20.Bb7+, Kb8 21.Nd7# And, if 18...Ka8, 19.Kb6, Kb8 20.Nd7+, Ka8 21.Bb7# The moral is that knowing your end games is important, and if you really practice and study, and keep at it, then it'll become second nature quicker and you get a much better understanding about endgames, especially, something as advanced as this.
baddeeds 04-Sep-15, 19:22	So, this is the final position that is after mate, with 16...Kb8 17.Ba6, Ka7 18.Kb5, Ka8 19.Kb6, Kb8 20.Nd7+, Ka8 21.Bb7#
archduke_piccolo 04-Sep-15, 21:15	Opening position... I believe that the starting position for the ending jkarp has outlined we this: I'll be honest and tell you that I don't know in detail how to win this type of end game in general (my three wins out of three against it have all been from favourable positions, winnable in maybe a dozen moves or less), but I can outline the plan: 1. Drive and corral the King into a small area; 2. Drive and corral the king against the edge of the board; 3. Drive the King towards the corner covered by the bishop. During this process, you have to count on the defender making a sudden dash TOWARDS the danger corner in order to escape out into mid-board somewhere. The reason for 3 is that the 'bishop's' corner is the only place where mate can be forced, as in Joe's example above. That mate can be DELIVERED on any edge square does help towards this 'driving' technique, because in avoiding it, the defender can be driven to where the attacker desires.
archduke_piccolo 05-Sep-15, 15:44	Standard technique: K/B/N vs K I thought I would look this up, to see if there was any such thing, and indeed found it. I thought I'd do is share it here. But it is taken from a Wikipedia article. I've added a few remarks of my own in this posting. We'll begin with a diagram supplied in that article: As you can see, this is far from ideal for the attacker. The BK (Black king) has the run of the board. White's plan: 1. Drive the BK to the edge of the board. 1A. Create a blocking position with B and N to free... 1B. ...the WK to manoeuvre the BK to the edge of the board. 2. Drive the BK to a corner the bishop can reached. Though there are several deliverable mates, the ONLY FORCIBLE mate is one delivered by the bishop. Black's plan: 1. Stay away from the edge of the board 2. Stay away from the corner the bishop can reach (a8 and h1 in this instance). 3. Be prepared to make a dash for freedom TOWARDS the danger corner if there is a chance of escaping into mid-board. 4. In sum: survive for 50 moves! I'll tell you right now that as from the diagram position it will take at least 30 moves to win, White will have to play accurately to frustrate this plan! Let us begin: PHASE 1: Driving the King to the edge: 1.Bg2 Kd4 Black will try and stay mid-board for as long as he can 2.Kd2 Ke5 3.Ke3 Kf5 4.Nd3 Kg5 There are other places the BK could go, but this is as good as any. 5.Be4 Kf6 Now, check this out: The White minor pieces have set up a sort of wall running c6-c5-f5-f2-g2. To get around that wall, the BK would have to skirt very close to the danger corners - he won't do that! Now the WK can manoeuvre. 6.Kd4 Ke6 7.Kc5 Ke7 8.Kd5 Kf6 Black keeps well away from a8 or h1. 9.Kd6 Kf7 10.Ke5 Kg7 (Best) 11.Ke6 Kg8 12.Ne5! ... Now that the BK has his back to the edge of the board, we can break up our blocking position to constrain Black further. 12... Kh8 Or ...Kf8... 13.Kf6 Kg8 PHASE 2: The 'W' Manoeuvre. This describes the moves of the knight between the 5 and 7 ranks as it drives the BK along the 8 rank towards a8. It could equally well be the '3' manoeuvre, the 'sigma' or the 'M', depending on which edge of the board we are looking at! Check it out from this new diagram: 14.Nf7! Kf8 Forced, as White's minor pieces now cover the h-file 15.Bh7! Ke8 Again forced. You will see this N/B motif repeated further along. 16.Ne5 ... Now, here is a parting of the ways. Black can try and cleave to the dark-square corner [Line A] or choose now to make a dash for freedom and escape via c7 and b6, say [Line B]. Line A: 16...Kf8 Passive resistance 17.Nd7ch ... See how the knight manoeuvres, so far f7-e5-d7... When next it moves, it will be to c5 then to b7, completing the 'W'. 17... Ke8 18.Ke6 Kd8 19.Kd6 Ke8 20.Bg6ch! Kd8 His bolthole slammed shut, Black has to continue his weary journey to his doom... 21.Bf7 ... An important finesse to drive the BK further. This is exactly analogous to White's 15th move. You will see a similar manoeuvre along the h3-c8 diagonal soon... 21...Kc8 22.Nc5 Kd8 23.Nb7ch Kc8 24.Kc6 Kb8 25.Kb6 Kc8 26.Be6ch ... Here we go again! 26...Kb8 27.Bd7 Ka8 28.Nc5... The 'W' manoeuvre has served its purpose, now we finish off the mate. 28... Kb8 29.Na6ch Ka8 30.Bc6# OK, that was the Black King being dragged, kicking and screaming, to the scaffold. Lets see what happens when he tries the jail-break option. Line B: I'll repeat the diagram here, after White's 16th move: 16...Kd8 It is clear that White is less well placed to contain the King on the Q-side. The upside is that Black has to skirt close to the fatal a8-square. 17.Ke6 Kc7 18.Nd7! ... Shuts down the dark squares... 18... Kc6 Threatens to break out via b5... 19.Bd3!... Shuts down the light squares. This creates a new wall, the only way out being via ...d8. 19....Kc7 To keep the WK back 20.Be4 ... Further constraining the enemy King. Note that it is impossible for the BK to reach a8 at the moment, but that's OK for White. We don't want him there just yet. 20...Kd8 21.Kd6 Ke8 22.Bg6ch Kd8 23.Be7 ...Remember this? 23... Kc8 24.Nc5 ... ... and this? All this is from Line A. So it continues. 24.... Kd8 25.Nb7ch Kc8 26.Kc6 Kb8 27.Kb6 Kc8 28.Be6ch Kb8 29.Be7 Ka8 30.Nc5 Kb8 31.Na6ch Ka8 32.Bc6# The jailbreak attempt bought the BK two extra moves of freedom, no more. Before leaving this, I ought to mention that you could vary the moves a bit if you wanted to - and in fact there is another way to round up the BK after the jailbreak attempt, but I'd recommend committing the method given here down to the moves and the move order. If this will win you the game, what more do you need?
archduke_piccolo 06-Sep-15, 06:39	In case you were wondering... ... the bit I didn't know was how effectively to deal with the 'breakout' attempt (Line B in the previous posting). Although I didn't know the 'W' manoeuvre as such, I was pretty confident against 'passive' resistance of driving the King into the mating square.
baddeeds 07-Sep-15, 18:51	I enjoyed those diagrams. That means exactly what I thought, which was where do you confine the K to, which was the part that was difficult. But, this is like with many other endgames because it's often on a8. And, once there, the K is isolated in the corner, where it ends in mate.
archduke_piccolo 07-Sep-15, 20:40	Bear in mind... ... that if white had a dark square bishop instead of the light, then the aiming point would have been a1 and h8.
baddeeds 28-Oct-15, 15:43	One of the reasons I kept practicing, until it became second nature, was so that I could notate something like that in an annotation. And, it finally happened. gameknot.com Although it didn't involve B+N, as we have here, there is a similar concept which involves the same thing. But, since it's black to mate, I'm reversing the colors. But, either way, it applies to all endgames. When you see a tactic like this, you want to confine the K to the corner, either a or h files, until you can force a mate which is what would've happened here.
baddeeds 21-Jun-18, 10:19	It's been a while since any of us posted here. But, combine that with the annotation in Oct 2015, and it's the general idea with endgames. So, I went from just learning and becoming familiar to teaching it. This took a couple of years, in the making. But, I started teaching this year, about 1.5-2 months ago with a student in her annotations. That is why I didn't give up or stop trying until it was all second nature.
baddeeds 21-Jun-18, 10:20	What's more is that I showed her this thread in a PM.
archduke_piccolo 13-May-20, 17:09	Opposition... In another thread the concept of 'Opposition' came up. This is the situation in which the kings face each other in such a way that the one whose turn is to move has to give ground. This can be the winning or losing of the game. Kings that stand on the same rank, file, or diagonal, with one square between them, are said to be in Opposition. The side whose OPPONENT has the move is said to 'possess the Opposition'. Consider this simple position: Here it is Black to play, so White 'has the Opposition'. It is a big advantage, for if Black plays: [A] 1...Kf7 2.Kd6 Ke8 3.Ke6 Kf8 4.Kd7 Kf7 (At last Black gets the Opposition - when it is no help whatever 5.e5 and wins [B] 1...Kd7 2.Kf6 ... (with the same result as before, mirror-imaged. [C] 1...Ke8 2.Ke6 Kf8 (or ...Kd8, as before, makes no difference) 3.Kd7 Kf7 4.e5 OK, suppose in this same position (reversed), BLACK has the Opposition? Can White still win? Let's suck it and see: 1.Kf5 Kf7 Keeping the Opposition 2.e5 ... If the WK retreats, the BK will advance, and it's pointless going back to e5, so, the pawn advances instead 2...Ke7 Now, the White King can't really take up the Opposition (3.Kg5 Ke6 4.Kf4 Ke6 5.Kf5 Kf7) 3.e6 Ke8 4.Kf6 Kf8 Black has the Opposition again! 5.e7 Ke8 6.Ke6 ... Stalemate! Continued nezt posting.
archduke_piccolo 13-May-20, 17:24	More on Opposition. Consider this end game It is Black to play; White has the Opposition. It is fatal: 1...Kf6 2.Kd5 ... and wins; 1...Kd6 2.Kf5 ... and wins. Now let's reverse the situation: White to move; Black has the Opposition. White simply dare not play 1.Ke3?? as after 1...Ke4, Black keeps the Opposition and, as we have just seen, will win easily. Can White save himself, then? Yes, he can: 1.Kd3! ... (1.Kf3! is the same) 1... Ke4 2.Ke3 ... seizing the opposition, and we have the diagram position with colours reversed! So Black will play 2... Kd6 3.Ke4 Ke6 Opposition! The position will soon be drawn by three-fold repetition. In such a situation, Black might wiffle around with his King hoping for a slip by White that will bring about the fatal Opposition. It won't help: 1.Kd3 Kd6 2.Ke4 Ke6 Just repeats the position.
baddeeds 23-Jun-20, 08:39	I'm going to take a look at this. I enjoyed looking at opposition. But, while waking up this morning, this position just came up and got in my head. And, I think it's because of the one of the endgames that I saw with Susan an Alexandra Botez during, I believe it was, the Womens Champion Event. Unlike when I first realized that my draw with Fred was meaningless, this time, I have the position. So, I was as, if, I was playing against myself. But, I visualized it, as opposed to, it appearing in my sleep. And, the blunder was somewhere here and not earlier like anticipated. I figured that it was just about having doubled pawns, but white could've still drawn. So, this instance black played 1...Ke4, instead of 1...Kd3 or 1...Kc3 (which I think was best) because of the passer. So, white responded with 2.Kxe2 with 2...Kd4 being a conditional move. As white answered with 3.a4 (to push the passed pawn). But, this is where black loses because 3...Ke4?? was played to prevent white from taking that pawn. And, after 4.a5 black resigned because as with the, "Magic on the Chess Board" which Susan annotated, black cannot prevent white from promoting. Instead, black should've played 3...Kc4. And, after 4.Kxe3 Kb3, the game would end in a draw by dead position. As black would be free to take that pawn, leaving the final position with just the monarchs on the board.
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