Endgame Bootcamp 10

Endgame Bootcamp 1: CampAddendum

Endgame Bootcamp 2: Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4

Endgame Bootcamp: 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Foundations

The first Endgame techniques that I use for testing my students are King and Rook, ever since I relearned the technique from José Raúl Capablanca’s book Chess Fundamentals.

Sure my last student thought it was boring to go over at the start of every lesson, but any mistake(s) made could lead to a draw or flag. Practicing the technique of King and rook endings will provide you with confidence in the speed battle, but also in the planning of your ending. Endings often occur with a Heavy/Major piece (rook and Queen). When one or more minor pieces (bishop and knight) are involved it’s usually focused on Heavy/Major piece promotion. While studying endgames from positions with mate still on the horizon is great for practice, it is important to become efficient with your play as you reach the end, and especially after liquidation occurs.

It’s easier to avoid stalemate with a rook than a Queen, so sometimes you'll see players in time scrambles choose to not Queen. Patterns come into play with the process of checking the opponent's King. While learning how to correctly execute the technique, while practicing the technique, remind yourself it's the end goal for the game. Once you are up material the general rule of thumb is to start the liquidation process into a winning ending.

Heavy/Minor/pawns all play their unique roles in the ending:

• Knights can move across the board quickly, easily double attack/fork, and attack up to four squares around them.
• Bishops can be at one end of the board and the other end of the board in one move, just as Rooks and Queens can, but are restricted to their color.
• Queens and rooks are the most valuable since they are better than just one bishop or one knight, both covering a large number of squares wherever they are placed on the board. (Are a pair of Rooks as powerful or more powerful than a Queen?)

Demonstrate the technique by placing both pieces of their kind on two of the central four squares (the solitary starting Queen may still be used), to display their full power.

Don't be afraid to count material, and consider that two rooks against a lone Queen is just as threatening, especially if the higher strength player has the pair of rooks. You have to be on the lookout for all tactical possibilities once pieces start to disappear off the board. Trading down in an even position will usually lead to a draw, but there's always situations that arise where positionally you can promote if liquidation would continue, generally with the King moving to assist pawn(s). Heavy/Major and Minor pieces are just bonuses for escorting pawns, and or delivering checkmate much faster, instead of a lone rook or Queen. This is why you may see people promote for multiple heavy pieces for an easier checkmate.

So we will review some of the techniques used to ensure no draw is made, and the subtleties when it comes down to the wire. No reinventing the wheel here, rather a friendly reminder to adhere to strong foundations in the game. Afterwards it should be easy for you to complete the Piece Checkmates 1 ( https://lichess.org/practice ) That way, for those who do not know the techniques, you aren't being pushed into the deep end and asked to swim.

"Box" the King in. Cutting the King off is a technique where you half or section part of the board with a Heavy piece, then usually walk the King up. Think of your King as one corner of the "box" and your Heavy piece as the other corner, so you can push the opponent's King into the corner of the board or onto the side of the board. Do not let their King walk up to and all around the center where it's hardest to checkmate. Eight squares must be covered (including the square the King is on) for it to be checkmated in the center of the board, six squares on the side of the board, and four squares in the corner.

Exercise

With Black to move you want to play Rf5, to cut the King off from one half of the board, and if Ke4 you play Rh5 or Ra5 to keep the Rook far from the opponent's King, as you proceed to walk your King up towards the middle of the board. Once your King is closer you then figure out which corner the Opponent King will be going to. The next image is after 1. Rf5 2. Ke4 Ra5 3. Kd4 Kd7 4. Kc4 Kc6 5. Kb4 Rc5

Rc5 is how to further constrict the opponent's King, sectioning them off entirely on the side of the board. Now if White plays Ka5, then Rb5 squeezes further and forces Ka3 as the only move. Now a counter-intuitive move is required for the faster Checkmate. Rb7 or Rb8, "retreats" the rook, but if Ka4 Kc5! Then White must play Ka3 again, and instead of moving the rook to b4 we play Kc4. This pseudo forces Ka2 because Ka4 leads to Ra7#. So after Ka2 Kc3, then White's last move will be Ka1 or Ka3 before Ra7#.

Now we will examine two games with more than three pieces on the board.

GAME ONE: Six pieces

White blunders with Bg5 in an otherwise drawn position. To draw, White’s Bishop must capture the f pawn to be on the diagonal preventing Black’s h pawn from promotion. Bc3 Kh4 Kf5 Kg3 Be1 allows Black four options. Three of those options steps away from their f3 pawn, which is captured by the King and White’s Bishop will be able to capture the pawn from afar if the King doesn’t get to it first. Otherwise Kf3 leads to.... Bh4 Ke3 Bg5 and mission accomplished with the Bishop capturing on f4 and the White King indefinitely guards it so the h pawn can never promote. A long journey for the Bishop:

Black cannot capture the Bishop and ensure the pawn promotion, because of the White’s harmonious duo.

1. White is able to position the King close to the pawn during the process.
2. White may continue to move the bishop safely away from the King, and even use it as a blockader on h2 if the Black King wanders.

Instead of Bc3 White blundered with Bg5, allowing a lovely finish by Black....f3! Now Black has created “two weaknesses” and White is not able to prevent the promotion. Be3 Kh4 Kf5 (Bd5 is also an option) Kg3 Kg5 h4

Bf4 Kg2 Kh4 Kg4

f2! Kg4 f1=Q (promoting to anything else is drawn)

Drill:

https://lichess.org/study/CKVOMd4o

GAME TWO: 15 pieces

Spot the tactic that sets up liquidation for a winning ending

Play continues: g4 hxg4 hxg4 Bxe6 Rxf8 Bxg4 Rd8

Black’s pawn island needs breaking, but the bishop holds White back from easily liquidating, plus the King is still next to the island. Liquidation favors White if no mistakes are made like Kc7 Ra8 Kd6 Rxa5??

Allowing b4 by Black, which prevents a serious pawn break threat. White should play a4 rather than Rxa5.

White is not out of zero possibilities of blundering the game away. There’s the obvious hanging of the rook that loses, since Black could promote with the assistance of their bishop. A less obvious continuation allows a draw: bxa4 bxa4 Kxd5 Rxa5

....Kc6 Rb5 Be2 Rb8 Kc7

....Rb3 Bd1 Ra3 Kb7 a5??

Allowing the only drawing move by Black: Ka6.

Ra1 instead of a5 keeps the rook safe from the bishop and King for the time being.