

Understanding other pieces’ roles in endgames against a lone King King and Two Knights against a lone King is a draw You learn your first pawn endgame notions. You begin to understand the roles that different pieces play, as well as some other key positions that tend to happen a lot in practice. You are now fully aware of the relative value of simple piece combinations (Queen and Rook, or two Rooks, say) and can give all the basic checkmates. Going from Beginner to Class E, your endgame has already improved quite a bit. So just remember to always allow a couple of squares for the opponent’s King. Usually the winning side causes it by pursuing the King too far, in the heat of the moment and often under time pressure. This stalemate happens so often that it’s worth knowing and paying extra attention to it. Of course nothing substitutes paying attention during actual play, but knowing the positions where stalemates are more likely to happen will help you play these endings faster and more confidently.īlack is stalemated, so white must move the Queen back before bringing the King to help checkmate. Avoiding StalematesĪs already mentioned, a key factor in all these endings is to make sure you don’t stalemate the opposing King, thereby jeopardizing what would be a winning advantage. But a mere few minutes dedicated to this ending will be enough to ensure that you bring the most out of the King-Rook duo.Ĭlick here to practice this against a computer.

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King and Rook endgames are even more important to learn, since it can be hard to find out during an actual game how to give this checkmate and you don’t want to miss the chance for a victory. This checkmate, together with the King and Rook vs King ending, is absolutely essential.Ĭlick here to learn this endgame through an interactive, step-by-step tutorial.Ĭlick here to practice this against a computer.Īfter closing off the black King in the eighth rank, white can bring the checkmate about Key here is making sure that you don’t stalemate the opposing King all while gradually trapping him towards the edge of the board. Most King and pawn endgames are based on knowing how to checkmate with Queen and King, making sure that you know what to do with that pawn you’ll be trying to promote. Key here is not to stalemate the black King: always make sure he has a square to go to If you take a moment to learn the “ladder” method, you can make sure that any such endgame will be led to a speedy conclusion.Ĭlick here to practice this against a computer King and Queen vs King It’s not uncommon for relative beginners to find themselves in this situation, but during actual play it may take too long to figure out the best way to mate. The two Rooks show great teamwork in checkmating the black King Crucially, you have to be careful not to stalemate the opponent’s King (that is, leave the opponent in a position where he’s got no legal moves available and can therefore claim a draw).Ĭlick here to practice this ending against a computer.

If you are lucky enough to find yourself with this overwhelming advantage, it’s important to know how to make good use of it. Queen and Rook work together towards a quick checkmate. Besides being a key to endgame knowledge, it is also an important feature in your middlegame-playing ability: if you have extra material on the board (say, a Rook), a simple but effective plan will be to gradually exchange off the other pieces until you are left with the possibility of a clear checkmate. The basis of all endgame knowledge is knowing how to administer different checkmates against a solitary King.
