Learn · techniques
WorksheetEvery click puts together 20 new positions of Techniques at random to print – or 10, 30 or 40, 10 a page, with a page of solutions if you like.As a PDF: choose “Save as PDF” in the print window of the browser.Techniques every endgame needs.
The lessons are fixed positions – the techniques are the craft behind them. For each technique you find positions from real games in which exactly one move won or held; where the games show too few, marked teaching positions as well.
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White to move · 2022Magnus Carlsen – Levon Aronian
The kings face each other – whoever must move gives way.
When the kings face each other on a line with one square between them, the player to move must step aside or back, and the other king gets through. In pawn endgames this often decides between a win and a draw. The rule holds at a distance too: with three or five squares between them it is called distant opposition.
Example from the game: FTX Crypto Cup 2022Carlsen holds against king and d-pawn with 60.♔d3: the kings face each other on the d-file with one square between them, and Black is to move. When the black king steps aside with 60…♔e5, 61.♔e3 follows – the opposition again. Solve it in the trainer →
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White to move · 2018Fabiano Caruana – Sergey Karjakin
Push the other king out of the way with your own.
Instead of heading straight for its goal, the king steps diagonally beside the enemy king and blocks its path. The other king has to take a detour – and arrives one move too late.
Example from the game: 6th Norway Blitz 2018Caruana puts his king between the black king and the corner with 53.♔g7: he now covers f7 and f8, and the black king can no longer reach h8, where it would draw against the rook pawn. The h-pawn runs through unhindered until 58.h8=Q+. Solve it in the trainer →
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Black to move · 2001Ian Rogers – Pavel V. Tregubov
Lose a tempo by walking the king in a triangle.
Sometimes the same position is wanted, only with the opponent to move. The king walks over two neighboring squares back to its own in three moves, while the enemy king has no room to do the same. Then the opponent is in zugzwang.
Example from the game: Neckar op 5th 2001Tregubov walks his king round a triangle: 57…♔f6, 58…♔f5 and 59…♔g5 – three moves, and it stands on g5 again. Now White is to move and has to give way: after 60.♔g2 Black gets in with 60…♔g4. Solve it in the trainer →
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White to move · 2017Maxime Vachier-Lagrave – Magnus Carlsen
Can the king still catch the passed pawn? The square tells.
Draw a line from the passed pawn to its promotion square and build a square on it. If the king stands inside or can step in with its move, it catches the pawn. A pawn on its starting rank counts as if on the next one, since it may move two squares.
Lesson: Rule of the square · Rule of the square: found in 50 of our games
Example from the game: GCT Blitz Paris 2017Vachier-Lagrave steps into the square of the h-pawn with 71.♔f3: the pawn needs two moves to reach h1, and the king now stands two squares away from it. After 71…h2 72.♔g2 the pawn falls with 73.♔xh2, and his own f-pawn decides. Solve it in the trainer →
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Building a bridge
The rook builds the king a bridge against the checks from the side.
In the Lucena position the pawn stands on the seventh rank, its king on the promotion square. The rook goes to the fourth rank; when the king steps out, the rook blocks the checks. So the pawn queens.
Lesson: Lucena position · Lucena position: found in 1,039 of our games
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Black to move · 1995Marek Vokac – Yurij Semerij
The rook holds the third rank until the pawn steps onto it.
Against rook and pawn the defending rook stands on its own third rank and keeps the enemy king from coming forward. Only when the pawn steps onto that rank does the rook go back and check from behind – then the king finds no shelter.
Lesson: Philidor position · Philidor position: found in 980 of our games
Example from the game: Ceske Budejovice op 1995Semerij puts his rook on the sixth rank with 53…♖h6 – Black's third rank – while his king stands in front of the g-pawn. The white king can reach neither f6 nor g6; only when the pawn steps onto the sixth rank does the rook go back and give checks from behind – that is the rule. After 54.♖a7+ the king goes to the queening square with 54…♔g8. Solve it in the trainer →
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White to move · 2001Alexander Motylev – Alexei Shirov
Bar a line with the rook so the king cannot help.
A rook on a file or rank between the enemy king and the passed pawn keeps the king away. Every line of distance is a tempo for the pawn. In rook endgames this is often the first step to the win.
Example from the game: FIDE-Wch k.o. 2001With 71.♖e5 Motylev bars the e-file: the black king on d7 is cut off from the f-pawn. Then the white king marches via g5 and f6 to g7. Solve it in the trainer →
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White to move · 2002Maxim Sorokin – Alexander Motylev
A pawn sacrifice breaks through the pawn chain.
When pawns face each other, a sacrifice can tear the chain open: a pawn moves to a square where it can be taken – and however the opponent takes, another pawn runs through.
Example from the game: Goodricke 13th op 2002Sorokin gives up his c-pawn with 54.c5 on a square the d-pawn attacks. After 54…dxc5 the d-pawn's path is free: 55.d6 and 57.d8=Q – and the new queen also stops the black c-pawn with 58.♕d2. Solve it in the trainer →
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Black to move · 1894Wilhelm Steinitz – Emanuel Lasker
Having to move is a disadvantage.
In the endgame the move itself can hurt: were the opponent to move, they would lose; were you to move, it would not work. Whoever sees this hands the move to the opponent – with a waiting move or a detour of the king.
Example from the game: World Championship 05th 1894With 63…♔g8 Lasker protects his h-pawn and hands White the move. The tablebase shows: were Black to move in this position, it would be lost – as it is, the white king has to go back with 64.♔g5. Solve it in the trainer →
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Black to move · 2014Viswanathan Anand – Markus Ragger
Build a position with less material that cannot be cracked.
When the opponent is ahead in material, a fortress can save the game: king, pieces and pawns stand so that the stronger side cannot get in. Then it is not the material that counts but whether there is a way in.
Example from the game: Bundesliga 2013-14 2014Ragger could have held with rook and pawn against the queen: 57…♖g6! The f7-pawn guards the rook, and after it no White move wins – after 58.♕e8, for example, 58…♔g7 holds. If White takes the pawn on f7 with check, the rook steps to g7 and pins the queen to the king on d7: after the exchange on g7 only the kings are left. Every other move loses, the rook to e6 too – then f7 stands unguarded and the queen takes it with check. Ragger moved the rook to f5 and lost. Solve it in the trainer →
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Black to move · 2016Veselin Topalov – Vladimir Kramnik
The rook belongs behind the passed pawn – your own and the enemy's.
Behind your own passed pawn the rook grows stronger with every pawn move; behind the enemy's it holds it back without becoming passive. The rule is credited to Siegbert Tarrasch.
Example from the game: GCT Blitz YourNextMove 2016Kramnik puts his rook behind the white b-pawn with 51…♖b2 and so holds it from behind. White wins the a-pawn with 52.♔xa6, but after 53.♔a7 it stays a draw – the rook behind the pawn is enough. Solve it in the trainer →
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White to move · 2016Aravindh Chithambaram – Yi Xu
One king move, two goals: chase the enemy pawn, support your own.
Moving along the diagonal, the king comes nearer to the enemy passed pawn and to its own pawn at once. In a famous study of 1921 Richard Réti showed that a seemingly lost king can still draw this way.
Example from the game: World Junior Open 2016Aravindh solves two tasks at once with 71.♔e6: the king attacks the e-pawn and comes closer to its own c-pawn. Black goes for the c-pawn with 71…♔c6, and after 72.♔xe5 72…♔xc5 only the kings remain – a draw. Solve it in the trainer →
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White to move · 2015Alexander Areshchenko – Sergey Volkov
A passed pawn far from the action pulls the enemy king away.
A passed pawn far away from the other pawns is often worth gold in a pawn endgame. The enemy king has to stop it and leaves the scene of action – the own king uses the time to take the pawns on the other wing. The farther out the passed pawn, the greater the decoy.
Example from the game: TCh-ROU Superliga 2015Areshchenko gives up the distant d-pawn with 55.d6: if Black takes with 55…♔xd6, his king stands far from the kingside. White goes over with 56.♔f4 and takes the last black pawn with 57.♔xg4 – then the g-pawn runs. Solve it in the trainer →
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Black to move · 2019Dmitry Jakovenko – Maxim Matlakov
Whoever has no move left and is not in check holds the draw.
If the side to move has no legal move left and its king is not in check, the game is stalemate – a draw. In lost positions this is often the last rescue: the king runs into the corner, the last pieces are given up or blocked until nothing can move. Whoever wants to win must always leave the enemy king a square.
Example from the game: 72nd ch-RUS 2019Matlakov saves himself with 100…♖d4+: the rook offers itself with check. If White takes with 101.♔xd4, the black king on e1 has no square left – knight and rook cover everything, and Black is stalemated. Solve it in the trainer →
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Black to move · 2014S. Agdestein – Jon Ludvig Hammer
Bishop and rook pawn do not win when the bishop does not control the promotion square.
Bishop and rook pawn do not always win: if the bishop does not control the queening square – it stands on the other colour –, the defending king only needs to reach the corner in front of the pawn. Neither bishop nor king can drive it out, and the pawn does not get through. The defender just has to reach the corner in time.
Example from the game: Norway Chess Qualification 2014Hammer puts his king in the corner in front of the h-pawn with 65…♔h8. The white bishop runs on light squares, the queening square h8 is dark – it can never drive the king out from there. After 66.♔h6 Black is stalemated. Solve it in the trainer →
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Black to move · 2018Sergey Karjakin – Hikaru Nakamura
In rook endgames the king belongs on the short side, the rook on the long one.
In rook and pawn against rook the pawn divides the board into a short and a long side. The defending king belongs on the short side, the rook on the long side: only with enough distance can it check the attacking king from the side without the king escaping the checks. With the rook too close the defense is often lost.
Example from the game: GCT Blitz YourNextMove 2018Nakamura holds with the king on the short side and the rook on the long side: 99…♖c7+ and after 100.♔e8 again 100…♖c8+. Three files' distance from the f-pawn are enough – the white king finds no shelter from the checks. Solve it in the trainer →
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Black to move · 1978Xavier Mateu Palau – Igor Gazik
Sometimes a knight or a rook is better than a queen.
Usually a pawn becomes a queen – but that is not always right. Sometimes only a knight gives the fork or the mate with check, sometimes a queen would stalemate the opponent while a rook or bishop still wins. Underpromotion is rare, but in exactly these positions it is the only way.
Example from the game: EU-ch U20 7879 1978Gazik promotes to a rook with 60…g1=R. A queen on g1 would have stalemated White: it would cover g2, g4 and h2, the bishop g3 and h4. The rook leaves the king h2 – after 61.♔h2 Black wins with rook and bishop. Solve it in the trainer →
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White to move · 2021David Navara – Parham Maghsoodloo
Whoever trades pieces must know the pawn endgame that follows.
Whoever trades the last pieces decides the pawn endgame that follows – and there is no way back. A trade that looks good can give a lost pawn endgame; and sometimes only the exchange saves or wins. Before such a trade the pawn endgame must be calculated exactly: opposition, passed pawns, who arrives first.
Example from the game: Lindores Abbey Tal Mem 2021Navara offers the queen trade with 83.♕d2+. After 83…♕xd2+ 84.♔xd2 it is a pawn endgame, and the black king on f2 no longer catches the a-pawn: 85.a5 – the pawn runs through. Solve it in the trainer →
The positions of each technique were found by rules: the move, the position after it, the further way of the tablebase – and where needed a second question to the tablebase (zugzwang, tempo). The rules are strict: samples of up to 50 positions per technique were checked by hand at the board in three rounds and the rules sharpened. Better a position missing than a false one shown – which is why some techniques are rare in games. The examples are chosen and explained by hand, every move checked against the way of the tablebase.