Typically players start their chess journey by studying openings, solving tactics and playing as many games as they possibly can. Do you see what’s wrong with this approach? These players are missing out on a huge part of chess, namely THE ENDGAME. That is the part of the game that starts after the first 30-35 moves are played and there aren’t many pieces left on the board. Why is it so important to study endgames? We are about to find out.
Deep endgame understanding is something that especially separates masters from amateur players. Surprisingly, majority of chess players do not pay enough attention to this very important part of the game and concentrate on other aspects of chess. Number one chess player and World Champion Magnus Carlsen attributes a big part of his success to in-depth endgame understanding and to the ability to play simple positions very precisely.
Many chess players focus their attention primarily on the opening and the middlegame. Little do they know, that endgame is something that can bring their chess to the next level. Because endgame involves far less pieces than opening or middlegame, it is a phase of the game that can be mastered by a player of pretty much any skill level. Today we will learn seven most important principles of endgame that all chess player should know.
One of the very important elements of strategic play is understanding of the basic pawn structures and the plans that can be used in each type of position. Having previously discussed most of the pawn formations that can appear during a game, we are now moving on to another concept – the backward pawn.
It is a well known concept that the queen and knight team works better than the queen and bishop. All the experienced and strong players are well aware of this strategic nuance. However, at a lower level, even though this concept is told several times, the less experienced players fail to understand WHY and, what’s more important: exploit its advantages.
As Philidor stated “pawns are the soul of chess”. In this article we will explore the most fundamental pawn structures and learn about its properties. Deep understanding of pawn structures is something that separates masters from amateurs. Go through each of the position one-by-one, and you will be able to identify them in your own games, and know which pawn structures are favorable and which aren’t
Today we will continue our discussion of common pawn structures. Previously we have covered the following pawn formations: the pawn triangle and protected passed pawn. This time we will focus on scattered pawns which occur in chess games of players of any level from 500 to 2900 elo.
In today’s article WGM Meenakshi Subbaraman will explore 3 very important positions in king and pawn endgames. In order to win or draw these positions you need to have a high level of chess creativity and out-of-the-box thinking. You will learn that often in pawn endgames the most logical move is, in fact, a losing one.
Protected passed pawn is one of the strongest structures in the pawn endgame. Not only does it threaten promotion but also it cannot be captured by the opponent’s king since it is protected by another pawn.
Protected passer gives a huge positional advantage in the king and pawn endgame, because it restricts opponent king’s movement, and allows your own king to gain space and activity.
Today we will start covering some of the very important pawn structures. In this lesson we will learn the basics of a so-called pawn triangle. This is a very common structure that occurs in many different middlegames. All competitive chess players need to know what you can and cannot do in this pawn structure.
