Endgame

Endgame Mastery is where the major part of improvement hides. Grandmasters know that. Titled players know that. They also have a few tricks up their sleeve that allow them to play endgames near-perfectly with minimum memorization. When club players think of improvement they always talk about tactics, openings, and possibly game analysis. Those are no […]

Endings are perhaps the most underrated part of the game. Club players focus most of their attention on openings and tactics and completely forget about the ending stage. That leads to problems in understanding how pieces and pawns work together in the long run. At the same time, it makes a transition from middlegame to […]

Endgame technique and Andersson’s ability to get a decisive advantage from a position where most of us would agree to a draw is going to be the main focus of this article. Ulf Andersson is no doubt one of the reference names for those who want to improve their positional style and technique. The Swedish […]

There are certain things in chess that we only learn through experience at the chessboard, or as they say, “the hard way”. This is the case for typical endgames in which we fall by accident and have to work our own way out to survive. If you are already a skilled player then you should […]

Rook endgames are drawn, all of them, they say… but are they really? They might be, but how many times has it happened that you drew a winning one or lost a drawish one? Probably every chess player has such examples, as well as happier situations when the game has changed in their favor. They […]

Endgame Plays are very special phases of the game. It is not only special because each pawn, tempi, and a wrong move can lead to a disaster, but also because the endgame is decisive. Memorization and tactics won’t be as useful here. Success mostly depends on the fundamental understanding of simple positions and technical skills. […]

Catalan Endgames were very important when I analyzed with my students the game between the Bulgarian Grandmaster Ivan Cheparinov and the Indian Grandmaster Pentala Harikrishna. I then realized a few things about this particular structure that arises from the Catalan opening.

Typical Endgame Structures that we will go through in this article are Pawn Structures. It is no secret that knowing how to play endgames is very important. Especially in the present day, with so much information about openings, access to coaches, and special training in tactics, it is worth your time to accumulate as much […]

Endgame Plays are one of the most important and at the same time complicated parts of chess. It appears simpler than the Middlegame or the opening, but it is very misleading. Every tiny mistake may be decisive and instantly lose the game. Every pawn, square, and tempi is something to look out for. The calculation […]

Endgame Ideas are one of the most difficult aspects for a chess player to learn and train. This is because of the nature of the endgame itself; you prepare for scenarios that you don’t really know when, where or even if they will occur. However, once you get started in the world of endgames you’ll […]