Basic Endgames

A set of basic endgames to learn. Aimed mainly at my students, but I thought I would make it available to chessable as a whole, since I have been enjoying the site so much.

Have more or less finished the pawn endings section. John Bartholomew has done a nice book on rook endings, which I highly recommend, so I will be adding sections on knight, bishop and queen endings next.

354

Course stats

For: white pieces

Total students: 2,907

Recommended for: Beginning players Casual players Intermediate players

Trainable variations: 163

Alternative variations: 3

Informational variations: 8

Avg. line depth: 9.74

Instruction: 14,096 words

Released on: Jul 18, 2017

Support level: Medium

Section: 🌎 Community

Basic Endgames has

4.8 out of 5 stars, based on 180 user ratings.

Variation Details

1 x Alekhine Defence (18.00 avg depth)

1 x King's Pawn (5.00 avg depth)

1 x Nimzowitsch-Larsen Attack (10.00 avg depth)

1 x Scandinavian (Centre Counter) (34.00 avg depth)

170 x Start position (9.57 avg depth)

Badges Available

Claimed from this book. Mind The Endgame

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Comments

Last 10 Position Comments

gammarus 2,430,220 Actually. This is not the whole story. After 3. Ke5 Black cannot continue to shuffle between f7 and e7, either, because after 3...Ke8 we play 4.Ke6 Kf8 5.f7 and the pawn will promote. 4 hours ago

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boudy_beck 82,570 As far as there was indeed no recent change in rules, when your opponent loses on time and can be mated by displaying the worst possible counterplay, he is lost. Without the pawn on f5 Black could claim draw by 1...Nxf4 2 Bxf4 and without 2 Bxf4 White could even get mated but Black can't. So the black pawn on f5 is kind of Black's coffin's nail ;) 2 days ago

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boudy_beck 82,570 Yes you're right, here Black did not get any opportunity to promote, so my comment was meant as general. 4 days ago

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Theoryhack 12,116,960 Sure, though unless I'm missing something, in the precise sequence I've given here I don't see any way for Black to promote at all (without allowing the immediate capture). 4 days ago

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boudy_beck 82,570 For what it is worth: by promoting to a Knight instead of a pawn (here) Black can usually prolong the game with some more moves, or White can even get stuck in the mating procedure. I have the impression that weaker club players have difficulties with the Q vs N ending, more than Q vs B. There are so many ways White can still go wrong (Night fork, stalemate, time). Promoting to a Knight is (on not too high amateur level) in line with principles formulated by Dvoretski and Nunn like 'Grim Defence' and 'make the win as complicated as possible'. Finally as spectator I think it is funny to see Black promote to a Knight instead of Queen ;) 4 days ago

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Theoryhack 12,116,960 Accidentally left stockfish 9 analysing the starting position for hours, looking for the second best move instead of 1 Bh6.

At 84(!) ply, it gives the 2nd best move as Be5, and an evaluation of only around +2. 5 days ago

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Rolihlahla 535,970 Thanks much for the quick reply - and thanks again for the book!! 5 days ago

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Theoryhack 12,116,960 Hi Rolihlahla

White's move 2 - 6 are all forced. But on move 7, Kd6, Kc6 and Kb6 all win - you just need to be able to get the kind to c7.

I don't add alternate moves by hand - I let the automated "quality check" system do it. But I'll add them here. Thanks for the spot :) 5 days ago

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Rolihlahla 535,970 First and foremost - thanks much for putting this book together - I am a "woodpusher" for sure and this book has really helped me in my games - I have a much better handle on the end game - and I just won a game on lichess as a result of studying this book - so thanks again!! Now for my question: The move 7.Kd6 is marked as incorrect - but I believe it is as good as 7.Kb6 (Stockfish rates them within 0.1 of each other. Is this one really incorrect? It seems more natural than Kb6. As you say in the notes - the point is Kc7 in the end. Am I missing something?
5 days ago

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tgjoa 2,508,020 In retrospect having this discussion over Rd5 was probably overkill, but simply having it helped me glean a few more nuggets from an easily overlooked position, and for that I am grateful. 1 week ago

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