Essential Pawn Endings in Chess (Know the Secret Concepts of Pawn Endgames)
- Karthik PM
©Copyright 2018 by “Youngsters’ Chess Foundation” – ll Rights Reserved. No part of this material may be reproduced or transmitted by any means such as photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the author and the publishers.
Preface “Essential Pawn Endings in Chess” – Chess” – As the title implies, it contains essential pawn endings and its concepts behind the scenes. Most grandmasters say, “Start to learn endings first before anything in chess” so we have started an endgame series called “Complete Endgames Manual” and this is the first book in this series. In this book, we go through some basic concepts first and make it more interesting as we walk ahead. After completing this book, you’ll be able to understand and play any pawn endgames theoretically. We have combined basic, intermediate and some advanced level of positions to make the concepts understand better, other complex positions are coming soon in next part of this book. Yet, this book helps in creating a strong foundation for your endgame play.
Instructions: To get the best out of this book, do not skip any chapter or position before proceeding to the next one even if you feel you knew it already or find it basic. At least skim through the chapter or the position you’re about to skip since they are usually interconnected to later chapters or positions. Beginners try to have a chess board with you since later chapters may get complex for you to imagine and stay in a loop.
Keys to symbols +-+ = 1–0 0–1 ? ?? ! !! !? ?! (W) (B ) W B
White has a decisive advantage Black has a decisive advantage The position is equal or the game is drawn White wins Black wins Bad move Blunder Good move Excellent move Interesting move Dubious move White plays as follows Black plays as follows White to play Black to play
White moves are given with numbers and black moves are given without numbers to get the difference better. For example – “1.d4” - White has played “d4” “d4” – Black has played “d4”
Contents Chapter 1. “Opposition” Standing Opposition Distant Standing Opposition Long Distant Standing Opposition Sleeping Opposition Distant Sleeping Opposition Long Distant Sleeping Opposition Diagonal Opposition Distant Diagonal Opposition Long Distant Diagonal Opposition Virtual Opposition Distant Virtual Opposition Long Distant Virtual Opposition Chapter 2. “King and Pawn VS King” Simple Opposition 6th/3rd Rank Opposition is an Exception 7th Rank Check Stalemate Escape Distant Opposition Commander in Front of the Soldier Rook Pawns The opposition doesn’t work for rook pawns Just another way to make a draw Need not always control promotion square Simple cut off The Rule of Square
Triangulation Chapter 3. “King and Multiple Pawns VS King” Connected Passers Disconnected Passers Doubled Pawns Chapter 4. “King and Pawn VS King and Pawn” Pawns on the same file Active King Corresponding Squares Shouldering Pawns on the Adjacent Files Pawn Races and its Derivatives 7th Rank Pawn versus Queen Far Apart Races Chapter 5. “King and Two Pawns VS King and Two Pawns” Connected Pawns VS Connected Pawns Connected Pawns VS Disconnected Pawns Connected Pawns VS Doubled Pawns Disconnected Pawns VS Disconnected Pawns Disconnect Pawns VS Doubled Pawns Doubled Pawns VS Doubled Pawns Chapter 6. “King and Three or More Pawns VS King and Three or More Pawns” The Breakthrough Symmetrical Pawn Structures Pawn Majorities Anti-Passer Strategy Chapter 7. “Imbalance in number of pawns” Connected Pawns VS Single Pawn
Disconnected Pawns VS Single Pawn Doubled Pawns VS Single Pawn
Chapter 1. “Opposition” In chess, “Opposition” refers to “Restricting the opponent’s King with our King” or “Resisting opponent’s King with our King to march forward” The opposition is one of the key concepts that every chess player should be aware of, especially in King and Pawn endgames. To better understand the concept, we will discuss with examples below.
Why opposition? We use opposition for mainly two reasons: 1. To restrict the opponent king from getting to a certain square/position 2. To get our King control certain square or march forward.
Types of Opposition There are twelve types of opposition, namely: 1. Standing opposition 2. Distant standing opposition 3. Long distant standing opposition 4. Sleeping opposition 5. Distant sleeping opposition 6. Long distant sleeping opposition 7. Diagonal opposition 8. Distant diagonal opposition 9. Long distant diagonal opposition 10. Virtual opposition 11. Distant virtual opposition 12. Long distant virtual opposition Let’s discuss one by one below:
Standing Opposition
Illustration 1.1
“Odd number of squares between the Kings” This is a position of standing opposition, whoever has the move is the victim of opposition. For example: If black to play in this position, white can do two things because white has the opposition. 1. Penetrate into black’s camp 2. Stop the black King from penetrating into white’s camp. How can white do these two things?
Example variation 1. (Penetrating into black’s camp) Ke6; 1. Kc5, Kd7; 2. Kd5, Kc7; 3. Ke6, Kd8; 4. Kd6, Ke8; 5. Kc7 In this variation, white has slowly penetrated into black’s camp and managed to control the “d8” square.
Example variation 2. (Restricting opponent’s King) Ke6; 1. Ke4, Kf6; 2. Kf4, Kg6; 3. Kg4, Kf6; 4. Kf4 Black is trying to get into white’s camp, but it wasn’t possible since white King continuously takes the opposition. Let’s break down the ideas behind the example variation 1 below.
Ke6
Black King has only 5 squares available to move, since opponent can’t pass the move, he is in a necessity to make a move. (Kc6 will be met with Ke5 marching forward the King) Black has now lost the “c5” square which will be used by white King to come forward.
1. Kc5
Illustration 1.1.1 White King also threatens to play “Kc6” further getting into opponent’s camp, in order to stop it, black played Kd7.
Kd7; 2. Kd5 Once again white has found an opposition and forcing the opponent to make a move.
Kc7; 3. Ke6 The cycle continues. Let’s break down the ideas behind the example variation 2 below.
Ke6; 1. Ke4
Illustration 1.1.2 By playing Ke4, white takes away “d5” “e5” and “f5” squares from black King and makes black King not come forward.
Kf6; Black King now tries to come forward via “g5” square.
2. Kf4 White makes an opposition and again controls those three key squares from which black King can come forward.
Kg6; 3. Kg4 The cycle continues. We will use these concepts in upcoming chapters to gain an advantage.
“It is always necessary to have an odd number of squares between the Kings to have an opposition”
Distant Standing Opposition
Illustration 1.2
“Three squares between the Kings” The distant standing opposition is similar to standing opposition. Whoever has the move is the victim in any opposition. For Example: If black to play in this position, any step forward will convert the position to standing opposition for white.
Example variation 1. (Converting distant standing opposition to standing opposition) Kd5; 1. Kd3! White has now acquired the standing opposition and can able to penetrate into opponent’s camp or restrict the opponent’s King.
Example variation 2. (Converting to standing opposition) Ke5; 1. Ke3! White has again found an opposition and can get benefit out of it.
Example variation 3. (Maintaining distant standing opposition) Ke6; 1. Ke2! White is maintaining the distant opposition against black King. Playing “Ke3” will be a mistake since black could play “Ke5” and take over the opposition.
Note: We can convert distant standing opposition to diagonal/virtual opposition too.
Long Distant Standing Opposition
Illustration 1.3
“Five squares between the Kings” The long distant standing opposition is used to convert it to the distant standing opposition and further convert it to standing opposition and gain any advantages. Let’s take all the following positions as black to play and white has the opposition in this chapter.
Example variation 1. (Converting to the distant standing opposition) Kc7; 1. Kc3! White has converted the position to the distant standing opposition.
Example variation 2. (Maintaining opposition) Kc8; 1. Kc2! White is just maintaining the long distant standing opposition.
Sleeping Opposition
Illustration 1.4 The sleeping opposition is very similar to standing opposition. Standing opposition is opposition in same file and sleeping opposition is opposition in the same rank. All the other concepts like restricting and penetrating are just the same as standing opposition. In standing opposition, we will restrict the opponent’s King from reaching certain Rank. In sleeping opposition, we will restrict the opponent’s King from reaching certain File.
Example variation 1. (Maintaining opposition) Ke5; 1. Kc5! White is maintaining the opposition and restricting the black King from reaching “d” file.
Example variation 2. (Penetrating to another side) Ke5; 1. Kd3! White wants to go to the other side of the board for some reasons and reaching to other side using the opposition.
Distant Sleeping Opposition
Illustration 1.5 Similar to the distant standing opposition, the distant sleeping opposition is also used to convert this into normal opposition.
“Three squares between the Kings” Example variation 1. (Converting to the sleeping opposition) Kf5; 1. Kd5! White maintains the opposition and controls the key squares to restrict the opponent’s King from coming in.
Example variation 2. (Maintaining opposition) Kg3; 1. Kc3! White maintains the distant opposition in order to convert it into normal opposition later.
Long Distant Sleeping Opposition
Illustration 1.6 Similar to the long distant standing opposition, the long distant sleeping opposition is also used to convert it into distant opposition and later to the normal opposition.
“Five squares between the Kings” Example variation 1. (Converting to the distant opposition and normal opposition) Kg5; 1. Kc5! White converted the long distant opposition to distant opposition.
Kf4; 2. Kd4! White converted the distant opposition to normal opposition (Sleeping opposition)
Diagonal Opposition
Illustration 1.7
“Diagonally one square between the Kings” This is a diagonal opposition position. The diagonal opposition can be converted into standing or sleeping opposition to get the desired advantage. Never forget the rule – “Odd number of squares between the Kings” If the number is even, then it’s not an opposition for us but our opponent.
Example variation 1. (Converting to standing opposition) Kd6; 1. Kd4! White has converted the position into standing opposition. White can even play Kb4 to maintain the diagonal opposition if needed depending on the position.
Example variation 2. (Converting to the sleeping opposition) Ke5; 1. Kc5! White has converted the diagonal opposition to sleeping opposition. White can also play Kc3 to maintain the diagonal opposition if needed.
Distant Diagonal Opposition
Illustration 1.8
“Diagonally three squares between the Kings” The distant diagonal opposition is used to convert the position to the normal diagonal opposition or to convert into virtual opposition. Since we’re yet to learn virtual opposition, we will see virtual opposition conversions in virtual opposition head.
Example variation 1. (Converting to the diagonal opposition) Kf7; 1. Kd5! White has converted the distant diagonal opposition to diagonal opposition. This position will be converted into standing or sleeping opposition further as we’ve discussed in diagonal opposition.
Example variation 2. (Maintaining distant diagonal opposition) Kh7; 1. Kd3 White is maintaining distant diagonal opposition and seeking for the opposition to get converted later.
Long Distant Diagonal Opposition
Illustration 1.9
“Diagonally five squares between the Kings” The long distant diagonal opposition is the rarest opposition you’ll ever see in practical games, however knowing these things will be good. Long distant diagonal opposition usually converts into distant diagonal opposition or long distant virtual opposition or any other distant or long distant oppositions.
Example variation 1. (Converting to the distant diagonal opposition) Kg7; 1. Kc3 White has converted the position to the distant diagonal opposition which will be further converted into some other opposition. Maintaining long distant diagonal opposition may not be a good choice in most situations, we need to convert this into virtual oppositions. We’ll see below.
Virtual Opposition
Illustration 1.10
“Odd number of files and an odd number of ranks between the Kings” This is how you can find a virtual opposition. Virtual opposition means an indirect opposition. It is not an actual opposition but eventually will convert into normal opposition.
“Three files/ranks and one rank/file between the Kings” The virtual opposition can be converted into standing/sleeping/diagonal oppositions and vice versa.
Example variation 1. (Converting to standing opposition) Kd6; 1. Kd4! Example variation 2. (Converting to diagonal opposition) Kd6; 1. Kb4! Example variation 3. (Distant standing opposition) Kd8; 1. Kd4! Likewise, it could be converted into any oppositions.
Distant Virtual Opposition
Illustration 1.11
“Five files/ranks and one rank/file between the Kings” The distant virtual opposition can be converted into any other distant opposition and vice versa. It can also be converted into some long distant oppositions.
Example variation 1. (Converting to the distant standing opposition) Kd7; 1. Kd3! Example variation 2. (Converting to the long distant standing opposition) Kd8; 1. Kd2! Example variation 3. (Converting to the virtual opposition) Kf7; 1. Kd3! Example variation 4. (Converting to distant diagonal opposition) Kf7; 1. Kb3! In all these scenarios, white maintains the opposition.
Long Distant Virtual Opposition
Illustration 1.12
“Five files/ranks and three ranks/files between the Kings” Just like any other virtual oppositions, this opposition can also be converted into many different oppositions. Let’s have a take a look below.
Example variation 1. (Converting to the virtual opposition) Kf7; 1. Kd3 Example variation 2. (Converting to the distant virtual opposition) Kf8; 1. Kd2 Example variation 3. (Converting to the long distant diagonal opposition) Kh8; 1. Kb2 Example variation 4. (Maintaining same opposition) Kh8; 1. Kd2 Example variation 5. (Converting to the distant diagonal opposition) Kg7; 1. Kc3 In all these variations, white is able to maintain the opposition and convert it to many different oppositions as per white’s wish.
“In any opposition, both the Kings will be in the same color square” This is another shortcut method for remembering how to oppose. It is much easier to use these things in the game, we’ll see in upcoming chapters. Note: Some oppositions are very rarely appeared in practical games, however, everything is useful to identify who has the opposition and what we have to do.
Every rule has an exception in chess.
Chapter 2. “King and Pawn VS King” Simple Opposition
Illustration 2.1 W= B +Here in this position, whoever has to move is the victim of opposition. If white to play, it’s a draw. If black to play, white wins. This clearly shows that it is not beneficial to have the move.
(W) 1. Ke5 We know the only way to win the game is to promote the pawn, by playing Ke5 white just moves from the pawn’s way so that pawn can move freely.
Ke7! Black retains the opposition.
2. d5 White tries to march forward the pawn to get promoted. Any other King move would make black to maintain the opposition or capture the pawn if possible.
Kd7! However black loses the opposition in this position by playing Kd7, white
cannot make use of this since white’s pawn is on “d5” blocking white’s King to take opposition. White trying to use diagonal opposition by playing Kf5 is useless after Kd6.
3. d6 White tries to march forward the pawn again.
Kd8! (Ke8??, Ke6 Opposition) Since the d6 square is now occupied with white’s pawn, white King will not be able to take opposition by playing Kd6.
4. Ke6, Ke8!; Ultimately, the black retains the opposition till the end which makes the position draw in few moves.
5.d7+, Kd8;
Illustration 2.1.1 By taking look at this position, we can understand that after white’s any possible moves, the game is drawn.
6. Kd6 (Stalemate) = 6. Kd5, Kxd7 = Since black had the opposition at the beginning of the position, black was able to get the draw despite having a pawn down ending.
Let’s take a look at black to play variation for illustration 2.1 below
(B) Ke7 Black had no other chance but to move his King and allow the white King to penetrate into black’s camp to take control of the “d8” (Queening square)
1. Kc6 White has moved his King from the pawn’s way and also took control over “d7” square, later white may also threaten Kc7 to take control over “d8” promotion square.
Illustration 2.1.2
Kd8 This move stops the white King from controlling “d8” promotion square. (Ke8) the diagonal opposition is not useful since white’s aim is only to control promotion square and promote the pawn.
2. Kd6, Kc8; White can also play “d5” directly.
3. Ke7, Kc7; 4. d5 Now, white threatens to play d6 > d7 > d8=Q and black will not be able to do anything since all these three squares were controlled by white. Since white had the opposition at the beginning, it helped white to penetrate
into opponent’s camp and promote the pawn easily. Whereas when black had the opposition, black was able to stop the penetration.
6th /3rd Rank Opposition is an Exception
Illustration 2.2 W +B +“It doesn’t matter which side to play, the side with a pawn always wins even though it is an opposition”
(W) Variation 1. Kc6 White just moves away from the pawn to bring to pawn forward and promote. White can also play Ke6 in this position.
Kc8 Black tries to make an opposition.
2. d6, Kd8; 3. d7 At this stage, black King is forced to come to “e7” and allow the white King to come to “c7” and take control over “d8” square.
Ke7; 4. Kc7, Kd6; 5. d8=Q 1-0 (B) Ke8; 1. Kc7 White took control over “d6, d7, and d8” squares, so the pawn promotion is
unstoppable. The same idea applies even if “Kc8” has been played instead of “Ke8” (Kc8; Ke7) 1-0. The 6th rank opposition has the exception that it will not give any additional advantage for the person holding it. In case if black had the pawn, the same exception applies on 3 rd rank.
7th Rank Check
Illustration 2.3 B=
“If you push your pawn with a check, the game is drawn” Knowing this and diagonal opposition, black should play
Kh8! Black makes a diagonal opposition, however, this diagonal opposition will not work for other central pawns like bishop pawn etc. Only applicable to Knight Pawns “b and g” file pawns.
1. g7+ Kf7?? Stalemate =
Kg8; 2. Kg6 = Any other move other than “Kg6” will lose the pawn on “g7” and it is a draw. 7th Rank check rule is applicable for standing opposition only, however, this is an exception.
Stalemate Escape
Illustration 2.4 W+Relating to our previous illustration, before “g6” this was the position. Usual variation leads to stalemate. (Kf7, Kh8; g6??=) Try to figure out how white can proceed.
1. Kf7 White takes the control over all the important squares “g6, g7 and promotion square g8”
Kh8; 2. Kg6! (g6??= stalemate) White converts the position to the 6 th rank opposition. (It doesn’t matter who has the opposition on 6 th rank)
Kg8; 3. Kh6! White is moving away from the pawn as well as creating an escaping square on “f7” so that white can avoid any stalemate.
Kh8; 4. g6, Kg8; 5. g7, Kf7; 6. Kh7 1-0 White has successfully reached the “h7” square and took over the control of “g8” square to promote the pawn. White’s threat g8=Q is unstoppable.
Distant Opposition
Illustration 2.5 W= B= No matter who plays at this position, despite having distant opposition, the position becomes a draw.
(W) 1. Kc4 Any other moves like Kc5 or Kd5 will be met with Kc7 or Kd7 opposition and the game will become a draw.
Kc8! Maintaining distant opposition 2. b5 Moving the King forward will be met with an opposition and the position becomes a draw. Kb7; 3. Kc5, Kc7 = The position becomes similar to illustration 3.1. (B) Variation
Kc8! Even though white has the opposition, black is not ready to convert the distant opposition to normal opposition. 1. Kc4 White King cannot go forward since he would lose the opposition and the game will become a draw. Kb8!! Since “b4” square is occupied with white’s pawn, white cannot maintain the opposition. 2. b5 Any other moves would still become a draw, for example: (Kd4, Kc8) Repetition = (Kb5, Kb7) lost opposition = Kb7; 3. Kc5, Kc7 =
Commander in Front of the Soldier “It is always necessary that the King should be in front of the pawn that is trying to be promoted” This is the reason why some of the previous positions have become drawn despite opposition technique.
Illustration 2.6 W+Having known this concept, how can white proceed?
1. Kc2 Instead of moving the pawn, King is trying to get past the pawn so that it can lead the pawn.
“To promote a pawn, promoting square should be controlled by our piece” Kc8 Black gets the long distant opposition.
2. Kc3, Kc7 White just got past the pawn and black holds the distant opposition.
3. Kc4, Kc6 White King just came forward until it’s possible so that it can lead the pawn
now. Just like a father hold his kid’s hand while crossing the road, King acts as the father to protect his pawn acting as a kid.
4. d3! (d4??, Kd6=) This move allows white King to maintain the opposition even if black King moves to d6. Playing “d4” will disallow the white King to maintain opposition and thus becoming a draw.
Kd6; 5. Kd4, Ke6; 6. Kc5 1-0 White has successfully found a way to penetrate into opponent’s camp by using the opposition. We may now understand that both opposition concept and commander in front of the soldier concept to be applied to get the pawn promote successfully.
Illustration 2.7 W+Black King is just one move away from getting the “d” pawn, how can white proceed?
1. Kd3 White stops the black King from coming to “e4” square. White is also trying to get the King in front of the pawn.
Kf5 Since “e5 and e4” squares were controlled by white, black King penetrates into his own camp to come to “d” file and stop the pawn.
2. Kc4, Ke6; 3. Kc5, Kd7; 4. Kd5! White King has gained the opposition in front of the pawn and free to penetrate into opponent’s camp to promote the pawn. In this position, we may see after Kd3, Kf5 black holds the diagonal opposition. The diagonal opposition got nothing to do with defending in this position since the gameplay is on the queenside and the opposition is on the other side. We may understand that having opposition doesn’t always mean an advantage.
Illustration 2.8 W+White King is behind the Pawn, how can white take it in front of the pawn?
1. Kf2! (Ke2??, Kd6; Kf3, Ke5 =) This variation stops the white King from coming in front of the pawn and thus becomes a draw.
Kd6; 2. Kg3! White King is all set to come forward via “h4” square.
Ke5; 3. Kh4, Kf6; 4. Kh5 White King has finally managed to come forward to the pawn. White threatens to play Kh6 and control the pawn’s way so that the pawn can move freely.
Kg7 Black tries to control the “h6” square to protect the white King from coming forward, however, it leaves the opposition in White's hand.
5. Kg5 + White takes the opposition and can penetrate into opponent’s camp easily to promote the pawn.
Rook Pawns The opposition doesn’t work for rook pawns
Illustration 3.9 W= B=
“Once the promotion square is controlled by the opponent King, our Pawn cannot be promoted” No matter who has the opposition, Rook Pawn always become draw once the promotion square is controlled by the opponent’s King.
(W) 1. Kg6, Kg8; 2. h6, Kh8; 3. h7 = Any variation will end up in a stalemate or lose the pawn if black King is just played to “g8 and h8” squares since white King cannot control the “h8” square, white will not be able to promote the pawn. The only way to promote the Rook Pawn is to keep the opponent King away from controlling the promotion square.
Just another way to make a draw
Illustration 2.10 W= B= In this case, white King can successfully control the promotion square, but white cannot give way for the Pawn to get promoted. Hence becomes a draw.
(W) 1. Kh7, Kf7 White gives a square for his pawn and black is trying to restrict the white King from coming out of the Pawn’s way.
2. h6, Kf8 In our previous illustration, we understood that “If black King could control the “h8” square, it becomes a draw in Rook Pawn endgame”, having said that, (Kg6, Kg8) becomes draw.
3. Kh8, Kf7; 4. h7, Kf8 = Since white King wasn’t able to come out of the pawn’s way, it becomes stalemate after “h7”.
Need not always control promotion square
Illustration 2.11 W+B= We need not always control the promotion square to promote the pawn, sometimes simple method is winning.
(W) Variation 1. h7 This simple pawn movement controls “g8” square and “g7” square was already taken over by white King, hence h8=Q is unstoppable.
(B) Kg8 Since it is Rook Pawn endgame, controlling the promotion square makes the position draw.
1. h7+, Kh8 At this stage, white can choose “Kh6” stalemate or any other move which loses the pawn on “h7” and thus becomes a draw.
Simple cut off
Illustration 2.12 W+Black King is seeking to reach “g8” square to make this position a draw, how should white proceed?
1. Kg7! This move simply restricts the black King from coming to “f8, f7, and f6” squares thus making it difficult to reach the “g8” square.
Ke6; 2. h6, Kf5; 3. h7 1-0 By controlling the key squares of the opponent, white made it difficult for the black to survive.
The Rule of Square
Illustration 2.13 W= B-+ Every pawn has a square when it is going to get promoted. If white King can get inside this square, he can catch the pawn and make the position draw, if white King is not able to reach this square, pawn gets promoted easily.
(W) 1. Kd2 White is able to reach the pawn’s square and will be able to catch the pawn, let’s see.
h4; 2. Ke3, h3; 3. Kf2, h2; 4. Kg2, h1=Q+; 5. Kxh1 White was able to catch the pawn even if it is getting promoted. This rule of square come to the application when there is a race between the Pawn and the King in the endgame. We may apply several rules and concepts in a single position, it is not necessary that only one topic will be used in the practical endgame. Let’s see what if black played in this position below.
(B) h4; 1. Kd1, h3; 2.Ke1
The pawn’s square will become smaller and smaller when it moved, white King is chasing the square but the square is becoming smaller and not allowing the white King to enter the range.
h2; 3. Kf1, h1=Q+ White fails to stop the pawn since it wasn’t on the square. Let’s refer to some of our previous illustrations, in all those positions the opponent’s King was inside the pawn’s square thus making it necessary for our King to take action. If in any of the position, opponent’s King is not inside the pawn’s square, we are free to push the pawn and promote it and need not depend on our King for the support. Here’s an example situation below.
Illustration 2.14 W +B +Since black King will not be able to get inside the pawn’s square, black cannot catch the pawn. Square applies both the sides of the pawn.
Triangulation
Illustration 2.15 W+Let’s assume this position is to be played by black first, the variations would be as follows. (Kc7; 1. Kc5, Kb8; 2. Kb6, Ka8; 3. Kxa6 + -) (Kd8; 1. Kd6, Kc8; 2. c7, Kb7; 3. Kd7, Ka7; 4. c8=Q + -) But unfortunately, white should play in this position, any casual variations would make a draw as follows. (1. Kd6, Kd8; 2. c7+, Kc8; 3. Kc6) Stalemate. (1. Kc5, Kc7; 2. Kd5 =) Repetition. White should somehow bring the same position again but give the opponent a chance to play in the position. To make this possible, we use “triangulation” technique. “Triangulation is nothing but a triangle shaped maneuver by the king to pass back the move to the opponent”
1. Kd4!, Kd8; (Kc7; 2. Kc5 + -) 2. Kc4, Kc8; 3. Kd5! As we see in the above line, white king has formed a triangle by playing “Kd4, Kc4, and Kd5” to pass back the move.
Chapter 3. “King and Multiple Pawns VS King” Connected Passers
Illustration 3.1 W +B +No matter who has to play, white wins. “f4” pawn is hanging and can be captured by black King, how can white proceed? There’s no hurry when it comes to connected passers. Capturing “f4” pawn will make the black King go away from the “Rule of square” thus making it easier for the other pawn to get promoted easily. For Example (Kxf4; e6, Kf5; e7, Kf6; e8=Q) King will not be able to stop the pawn.
(W) 1. Ke2, Ke6; White needs to bring the King since the opponent’s King is within the “Rule of square”. Black King is not able to capture on “f4” since it would make the king go away from the rule of square.
2. Ke3, Kf5; 3. Kd4, Ke6; 4. Ke4, Ke7; 5. f5, Kf7;
White has managed to protect both the pawns.
Illustration 3.1.1 As per the theory we saw in “King and pawn VS King” bringing the King in front of the pawns will make it easier to get promoted.
6. Kd5, Ke7; 7. f6+, Kf7; 8. Kd6 1-0 Having an extra pawn is always an advantage except in case of very rare scenarios.
Illustration 3.2 W +Trying to bring the King in front of the pawns will lead to stalemate draw. For Example: Kf6 =
How can white proceed and escape from stalemate?
1. Kf5 Any other move other than King will make the position draw immediately.
Kg7; 2. h8+! Sacrificing a pawn to avoid stalemate and promote the other pawn, this type of sacrifices mostly come in corner of the board where the number of squares available for the opponent’s King is restricted naturally.
Kxh8; 3. Kf6, Kg8; 4. g7
Illustration 3.2.1 After “g7”, black King has been allowed to move to “h7” square, after which white can control the “g8” square by playing “Kf7”
Kh7; 5. Kf7, Kh6; 6. g8=Q 1-0
Disconnected Passers
Illustration 3.3 W+B+Black King is all set to capture either of the white pawns, how can white continue to make a victory?
1. Kb2 Since both the pawns are stopped by the black King, white can only make King Movements, King movement is also necessary to make the pawn go forward by controlling the necessary squares by the King.
Ke5; 2. c5! Black King is threatening the “e4” pawn, after the move “c5”, black King will not be able to capture the “e4” pawn without going out of the “rule of square”
Ke6; 3. Kc3, Kd7; 4. e5 At this position, both the pawns were successfully gone forward a move without losing any pawns.
Kc6; 5. e6! Black tries to capture the “c5” pawn, and pawn on “e6” is now threatening to get promoted.
Illustration 3.3.1 Both the pawns control the key squares of the opponent’s King, so now it takes 4 moves to capture the “e6” pawn for black King.
Kc7; 6. Kd4, Kd8; 7. c6, Ke7; 8. c7 Disconnected passers endgame is where most beginners tend to make mistakes, moving the pawns at the wrong time may make the position drawn. Since both are isolated and disconnected, they can’t support each other, however, they can able to control the key squares of the opponent’s King and make it difficult to capture either one of them.
Illustration 3.4 W+As we progress, the things are going to be little tougher and there is where we are going to learn new things. “c7” pawn is under attack, how can white proceed for a win?
1. Kb6 Pretty obvious that white wants to defend the “c7” pawn.
Kc8 Here comes the situation where playing “e6” or “Kc6” would become stalemated. Other King moves will give away the pawn on “c7”, white still won.
2. Kc5! White converts the position to King and Pawn VS King by sacrificing a pawn on “c7”
Kxc7; 3. e6! White directly controls the “d7” square and gains opposition.
Kc8; 4. Kc6! “Kc6” is the key move, white holds the opposition strongly not allowing any chance for black King.
Kd8; 5. Kd6, Ke8; 6. e7 In this position, black King is forced to go away.
Kf7; 7. Kd7 1-0 “e8=Q” is unstoppable.
Illustration 3.5 W= Similar to the previous position, but this position has a Rook Pawn which makes it draw.
1. Ke6 Supporting the “f7” pawn.
Kf8 At this position, white is forced to sacrifice “f7” pawn in order to avoid the stalemate.
2. Kf5, Kxf7; 3. h6, Kg8; As we already know the rule, Rook Pawns cannot be promoted once the opponent’s King gets the control of “promotion square” (“h8” in this position)
Illustration 3.6 W= B+-
“Opposition can save your position as well as destroy your position” (W) Variation 1. Kh8, Kf8!; Black didn’t want pawns but opposition. (Kxf6??, Kg8 + -). Without the help of white King, white Pawns cannot be promoted. Hence black decide not to leave the white King outside.
2. h7, Kf7 = (B) Variation Kf8; 1. Kg6 White brings his King outside the “h” pawn’s way so that it can move and get promoted. It is pretty obvious now with two pawns, white has a clear advantage. (Kxf6; 1. Kg8) White threatens h7 > h8=Q which is unstoppable.
Kg8; 2. f7+, Kf7; 3. h7 1-0
Illustration 3.7 B= “Far way apart” This is an exception, at most positions having two or more pawns against lonely King will win, especially if the pawns are far apart. In this position, all the white pieces lack co-ordination. King is not active, pawns not able to restrict the black King.
Ka5 Black threatens to capture on “a4”
1. d5 The only way to defend the “a4” Pawn. (Kb2, Kxa4; Kc3, Kb5!=)
Kb6! Black is not able to capture on “a4” since white has a passer. Black is now threatening Kc5 followed to capture the “d5” Pawn.
2. d6 (a5; Kxa5) King is still inside the rule of square and hence becomes a draw. (Kb2, Kc5; a5, Kxd5!) King is still inside the rule of square and becomes a draw. Kc6; 3. a5, Kxd6; 4. a6, Kc6;
Black has managed to get back to the rule of square after capturing the other pawn and hence becomes a draw.
Illustration 3.8 B+Similar position to previous one with a small difference in white King placement. This small difference in position makes a huge difference in the result.
Ka5; 1. Kc2! Black follows the same idea since black doesn’t have any other ideas. White transforms the position to single pawn endgame with an advantage.
Kxa4; 2. Kd3, Kb5; 3. Ke4, Kc6; 4. Ke5! “Commander in front of the soldier”. White King has managed to come in front of the Pawn to lead the game. Now, white threatens “Ke6” further bringing the King inside the opponent’s camp.
Kd7; 5. Kd5 1-0 Black stopped “Ke6” but gave away the opposition.
Doubled Pawns
Illustration 3.9 W= B+We usually treat doubled pawns as a single pawn in the ending and use the other pawn for reserve moves, but there are some differences. In some case these doubled pawns are useful and in some case not.
(W) Variation 1. g7+, Kg8; We remember “7th Rank Check” makes a draw, this applies only to single Pawn vs King however also applies here as an exception. Just imagine, if “g5” pawn is on some other square such as “g4”, white gains a waiting move which avoids stalemate and can win. But in this original position, moving the Pawn or King will make it a draw.
(B) Variation Kg8; 1. g7, Kh7; 2. g8=Q+!, Kxg8; 3. Kg6! Playing “Kf7” would become a stalemate, hence white chooses to sacrifice a pawn to gain 6th rank opposition.
Illustration 3.10 W+Just like disconnected passers, doubled pawns are not able to support one another. Unlike disconnected passers, doubled pawns cannot threaten to get promoted if the opponent tries to capture any of these pawns. In other words, opponent King can easily stop the doubled pawns which have no help from the King. However, there are some exceptions like this.
1. g4! This move directly controls the “f5” square, whereas “f6” square is already controlled by the pawn on “g5”. This makes the opponent King find his way through the pawns harder. “Kf4” is not possible since “g5” pawn would get passed.
Ke6; 2. Kd2, Kf7; 3. Kf4, Kg6; 4. Kf4 It took three moves for the opponent King to attack the pawn on “g5” just because key squares were controlled, in a mean time white King was able to catch up with the race against the opponent’s King and support the pawn.
Kg7; 5. Kf5, Kf7; Black King is trying to make an opposition and draw the position, however, this doesn’t work since white has a waiting move with his pawn.
6. g6+, Kg7; 7. Kg5, Kg8; 8. Kh6 Kh6 is a direct win, however, we can even play Kf6 to transpose this position to our previous illustration, it takes little longer than Kh6.
Kh8; 9. g7+ We do remember “7th Rank check”, it doesn’t apply here since white has a waiting move with his pawn.
Kg8; 10. g5, Kf7; 11. Kh7 1-0 In most scenarios, “Commander in front of the soldier” concept won’t apply to doubled pawns VS King. However, gaining an opposition will still be the easy way to win without using the other pawn.
Chapter 4. “King and Pawn VS King and Pawn” Pawns on the same file Active King
Illustration 4.1 W+Active King is being judged by the King’s placement and corresponding Pawn’s placement. In this position, the white pawn is placed on the 5 th rank and King is placed on the 4th rank. The difference between these two is 1, having this let’s take black’s position. Black pawn is placed on 3 rd rank (From Black's point of view) and King is placed on 2nd rank (From Black's point of view). The difference between these two is also 1. So, we can understand that both the Kings are equal in its activity, however, there is a second criterion that should be met to judge the position. “Pawn’s placement” White has his pawn on the 5 th rank, which means 3 ranks above the origin. Black has his pawn on the 6th rank, which means 1 rank above the origin. This difference shows that white has better pawn placement and hence it is good for white to proceed.
Since it is white to play, white has the added advantage of making his King more active and sneak into opponent’s camp.
1. Kf5! White directly makes an opposition. (Ke5??, Ke7) in this little variation, black holds the opposition and will be able to stop the white King from coming in, thus making a draw.
Ke7; 2. Ke5! White has converted the position to the normal opposition and is ready to make progress.
Kd7; 3. Kf6! “Kf6” seems to be giving away the opposition, but actually black is not able to make an opposition by playing “Ke6” since “e6” is controlled by a white pawn. White made his King more active whereas black’s King was not able to progress further.
Kc8; 4. Ke6, Kc7; 5. Ke7! White got back his opposition since black King was in the necessity to protect the pawn on “c6” Now in this position, white King is 2 ranks beyond his pawn and the black king is 1 rank behind his pawn.
Kb7; 6. Kd7, Kb8; 7. Kxc6, Kc8 1-0 The position transposed itself to the 6 th rank opposition, hence black has no scope for a draw.
Illustration 4.2 W= Which King is active, how white will continue and how can black defend? “King’s Placement” White King is at par with white’s pawn whereas black King is falling behind black’s pawn about 3 ranks. This makes sure that White king is clearly active and most probably able to get the black’s pawn too. “Pawn’s Placement” Both the pawns are 2 ranks above its origin and considered as equal. White has won the battle in judging the position.
1. Kf5, Kd7; White moves further inside the opponent’s camp and seeking to capture the “c5” pawn whereas black is trying to maintain some opposition ultimately. Let’s have a small imagination here, If white’s King is capturing the “c5” pawn in this move, where should be the black King to make the position draw? “c7” – When white King reaches “c5”, black King should reach “c7” to make an opposition thus making the position draw. Having this idea in mind, the following is the variation.
2. Ke5, Kc8; 3. Kd5, Kb8; 4. Kxc5, Kc7! = Black is pretty sure that he cannot do anything to win the game with his inactive King, hence he made an opposition and made the position draw.
Corresponding Squares
Illustration 4.3 W+B+We have learned opposition, in some cases, the opposition is not possible because of our pawn or opponent’s pawn is controlling some particular square. In those scenarios, the corresponding square takes place. In this position, let’s say white plays “Kc6”, black cannot reply to the position with “Ke6” since white pawn has the control over “e6” square. Instead, black will play “Ke5” to protect the “d6” pawn as well as not leaving the opposition to the opponent since “c5” square is controlled by the black pawn. In this scenario, black uses the corresponding square to the opposition. In other words, black makes an artificial opposition using his Kind and Pawn. So, in this position, “c6 and e5” are corresponding squares.
“Whoever reaches the corresponding square first will be the victim when the opponent was able to go to the other corresponding square in next move” How can we find these corresponding squares? “Finding the critical squares”
We need to find the critical squares, “Critical squares are squares from which the main plan takes place” Let’s take the illustration 3.27 as an example. Winning plan for white is either Kc7>Kxd6 or Kc6>Kxd6, “Kxd6” is the plan and “Kc7 and Kc6” are the squares from which the main plan takes place (Critical squares). Let’s find some critical square for black. Winning plan for black is either Ke5>Kxd5 or Kf5>Ke4>Kxd5, “Kxd5” is the plan and “Ke4 and Ke5” are the square from which the main plan takes place (Critical squares) We found two squares on each side, let’s compare those squares in the position. When white King reaches “c6” black King should reach “e5” to successfully defend the position, hence “c6 and e5” becomes corresponding squares. The contrary is also possible.
(W) 1. Kc7! (Kc6??, Ke5! - +) White threatens to capture “d6”
Ke5; (Ke7, Kc6 + -)
2. Kc6 + White was able to force the opponent to enter the corresponding square first and white King was also able to enter the corresponding square, thereby creating an artificial opposition and Zugzwang. If you closely take a look, “Active King” concept is also used, white King is 1 rank beyond his pawn and black King is at par. When we discuss a particular concept, it doesn’t mean other concepts were not used. Usually, in any given position, there will be several concepts taking place in a single position.
(B) Variation Kf5; (Ke5??, Kc6 + -)
1. Kc7! (Kc6??, Ke5 - +) White is threatening to capture “d6”
Ke5; 2. Kc6! + Once again, white was able to make it possible.
Illustration 4.4 W= B= Similar position to previous one, but in a different rank. In the previous illustration, since the black pawn was in 6 th rank, there is no scope for a draw since opposition doesn’t matter. In this position, black need not try to protect the pawn, instead, he may choose to hold the opposition to make a draw.
(W) Variation 1. Kc6, Ke6; 2. Kc5 In this position, black is forced to lose the “d5” pawn.
Ke7!: 3. Kxd5, Kd7! = Black took an opposition thus making a draw.
(B) Variation Ke6; 1. Kc6, Ke7; 2. Kxd5, Ke7 = The opposing square is itself a corresponding square, “d5 and d7” When white reaches “d5” black should reach “d7” in next move to make a draw.
Illustration 4.5 W+When the pawns are already blocked, it is quite easy to calculate the corresponding squares, how can white proceed here?
1. Kf4! (d4??, Kb3; Kf4, Kb4!=) (Ke3??, Kb2; Kd4, Kc2 =) “Kf4” allows the white pawn to be moved to “d4” if needed, where “Ke3” stops it.
Kb3; 2. Ke5, Kc4; Black is forced to play Kb3 and Kc4 in order to defend the pawn on “d5”. Pawn movements would lose the pawn immediately.
3. d4! This move creates two corresponding squares “c4 and e5” where the Kings are already placed. Thereby creating a Zugzwang and winning the pawn on “d5”
Kb5; 4. Kxd5 + -
Shouldering
Illustration 4.6 W+Shouldering refers to “Pushing the opponent King away with our King when there is a race between Kings” In this position, white needs five moves to capture the pawn on “a7” Black needs five moves to reach the “c7” square so that black can make a draw. Example variation: 1. Ke7, Kc3; 2. Kd7, Kc4; 3. Kc7, Kc5; 4. Kb7, Kd6; 5. Kxa7, Kc7 = In this variation, black reaches the draw position we’ve learned under Rook Pawn. What can white do to gain an additional move or waste the opponent’s move, so that white can proceed for a win?
1. Ke6! (Kd2?, Kc3; Kd6, Kd4; Kc6, Ke5; Kb7, Kd6; Kxa7, Kc7=) White just finds another way to reach the “a7” pawn in same five moves.
Kc3; 2. Kd5! This is where the white King pushes the black King and shouldering
technique is taking place. White King is controlling the key squares “c4 and d4” in order to restrict the black King from coming forward.
Kb4; 3. Kc6 Black is trying to reach “c7” square in another way and also trying to capture the “a6” pawn if possible. White King once again controls the key squares “b5 and c5” making it harder for the black King to reach the “c7” square.
Ka5; 4. Kb7, Kb5; 5. Kxa7, Kc6; 6. Kb8 1-0 If you remember our calculation, black King takes five moves to reach “c7”, but after five moves, black King is stuck at “c6” This is how shouldering works White King has brilliantly reached “d5” to restrict the black King and waste black’s move, but not wasting his own move.
Illustration 4.7 W+Usually, we will calculate to reach the opponent’s pawn as early as possible but will forget that the opponent’s King is also chasing something to achieve.
1. Kb1! (1. Ka2??, Kg2; 2. Kb3, Kf3; 3. Kc4, Ke4; 4. Kc5, Ke5; (4.b3, Ke6; 5. b4, Kd7; 6. Kb6, Kc8; 7. Ka7, b5=) 5.Kb6, Kd4; 6. Kxb7, Kc4 =) In this variation, black was able to catch the white pawn or gain opposition to make a draw. It creates the necessity to restrict the black King from reaching the white pawn and shouldering comes into place.
Kg2; 2. Kc2, Kf3; 3. Kd3!, Kf4; 4. Kd4, Kf5; 5. Kd5! White was able to reach the black pawn in six moves via Ka2, but white chose Kb1 and now white can reach the black pawn only by seven or more moves. It clearly shows white has wasted a move. In return, white has restricted the black King in “f” file and thereby wasting the opponent’s two moves. It clearly shows white has gained one move (Tempo). This move will be sufficient for a win.
Kf4; 6. b4!
Illustration 4.7.1 By taking a look at this position, we may understand that black King needs four moves to capture the white pawn and need five moves to protect its own pawn. White King controls some key squares making it really hard for the black King to penetrate.
Kd6; 7. b5, Ke6; 8. b6, Kc3; 9. Kd6, Kb4; 10. Kc7 1-0 Sometimes, trying to make the situation tougher for opponent works rather than trying to make the situation easier for ourselves.
Illustration 4.8 W= Just another shouldering concept. This time, white should make a draw escaping from shouldering which black would try to do. At this position, black needs five moves to capture the pawn on “b6” and white needs five moves to protect the pawn on “b6” or white needs six moves to reach “b4” square to make an opposition and draw.
1. Kg3! (1. Kg4??, Kc2; 2. Kf4, Kd3; 3. Ke5, Kc4; 4. Kd6, Kb5; 5.Kc7, Ka6 - +) Trying to protect the pawn on “b6” or capture the pawn on “b7” would miserably fail since “a6 and c7” are corresponding squares and white is forced to reach one of the corresponding squares first, making the position worse. The only idea for white to make a draw is to reach the “b4” square. Still, white cannot reach the “b4” square directly by playing Kg4 > Kf4 and so on since black would use the shouldering technique to waste the white’s move. So, white chose Kg3 path to reach the “b4” square successfully.
Kc2; 2. Kf2, Kd3; 3. Ke1! Black is trying to restrict the white King and white King is trying to sneak
from black to reach the “b4” square.
Illustration 4.9
Kc4; 4. Kd2, Kb5; 5.Kc3, Kxb6; 6. Kb4 = White has managed to find an opposition which will make the game draw. This technique is usually called as Anti-Shouldering technique. It is where the opponent tries to restrict our King by using shouldering technique and we use the same shouldering technique to escape and reach the desired position.
Pawns on the Adjacent Files In this chapter, we will take a look at single pawn endings where the pawns are in adjacent files.
Illustration 4.10 W= White can simply take the opposition by playing “Kb3”, but black will have a reserve pawn move to reverse the opposition. For Ex: (1. Kb3, Kc5; 2.Kc3, Kxd5; 3. Kd3, c6! -+) In this variation after “Kd3” opposition, black had a waiting pawn move which reversed the opposition and put white under trouble. We need to first eliminate the reserve pawn move and make opposition.
1. d6! A simple pawn sacrifice to make “c” pawn come forward, thereby eliminating the reserve pawn move.
cxd6; 2. Kb3! = White just held the opposition thereby making the position draw.
Illustration 4.11 W+Here, most amateur players will simply choose to play “Kg4” without taking care of the opposition since they think after capturing on “b4” white will have a reserve pawn move. Is that right? No. (1. Kg4??, Kg6; 2. Kf4, Kf6; 3. Ke4, Ke6; 4. Kd4, b3!!; 5.cxb3, Kd6=) In this simple variation, just similar to our previous illustration, black has sacrificed his pawn to eliminate the reserve pawn move and held the opposition making the position draw.
1. Kh4! Directly taking the opposition. Now, no matter black sacrifices the pawn or white captures the pawn, the opposition will be in White's hand.
Kg6; 2. Kg4, Kf6; 3. Kf4, Ke6; 4. Ke4, Kd6; 5. Kd4, Kc6; 6. Kc4, Kb6; 7. Kxb4 1-0 White still holds the opposition and also has a reserve pawn move in case if needed, white can win easily.
Illustration 4.12 W= At first sight, it may seem that it is impossible to draw the game with white pieces. But it’s done with simple concepts.
1. Kc2 A simple move which brings the white King near to the white pawn.
Kd6; Threatening Ke5 followed by Kxf5. (Ke7??; 2. Kd3, Kf6; 3. Ke4 =)
2. f6! This move brings the black pawn forward and eliminates the reserve pawn move.
gxf6; 3. Kd2! White holds the distant opposition. Black King cannot come forward since it would convert the distant opposition to normal opposition, thus making the position draw. Pushing the pawn forward breaks the “Commander in front of the soldier” rule, thereby making it a draw.
Kd5; 4. Kd3, Ke5; 5. Ke3 =
Illustration 4.13 W+Sometimes we’re forced to create some reserve moves in order to avoid a draw. Unlike previous illustrations where we eliminated the reserve moves. In this position, we create a reserve move to win the game.
1. Kb4! (1. Kc3??, Kg4; 2. Kd4, Kf4; 3. Kxd5, Ke3 =) this straightforward variation makes the position draw. In this variation, black holds the opposition after “Kf4”. White needs to reach “d4” when black King reaches “f4” to gain an advantage, that’s the reason why white should play “Kb4”
Kg4; 2. Kc5, Kf4; Black tries to stop the “e2” pawn since he couldn’t protect the pawn on “d5”.
3. Kd4! Controls the “e3” square to restrict the black King, after which white will take the pawn on “d5” and march forward to the victory.
Kf5; 4. Kxd5 1-0
Illustration 4.14 B= In this position, black should either convert the white’s pawn into Rook pawn or try to make an opposition on 5 th Rank to draw the game.
Ka8; (a5??, 1. b5 + -) White’s pawn cannot be stopped.
1. Kb6, Reaching to capture on “a6”, so that white can push the pawn.
a5!!; This move either converts the “b” pawn to “a” pawn thereby making it a Rook Pawn draw or pushes the King to 5 th rank and creates an opportunity for black to make an opposition.
2. Kxa5 (bxa5 =)
Ka7! = Black has managed to make an opposition and thus making the position draw.
Illustration 4.15 W+Usually, when it comes to flank pawns which are in adjacent files, one will try to convert the other pawn into Rook Pawn to obtain a draw. Just similar to our previous illustration.
1. Kg1! Most players think “Kf3” is an easier and faster way to capture the pawn. (1. Kf3??, h3! =) But, after h3, black King will be able to reach “g8” square and making it a draw.
h3; Only try is to convert the “g” pawn into “h” pawn and reach the “g8” square with the King since the below variation fails. (Kd5; 2. Kh2, Ke4; 3. Kh3, Kf4; 4. Kxh4 + -)
2. g3! (2. gxh3?? =) Black King will be able to reach “g8” and the game becomes drawn. (2. g4??, Kd5; 3. Kh2, Ke6; 4. Kxh3, Kf6; 5. Kh4, Kg6 =) Breaks the “commander in front of the soldier” rule.
Pawn Races and its Derivatives
Illustration 4.16 W+Pawn races are very crucial, even a single tempo may end up in a draw/loss. Here in this position, most players think “Kb5” and it is pretty obvious. The idea is, getting near to the opponent’s pawn so that it can’t move or else will be captured. The second idea is giving way to the “c2” pawn. But “Kb5” has a major flaw, “Forgetting the opponent’s King” (1. Kb5??, Ke4; 2. Ka6, Kd4, 3. Kxa7, Kc3 =) (1. Kb5??, Ke4; 2. c4, Kd4; 3. c5, Kd5; 4. c6, Kc6 =) In these variations, black King was able to penetrate and hold the position for a draw.
1. Kd4!! This move has three basic ideas. 1. Controlling some key squares and restricting the black King from reaching “c2” pawn. 2. Giving way to the “c2” pawn 3. Being inside the rule of square, so that white can stop Black's pawn.
a5; 2. c4 Pawn race starts. Fortunately, black King cannot reach the white pawn and white King will be able to reach the black pawn since white King is inside the
rule of square.
a4; 3. c6, a3; 4. Kc3!, a2; 5. Kb2, Ke4; 6. c7 1 – 0
Illustration 4.17 W+Quite similar to the previous illustration, here we have a different idea.
1. c4 Just a straightforward move trying to promote the pawn.
Kd4; 2. c5, Kd5; (Ke5 was little interesting; 3. Ka5! Maintaining distant opposition, Ke6; 4. Ka6, Kd5; 5. Kb5!) The position converts into same.
3. Kb5 At this stage, this position exactly appeared in our previous illustration’s variation but with white’s chance to move which turned into a draw. Zugzwang.
Ke5; (a6; 4. Kb6, a5; 5. c6) + (Ke6; 4. Kc6, a5; 5. Kb7, a4; 6. c6, a3; 7. c7, a2; 8. c8=Q+) + -
4. Kc6,
This move makes sure that black King is no longer be able to stop the white pawn. (4. c6??, Kd6 =)
a5; No other try to stop the white pawn since white King has controlled all the squares that are necessary to push forward the pawn.
5. Kb7, a4; 6. c6, a3; 7. c7, a2; 8. c8=Q, a1=Q; 9. Qh8+! 1- 0 However both the pawns were able to get promoted, white was able to find a skewer along the long diagonal and win the Queen.
Illustration 4.18 W= Famous Reti’s position, often called as “Impossible draw” At first sight, it seems that white has no way to hold the position since white’s King is in the corner and out of the “Square rule” and Black's King is inside the “Square rule” and will be able to capture the “c6” pawn easily. But white was able to draw the game with a simple idea. To hold this position, white should stop the black’s pawn from promoting or white should promote his pawn and end up in Queen and King vs Queen and King ending.
1. Kg7! This move has a double idea, either white can try to support the pawn on “c6” or try to get inside the “rule of square” to stop the black’s pawn.
h4; (Kb6; 2. Kf6, h4; 3. Ke5, h3; 4. Kd6, h2; 5. c7=)
2. Kf6, h3; 3. Ke7! Since black’s pawn has gone too far, white has shifted his plan to promote his pawn on “c6”
h2; 4. c7!
(4. Kd7??, h1=Q; 5. c7, Qh3+) - +
Kb7; 5. Kd7 = Illustration 4.19 W= Similar position to the previous illustration, the concept of the double idea. White’s King is far away from the game and white’s pawn is vulnerable. Black’s King is active and Black's pawn seems unstoppable. One may conclude that there is no way for white to hold this position.
1. Kg6!, a4; (Kb6; 2. Kf5, Kxc6; 3. Ke4 =)
2. Kf5, a3; (Kb6; 3. Ke5!, a3; 4. Kd6, a2; 5. c7 =)
3. Ke6!, a2; 4. c7 = These straightforward variations will make the game end in a draw.
Illustration 4.20 W= Often in pawn endgames, a game may turn into Queen VS 7 th rank pawn which may or may not lead to a draw, we will discuss the scenarios where a draw will be applicable and not. Generally, 7th rank Bishop Pawn or Rook Pawn will make the position draw against a Queen, we will take a look at the exceptions in later chapters. This makes the King placement an important factor to decide the game point.
1. Ke6! Any other moves such as Kg6, Kg4 or pawn movements will lose the game miserably. (1. Kg6??, Kg2; 2. f4, h3; 3. f5, h2; 4. f6, h1=Q; 5. f7, Qh8!) - + (1. f4, Kg3!) - + “Ke6” places the King in a good position which will help the “f2” pawn later to get promoted, this move allows the white King to reach “e7” and control “f8” to promote the pawn. Since white will not be able to stop Black's pawn, he should find a way to promote his pawn.
Kg2; 2. f4, h3; 3. f5, h2; 4. f6, h8=Q; 5. f7 =
Now, this pawn race has transformed into a Queen and pawn endgame and Black's King is not close enough to win the game. Example variation – Qh8; 6. Ke7, Qe5+; 7. Kf8, Kg3; 8.Kg8, Qg5+; 9. Kh8, Qf6+; 10. Kg8, Qg6+; 11. Kh8! = Capturing on “f7” will make the position stalemate and not capturing on “f7” will lead to repetition or promotion.
Illustration 4.21 W+This position seems like black’s Pawn is well led by black’s King and white’s Pawn has no potential blockades since black’s King is far. Players usually miss to note this point, black King is in “a” file and black’s passer is going to promote in “b” file, it creates the opportunity for white to create “Skewer” if possible. Noting down all the above points in mind gives you clear ideas of what’s happening on the board and what we should do next. Let’s go through a straightforward variation: (1. f4, b5; 2. f5, b4; 3. f6, b3; 4. f7, b2; 5. Kc2! 1-0) In this simple race white wins the game, however, this is not going to be the case. 1. f4, Kb5! = Black’s King is well within the “rule of square” and will be able to stop the pawn easily even if white King tries to lead the pawn.
So, to create a win for white, white needs to restrict the Black's King from approaching the white Pawn and gain a tempo. Most of the time, if we make a winning plan, it is quite easy to eliminate the unwanted moves and arrive at the accurate move.
1. Kd4! 1. Kc4??, b5+; directly loses a tempo = The idea behind Kd4 is straightforward, black should either try to promote the pawn or try to stop white from promoting the pawn. In both the cases, White's King is taking control of two key squares “d5” and “c3” White King can use “d5” square to restrict the Black's King in case if black wants to stop the white’s pawn or use “c3” square to slow down the black pawn.
b5; Kb5; 2. Kd5!, Ka6; 3. f4, Kb7; 4.f5, Kc7; 5. Ke6 + Trying to stop the white pawn fails directly, black’s only hope is to promote the pawn.
2. f4, b4; 3. f5, b3;4. Kc3! Kc3 forces the black King to come to “a3” in order to control “b2” square and march forward the pawn, but “a3” is a bad square for black King since white is getting promoted on the same diagonal.(f8 – a3 diagonal)
Ka3; 5. f6, b2; 6. f7, b1=Q; Black promotes first, doesn’t matter since white is also promoting the pawn with a tempo (check)
7. f8=Q+, Ka4; Black didn’t have much choice, (Ka2??; 8. Qa8#)
8. Qa8+, Kb5; 9. Qb8+ 1- 0
7th Rank Pawn versus Queen Often in pawn races, one person may promote his pawn and another person may leave with a pawn on the 7 th rank. In this case, we are in need to understand the core concepts behind it. Most players complicate themselves misunderstanding which 7 th rank pawn makes a draw against Queen and which 7 th rank pawn won’t. Many players may even ask whether it is possible to make a draw with just a pawn on 7 th rank against Queen, yes, it is possible. Generally, 7th rank rook pawn and 7th rank bishop pawn makes a draw against Queen. In other words, “a, c, f, h” file’s pawn on 7 th rank makes a draw against Queen. 7th rank knight/king/queen pawn will not make a draw against Queen. In other words, “b, d, e, g” file’s pawn on 7 th rank will lose against Queen. We also have exceptions for 7 th rank rook/bishop pawn against Queen and we will also take a look at it shortly.
Illustration 4.22 W=
1. a8=Q+ Obviously white wants to promote his pawn and try for a win. Unfortunately, the position becomes “Rook pawn on 7 th rank versus Queen”
Kg1;
Technically, if white wants to win this position, 1. White should be able to bring his King and try to checkmate or 2. White should be able to capture the pawn on “a2” Let’s try both the ideas against 7 th rank pawn with the Queen and see what will be the situation.
2. Qa1+ Since black was threatening to promote the pawn, white cannot bring his King. So, white is trying to get near to the Black's King to try some magic.
Kg2; 3. Qb2+, Kg1; 4. Qd4+, Kg2; 5. Qg4+, Kf1;
Illustration 4.23 We have almost arrived at the solution.
6. Qh3+, Kg1; 7. Qg3+, Kh1! Even though black King has blocked his pawn from promoting to protect it, white will not be able to bring his King since it would become a “stalemate” Trying to capture the “a2” pawn also fails since black King would always protect the pawn.
Illustration 4.24 W+-
1. a8=Q, g2; Here we have a position “Knight pawn on 7 th rank versus Queen” Let’s see how it differs from rook pawn on the 7 th rank.
2. Qa2+, Kf1; 3. Qc4+, Kf2; 4. Qf4+, Ke1; Similar to the previous illustration, white is trying to bring his Queen near to the Black's King and pawn to do some magic.
5. Qg3+, Kf1; 6. Qf3+!, Kg1; White Queen forced the black King to protect and block his own pawn from promoting, this situation allows the white King to march forward.
7. Ke3, Kh2; The same pattern of making the black King block his own pawn continues until white King reaches its position to capture the pawn or checkmate. Unlike rook pawn on the 7 th rank, black King has no hope for a stalemate here.
8. Qf2, Kh1; 9. Qh4+, Kg1; 10. Ke5, Kf1; 11. Qf4+, Ke2; 12. Qg3, Kf1; 13. Qf3+, Kg1; 14. Kf4, Kh2; 15. Qh5+, Kg1; 16. Ke3, Kf1; 17. Qd1# 1-0
Illustration 4.25 W=
1. a8=Q+, Kg1; Here we have a position “Bishop pawn on 7 th rank versus Queen” This one is little different from rook pawn on 7 th rank but still manages to get a draw.
2. Qg8+, Kh2; 3. Qc4, Kg1; 4. Qg4+, Kh1; 5. Qf3+, Kg1; 6. Qg3+, Kh1! By playing Kh1, black has sacrificed the pawn on “f2”. Capturing it will lead to stalemate and not capturing it would lead to repetition or promotion. White will not be able to force the black King to block his own pawn and march forward his King. Hence the position becomes drawn. “King/Queen pawn on 7 th rank versus Queen is just same as knight pawn on 7 th rank” So, we have understood that “Rook/Bishop pawn on the 7 th rank versus Queen = Draw, and Knight/King/Queen pawn on 7 th rank versus Queen = Win for Queen” Here we have a small twist in this plot, we have certain exceptions where Queen can win against Rook/Bishop pawn on the 7 th rank. To win against 7th rank rook/bishop pawn with Queen, our King should be within the certain range of squares, we call it as “ Winning Range”
Winning Range There are three different winning range for the 7 th rank pawn. 1. Rook pawn on the 7th rank. 2. Bishop pawn on the 7 th rank and defending King on the corner. 3. Bishop pawn on the 7 th rank and defending King on the center.
Illustration 4.26 W+The range of “24 squares” marked with arrows denote the winning range for rook pawn on 7th rank versus Queen. In this position, white King is within the winning range hence the position can be converted into a win for white. Let’s take a look at how we can convert this position to a win.
1. a8=Q+, Kg1; 2. Qa1+, Kg2; 3. Qa2+, Kg1; White just wanted to control the 2 nd rank so that he can bring his King into action.
4. Kf4! To get the control of some key squares, white has just allowed the black to promote and have a Queen.
h1=Q; 5. Kg3! 1-0 Now, white is threatening to checkmate at “f2” and on 1 st rank which is unstoppable. Black can just sacrifice his Queen and live for some more
moves. So, we understand the use of key square “g3”. In this illustration, white king was able to come to “g3” within two moves, what if the white king was in “d” file? It can’t reach “g3” within two moves yet we have another key square “e3”, we’ll see an example below.
Illustration 4.27 W+The white king is still within the winning range and can’t able to reach the “g3” square within two moves.
1. Qa1+, Kg2; 2. Qa2+, Kg1; White queen now restricts the black king just like in the previous illustration.
3. Ke3! 1-0 Black cannot promote his pawn to queen since it would lead to checkmate on “f2”, any other move still loses the game.
Illustration 4.28 W+The range of “18 Squares” marked with arrows denote the winning range for “Bishop pawn on 7th rank versus Queen” (When the defending King is on the corner) In this position, white King is inside the marked winning range and this position can be converted to a win for white. The ideas and concepts are just similar to the previous illustration.
1. Qa2! Controlling the second rank and pinning the pawn.
Kg1; 2. Kg3! White threatens to checkmate on “h2” if black promotes his pawn to Queen. Any other promotion/move still loses the game.
f1=N+; 3. Kh3 + -
Illustration 4.30 W+White King is still inside the winning range, but on the other side, the white King can’t reach “g3” in one move.
1. Qg7+, Kf3; (Kh1, Ke2 + -) (Kf1, Qg4 + -)
2. Qf6+, Kg2; 3. Qg6+, Kf3; 4. Qe4+ White has maneuvered his Queen to reach the “e4” square so that he can restrict the opponent King from reaching “g2” square.
Kg3; 5. Ke2! + White has successfully stopped the 7 th rank pawn from promoting and in few moves checkmate is waiting for the black King.
Illustration 4.31 W+The range of “32 Squares” marked with arrows denote the winning range for “Bishop pawn on 7th rank versus Queen” (When the defending King is on the center) Since the white King is inside the winning range, let’s understand how to win the game with white pieces. In this situation, we have an additional concept of not letting the black King to the other side of the pawn (Corner) since it would change the “Winning range” from 32 squares to 18 squares.
1. Qa2+ Bringing the Queen closer to the opponent King.
Ke1; (Kf1; 2. Kf4! + -) this variation would change the winning range from 32 squares to 18 squares and white King is able to reach the 18 squares range. (Refer the previous illustration)
2. Qb1+, Ke2; 3. Qe4+, Kd1; 4. Qf3+, Ke1; 5. Qe3+ White has successfully brought his Queen closer to the black King and pawn, now in this position, black is forced to play “Kf1” or lose the pawn.
Kf1; 6. Kf4
Now that the pawn is blocked by the black King, white can bring his King for assistance. Black King, however, reaches the corner and winning range is reduced to 18 squares, white King is still within the range and can win the game.
Kg2; 7. Qe2! (7. Qd2?, Kg1; 8. Kg3, f1=N+) Forking the Queen and making a draw.
Kg1; 8. Kg3, f1=Q; 9. Qh2#
Illustration 4.32 W+Let’s take a look at how to win when our King is on the other corner of the winning range in this situation. The key difference between this illustration and previous illustration is, in this position white King will not be able to reach the reduced winning range of “18 Squares” on time. So, it is better to restrict the opponent King from reaching the other side of the pawn.
1. Qa2+, Kf1; (Kf3; 2. Qa8+, Ke2; 3. Qg2, Ke1; 4. Kc3 + -) (Ke1; 2. Kc3 + -) The black king is trying to reach the other side of the pawn and reduce the winning range to “18 squares” so that he can make a draw.
2. Qg8! Restricting the opponent king from reaching the other side of the pawn.
Ke1; 3. Qg3, Ke2; 4. Qg2! White has reached the desired position with its Queen, just remembering some previous illustrations of winning range, controlling the second rank with Queen with an idea of making a checkmate.
Ke1; 5. Kc3!, f1=Q; (Ke2; 6. Kd4, Ke1; 7. Ke3 + -) Promoting the pawn to a Knight will still be not useful except to play a few more moves.
6. Qd2# As far as the 7 th rank pawn vs Queen is concerned, we need to remember four number. 1. “24 Squares” (5 + 5+ 5+ 5+ 4) – Winning range for rook pawn on the 7 th rank. 2. “18 Squares” (5 + 5+ 5 + 3) – Winning range for bishop pawn on 7 th rank (When the defending King is on the corner) 3. “32 Squares” (7 + 7 + 7 + 7 + 4) – Winning range for bishop pawn on 7 th rank (When the defending King is on the center) 4. “64 Squares” (8 x 8) – Winning range for Knight/King/Queen pawn on the 7th rank.
Far Apart Races
Illustration 4.33 W+Far apart races are pawn races on different sides of the board and the pawns are usually far from each other. In these types of situations (Commonly in any pawn races), we need to keep two important things in mind before making a move. 1. Tempo 2. King’s position/placement
Tempo – If the number of moves we need to promote a pawn is lesser than what opponent needs, we are said to have an advantage. This number of moves can be calculated with three factors. 1. Imagination plan 2. Obstacles 3. Imagination plan with Obstacles Imagination plan refers to the moves we need to complete our objective regardless of the opponent’s move. For Example: In this position, white needs 6 moves to promote his pawn to Queen. 1 Move to give way to the pawn on “b2”, 5 moves for the pawn to become Queen and totally 6 moves.
This is how imagination plan is created and tempo needed is calculated. The second factor we need to consider is “Obstacles” for the imagination plan.
For example: Let’s take black’s situation from the above position. Imagination plan is “g5” followed by “g4” and black needs 5 moves to make his pawn a Queen. Obstacles – Black has an obstacle of opponent’s King capturing his pawn if the black pawn is not supported, this makes the black King accompany the black pawn to get promoted. This also makes the tempo longer than what is expected (5 moves) Finally, we need to see how long an obstacle can hold the plan to arrive at the final “Tempo” needed.
Imagination plan with an obstacle for black – When it comes to finding the tempo needed for a specific side of the pieces (Black or white), we need to avoid the opponent’s plan into consideration, and we are assuming that the opponent’s plan is to stop our plan, by this way, we will reach the tempo needed easily. Let’s find the tempo needed for black ultimately from the above position. (g5; 1. Kc4, Kh5; 2. Kd4, Kg4; 3. Ke3, Kg3; 4. Ke2, Kg2; 5.Ke3, g4; 6. Ke2, g3; 7. Ke1, Kh2; 8. Ke2, g2; 9. Kf3, g2=Q.) Black has successfully promoted his pawn in 10 th move after considering the obstacle King. Let’s also calculate the same for white below.
Imagination plan with an obstacle for white – 1. Kc5, Kg6; 2. Kc6; Kf7, 3. b4, Ke7; 4. Kc7, Ke6; 5. b5, Kd5; 6. b6 White will promote his pawn to Queen in 2 more moves no matter what happens, 6 moves played and 2 moves yet to play, totally in 8 moves white is able to promote his pawn with an obstacle. This calculation shows that white is better at “Tempo”. Calculating tempo may seem hard, by practicing it on endgames where you
have enough time to calculate such things it becomes easy. These tools will become helpful when your brain is stuck and don’t know how to proceed.
2. King’s Position/Placement King’s placement and the position have a lot to decide the game’s result, placing it on a right square/ wrong square could change the game upside down. There are several factors to be considered while placing your King in pawn races. General mistakes in placing King are below: 1. Placing the King on promotion Rank, File or Diagonal of opponent’s pawn. 2. Placing the King on promotion Rank, File or Diagonal of our pawn. 3. Opposing opponent’s King when our promotion is not first. 4. Omitting rule of square into consideration 5. Focussing on a single objective with King. Placing the King on promotion rank/file/diagonal of opponent’s pawn may turn into unnecessary check and lose tempo. Placing the King on promotion rank/file/diagonal of our pawn may lead to Skewer. Opposing opponent’s King when our promotion is not first may also lead to tactics like Skewer. Omitting the rule of square may turn your King useless in stopping opponent’s pawn. Focussing on a single objective with your King will let the opponent focus on the other objective. For Ex – Focussing to stop the opponent pawn and not focussing to protect your own pawn may end the game in a draw. Let’s go to the answer for the above illustration below.
1. Kc5! This move allows white King to stop the black pawn if it passes and restrict the black King if it tries to stop the white pawn.
Of course, black can only decide whether to promote his pawn or try to stop the white pawn, White is prepared for both the scenarios with this move. This move also allows the white pawn to move freely. (1. Kc4??, Kg6; 2. b4, Kf6; 3. b5,(3. Kd5, g5 =) Ke7 =) “Kc4” only focuses on the one object (to stop the opponent’s pawn), however, it becomes successful, white is failed to promote his pawn, thereby making it a draw.
g5; (Kg6; 2. b4, Kf6; 3. b5, Ke7; 4. Kc6, Kd8; 5. Kb7, g5; 6. b6, g4; 7. Ka8, g3; 8. b7, g2; 9. b8=Q+) + -
2. b4, g4; 3. Kd4! Now that the black King is out of the rule of square, white King is sneaking into the rule of square of black’s pawn to stop it.
g3; 4. Ke3, Kh5; 5. b5, Kh4; 6. b6, Kh3; 7. b7, g2; 8. Kf2, Kh2; 9. b8=Q+ 1-0 Black was forced to misplace his King to “h2”, thereby white gains a tempo after promoting with a check and wins the battle.
Illustration 4.34 W+At first sight, this position seems little complicated for many players. The promising outside passer for white and well placed King for black creates confusion. However black’s King is well placed to lead the black pawn, black pawn seems vulnerable if white King approaches to it.
1. Kc3! Threatening “Kb4” followed by “g4” to promote. Black is forced to play “Ka3 to support the pawn.
Ka3; 2. Kc4, Ka4; White tried to attack the “b” pawn and ended up misplacing the Black's King since white King is near to black’s pawn, black King has to accompany the pawn which loses tempo.
3. g4, b5+; 4. Kd3! “Kd3” places inside the rule of square to the promotion square, this enables white King to reach “c2” when a black pawn reaches “b2”, this will make black King come back to “a2” before promoting, thereby losing tempo.
b4; 5. g5, b3; 6. g6, b2; 7. Kc2!, Ka3; 8. g7, Ka2; 9. g8=Q+ 1-0
Illustration 4.35 W+In this position, white’s pawn needs only four moves to get promoted and Black's pawn needs five moves to get promoted, white has to play now which creates additional tempo for white. Is white good to go with “f5” simply? No, (1. f5, a5; 2. f6, a4; 3. f7, a3; 4. f8=Q, a2) =. This variation makes it “Rook pawn on 7 th rank versus Queen” and the white King is out of the winning range “24 squares”, thus making it a draw.
1. Ke2! White prepares to stop the “a” pawn as well as get his King inside the winning range.
a5; (Ke2; 2. f5! + -) this variation would also lead to “Rook pawn on 7 th rank versus Queen” but in this situation, white King is within the winning range and the position can be converted to a win for white.
2. Kd3, Kb2; (a4; 3. Kc3 + -) Since white made two King moves, black has gained a tempo and will be able to promote the pawn right after white promotes the pawn. Playing “a4” would lose the pawn, hence black decided to protect the pawn with his King.
3. f5!, a4; 4. f6, a3; 5. f7, a2; 6. f8=Q, a1=Q; Both the sides managed to promote the pawn, but white has the move and Black's King and Queen are suffering in the corner. White has to find a way to exploit it.
7. Qb4+, Ka2; (Kc1; 8. Qd2+, Kb1; 9. Qc2#)
8. Kc2 The same method used to win against 7 th rank rook pawn. In this position, black has no way to escape from white’s threat (Qc2 or Qb2 after black queen moves) Poor black Queen has no squares to chase away the white King.
Qd1+; 9. Kxd1, Kh8; 10. Kc2, Kg8; 11. Qa4#
Chapter 5. “King and Two Pawns VS King and Two Pawns” Connected Pawns VS Connected Pawns
Illustration 5.1 W+All those concepts which we learned in “King and pawn VS King and pawn” will be applicable in all our future illustration including this illustration. I showed this position to my students and asked them ‘who is winning?’ White to play. Most players immediately raised their hands and said white is winning. How? (1. Kb7, Kd2; 2. Kc7, Kxe2; 3. Kd7, Ke3; 4. Kxe7, Ke4; 5.Kxf6) they said. We all know in this position, we need to capture the opponent’s pawn and make a promotion to win the game. But, there are other factors to consider. The above variation is wrong, I’ll show you below.
1. Kb6! (1. Kb7??, Kc3!; 2. Kc7, Kd4; 3. Kd7, Ke5 =) By playing “Kb6”, white King will be able to stop the black King from reaching “d4” (Shouldering Technique)
Kc3; 2. Kc5, Kd2; 3. Kc6!
(3. Kd5??, Ke3!; 4. Ke6, Kf4; 5. e3+, Ke4! =) “d5” and “e3” are corresponding squares, the first side to reach there will have negative results.
Ke3; (Kxe2; 4. Kd7 + -)
4. Kd5! (4. Kd7??, Kd4 = )
Kf4; 5. Ke6, Ke4; 6. e3 + Black King tried hard to capture the “f5” pawn since it will become the potential passer to get promoted, but white was successful to defend the “f5” pawn and create Zugzwang position to the opponent. Now, black must retreat the attack from “f5” and move away and let the white King capture “e7” and “f6” Converting “multiple pawn endings” into “winning single pawn ending” is a common strategy.
Illustration 5.2 W= By taking a first look at this position, anyone can understand that black King is active and white King is inactive. So, there is no winning hope for white, how can we defend the position?
1. Kd2! (1. Kc1??, d5; 2. Kb2, Kf4; 3. Ka3, Ke4; 4. Kb4, Kd3; 5.Kc5, Kxc3; 6. Kxd5, Kd3 - +) In this variation, black is able to promote his pawn first and also able to stop the white pawn from promoting. (1. Ke2??, Kf4; 2. Kf2, d5! - +) In this variation, white loses the opposition to an active black King, thereby losing the battle. (1. Ke1??, Kf5!; 2. Ke2, Kf4; 3. d5, Ke4; 4. Kd2, Kf3!! - +) In this variation, white loses the opposition. However white offered a free pawn on “d5”, it cannot be captured, follow the mainline below.
Kf4; 2. Ke2, Ke4; (d5; 3. Kf2 =)
3. d5!! White offers a free pawn to not lose the opposition.
Kxd5; 4. Ke3, Ke5; 5. Kf3, d5; 6. Ke3
Even though white is a pawn down in this position, black will not be able to create a passer by breaking the pawn. Breaking the pawn will leave only one pawn left for the black and we know how to make it a draw (Refer King and pawn VS King) The only hope is the King, black should try to bring his King and capture the pawn on “c3”, which is also impossible since white King won’t allow the same. Let’s go through some continuation below.
Kf5; 7. Kf3 Opposition (Not allowing the King inside)
Kg6; 8. Ke2! Virtual Opposition (To maintain opposition)
Kf7; 9. Kf3, Ke6; 10. Ke2, Kd7; 11. Kd1, Kc6; 12. Kc2, Kb5; 13. Kb2 = There is no entry for the black King in both the side of the board to enter and capture the “c3” pawn. Exchanging the pawn on “d4” will make the position draw.
Illustration 5.3 W+White’s King is active and it is possible to gain a pawn in just a few moves without much effort. How can white continue? (1. Kd4, Ke6; 2. Kxe4) is this variation okay for white? Absolutely not, (1. Kd4, Ke6; 2. Kxe4, f5+!) =. Referring the illustration 6.2, we may understand this pawn majority for white is useless.
1. Kd4, Ke6; (f6; 2. Kd5 + -)
2. Kc5! White is making a triangulation as well as making his own King active further. Black doesn’t have many options, “f6” or “f5” will directly lose after “Kc6”
Kf6; 3. Kd6, Kf5; 4. Kd5 The same position has arrived after white making a triangulation to pass the move to the opponent.
Kg4; 5. Kxe4, f6; 6. Kd5, Kf3, 7. Ke6, Kxe3; 8. f5 + -
Illustration 5.4 B-+ Can black simply capture on “h4” to make progress? If no, why?
Kh2!; (Kxh4??; 1. Kf2, Kg5; 2. g3!) = Instead of capturing the pawn on “h4” and making a draw, black uses his active King to exploit the opponent.
1. Kf2, Kh1! (g3??; 2. Kf3 + -)
2. Kg3, Kg1! In this position, white has become the victim of Zugzwang.
3. Kf4, Kxg2; 4. Kg5, g3; 5. Kxh5, Kf3; 6. Kg6, g2 - + White has no way to stop the “g” pawn or to promote the “h” pawn he has, hence black is clearly winning. It is not an extra pawn in King and pawns ending that wins the game always, sometimes a tempo, sometimes an active King etc. could really help to decide the game point.
Illustration 5.5 W-+ The simple reason white can’t protect the “h4” pawn will lead the black to victory. But, is it possible for black to promote the rook pawn? Can white take a counterattack on “g6”?
1. Kf3, Kh3; 2. Ke4, (2. Kf4, Kxh4) losing the opposition as well as “g5” pawn.
Kxh4; 3. Kf4, Kh3; 4. Ke5 (4. Kf3, Kh3; 5. Kf4, (5. Kf2, Kg4 - +) Kg2 - +)
h4; 5. Kf6, Kg4; 6. Kxg6, h3; 7. Kf6, h2; 8. g6, h1=Q; 9.g7, Qh7! - + As we already know that “Knight Pawn on 7 th rank versus Queen” wins for Queen no matter how far the attacking King is, we conclude the position as winning for black. (10. Kf7, Kf5; 11. Kf8, Kf6; 12. g8=Q, Qe7#)
Illustration 5.6 W= Just similar to our previous illustration, but with a difference in rank between pieces placement. Does this difference really change the game? How? Referring our previous illustration, white was not able to promote his pawn on time thereby ended up losing the game. But, in this illustration white will be able to promote the pawn since the pawns are one step forward compared to the previous illustration.
1. Kf4, Kh4; 2. Ke5! (2. Kf5, Kxh5 - +) Loses opposition as well as “g6” pawn.
Kxh5; 3. Kf5!, Kh4; 4. Ke6, h5; 5. Kf7, Kg3; 6. Kxg7, h4; 7. Kf6, h3; 8. g7, h2; 9. g8=Q+ = As we already discussed in “Winning range”, we can understand that the white King is not inside the winning range for rook pawn on 7 th rank (24 Squares). So, we may conclude the position to be drawn.
Illustration 5.7 W= At first look, any player will understand that the white King is out of play and white side should be in trouble. White should either defend the pawns or counter the black pawns to hold the position. How can white continue?
1. Kb7!! (1. Kb6??, Kd6!; 2. Kb5, Ke5; 3. Kc6, Kf4; 4. Kd6, Kg3; 5.Ke6, Kxg2; 6. Kf6, Kg3; 7. Kxg6, Kxh4 - +) In this variation, white has lost a tempo in the very beginning by playing “Kb6” after black replied with “Kd6” (Shouldering technique). This tempo is more than enough for a win for black. (1. Kb5??, Kd6; 2. Kc4, Ke5; 3. Kd3, Kf4; 4. Ke2, Kg4 - +) In the battle of defending “g2” pawn, white has lost “h4” pawn thereby losing the game in few moves. “Kb7” works as an “Anti-Shouldering Technique”, when black plays “Kd6”, white will be able to sneak into opponent’s camp by playing “Kc8”
Ke6; (Kd6; 2. Kc8, Ke5; 3. Kd7, Kf4; 4. Ke6, Kg3; 5. Kf6, Kxh4; 6. Kxg6 =) In this variation, white was able to reach the opponent’s pawns without any
tempo loss and able to stop its promotion. (Kd7; 2. Kb8! =) In this variation, white King is waiting for the black King to move away and try to attack the white pawns, so that white King could get into black’s pawns, thereby making it a draw.
2. Kc7, Kf5; 3. Kd6, Kg4; 4. Ke6, Kxh4; 5. Kf6 In this case, white has lost the pawn on “h4”. However, white holds the strong initiative by attacking the “g6” pawn.
g5; Only move to defend the “g” pawn.
6. Kf5!, g4; 7. Kg6! (7. Kf4!, g3; 8. Kf3 =) White is not allowing the black King to move, if black King moves, white can claim an easy draw by capturing pawns.
g3; (Kg3; 8. Kxh5, Kxg2; 9. Kxg4 =)
8. Kf5! = (Stalemate)
Illustration 5.8 W+We’ve seen some illustrations where both the sides had their pawns on the same file before, here we have a look at the position where the pawns are in adjacent files. Meaning – In these types of adjacent file pawn placements, there is a scope to create passer pawns which plays a vital role in pawn endings. In this position, White's King is super active where black’s King is defending his own pawn and seems passive. White pawns are little more forward compared to black pawns, how can white continue?
1. Ke7!! Most players think of “Kd7” and never bother to consider “Ke7” since this move is not even an opposition. “Ke7” allows the white “d” pawn to move freely by giving it the way needed with support. After “c4” and “d5” white pawns will march forward. (1. Kd7??, b5!; 2. Kd6, Kb6; 3. Ke5, c5 =) In this variation, the opposition has gone to the black side after “b5”, white didn’t have any pawn movements to reverse the opposition.
b5; (Kc7; 2. c4, b5; 3. d5! + -) the pawn on “d5” is unstoppable since white King
takes the lead and controls all the necessary squares to promote the pawn. (Ka7; 2. Kd7, Kb7; 3. Kd6, b5; 4. Kd7) Transposes into the same position as below.
2. Kd7! White grabs the opposition.
Kb6; 3. Kc8! White King sneaks into the opponent’s camp. Black will not be able to trade the pawns on “c5” since white would push the pawn to “d5” and it is unstoppable. Black has no pawn movements technically, so he has to move the King and make “c6” pawn vulnerable.
Ka5; 4. Kb7 + -
Illustration 5.9
W+The idea is very clear for white, need to create a passer by playing “f5”, but there is a black King waiting to stop it. Most players arrive at the answer easily, but the continuation is more crucial. How can white continue?
1. Kd6! The idea is simple, stopping the black King from reaching “d5” and “e5” squares. I’m sure most players found this move easily.
h5!
Black creates a counter play on the wing. Capturing it will lead to a promotion for both the sides at the same time, resulting in a draw.
2. f5!, gxf5; Black is forced to capture the pawn on “f5”, playing anything like “h4” or hxg4” will lead to “fxg6” followed by “g7” > “g8=Q+” Remember the King’s placement theory we have learned? Referring to that, Black's King has been misplaced in vulnerable diagonal where white’s pawn may get promoted. Having this in mind, white continues.
3. g5!, f4; 4. g6, f3; 5. g7, f2; 6. g8=Q+, Kd3; 7. Qg2 + Bishop pawn on 7th rank versus Queen is not applicable here since the black has another pawn to consider. The additional pawn which black has will not allow the black to try for a stalemate, this makes white’s life easy to win the position. The possible variation could be (Ke2; 8. Ke5, Ke1; 9. Qe4+, Kd2; 10. Qf3, Ke1; 11. Qe3+, Kf1; 12. Kf4, Kg2; 13. Qg3+, Kf1; 14. Ke3 + -)
Illustration 5.10 W+-
1. Kf6 Directly attacking the pawn on “f7”, this makes the opponent King go into much more passive position to defend the pawn. (1. g4??, Ke6; 2. h5, gxh5; 3. gxh5, Ke7; 4. h6, Kf8 =)
Ke8; 2. Kg7! “Kg7” stops the “f” pawn from moving as well as stops the black King from coming to “f8” for defense. (2. g4??, Kf8; 2. h5, (2. g5, Kg8 =) gxh5; 3. gxh5, Kg8 =)
Ke7; 3. g3!! (3. g4??, f5!; 4. gxf5, gxf5; 5. h5, f4 =) In this variation, however white promotes the pawn first, black will also be able to do the same in very next move, thereby making it a draw. Having this in mind, white plays “g3” with the reason below. “g3” is just another waiting move, since black’s pawns cannot move as of now, black King should move and misplace himself.
Ke6; (Ke8; 4. g4!, f5; 5. h5, fxg4; 6. h6, g3; 7. h7 + -) In this variation, white will promote to Queen with a check. In next move after promotion, white will be
able to stop the black pawn from the promotion.
4. Kf8! Taking control over “e7” square.
Kf6; Playing “f5” or “f6” will create a new weakness on “g6” in black’s camp.
5. g4, Ke6; (g5; 6. h5! + -)
6. g5!, f5; 7. h5 + -
Illustration 5.11 W+It is quite straightforward that black cannot capture the pawn on “f6” since the pawn on “e7” would get promoted. The same thing applies to white, trying to capture the “c” pawn would promote the other pawn, while “d” pawn will be firmly supported by “c” pawn. To win the game, white King needs to get into “d7” square and promote on “e8” (or) white King should reach “e6” and follow “f7+” (or) white should be able to capture either of the black’s pawn. We found three ideas here, all these ideas should be carried out without giving black a chance to promote his pawn.
1. Kf3!! (1. Ke4??, c5; 2. Kd3, Ke8; 3. Kc4, Kf7; 4. Kd3 = (4. Kd5, d3 -+))
In this variation, white needs to make a triangulation to reach “d5” with his King when the black King is on “e8” to achieve an advantage. Unfortunately, there is no way out for triangulation. So, white can understand this need for tempo loss, white play “Kf3” and makes a triangulation in the first move.
c5; 2. Ke4! Black’s pawns are frozen, black King is in the necessity to move and vacate the “e6” square for white King. (Ke8; 2. Ke4, c5) transposes the position to below position.
Ke8; 3. Kd5! White is threatening to play “Ke6” followed by “f7#”, in order to stop this threat, black needs to play “Kf7” and vacate “d7” square for white King.
Kf7; 4. Kd6, d3; 5. Kd7, d2; 6. e8=Q+, Kxf6; 7. Qe2 + -
Illustration 5.12 W+Similar to our previous illustration yet with some additional depths! Same ideas are applicable as our previous illustration, the difference is black has more opportunities in this position to make a draw.
1. Kf3 (1. Kd3!?, Kg8; 2. Ke2, Kf7; 3. Kf3) However “Kd3” is still playable, “Kf3” is the core idea to make progress. The idea of this move is just to give the opponent some opportunity to make his weak by himself. White King will be able to blockade the pawns if any pawns are pushed forward. Another simple reason is reaching towards our own pawn may give some tactical opportunities in the pawn ending.
Kg8; (f4?; 2. Ke4, Kg8; 3. Kxe5!, f3; 4. Kf6, Kh7; (f2; 5. Kg6) 5.Kf7 + -) In this variation, black becomes the victim of Zugzwang and forced to play “Kg8” and allow the white King inside. (e4+?; 2. Kf4, Kg8; 3. Kxf5, e3; 4. Kg6 + -) Once again, black becomes the victim of Zugzwang and forced to play “Kg8” and allow the white King inside. From this two variation, we understand that white King should reach “e4” or
“f4” square when the black King is on “f7” to win the game.
2. Kf2! Directly playing “Kg3” followed by “Kh4” fails (2. Kg3, Kf7; 3. Kh4, e4!; 4. Kg3, e3; 5. Kf3, f4 =) So, white decides to make a waiting move. Here we find another need to satisfy in the game to make it a win for white. White King should reach “h4” when the opponent King is on “g8” to make progress.
Kf7; 3. Kg3, Kg8; 4. Kh4, Kf7; 5. Kg5! Finally, white has arrived at a position where he can force the black to move his pawn.
f4; 6. Kg4!, Kg8; 7. Kf5, Kg8; 8. Ke4!! (8. Kxe5??, f3 - +) As we already discussed, White King has reached “e4” square when the black King is on “f7”
Kg8; 9. Kxe5 + -
Connected Pawns VS Disconnected Pawns Most players prefer connected pawns over disconnected pawns saying it can protect each other. In fact, connected passers could be better than disconnected pawns and disconnected pawns could be better than connected pawns depending upon other factors such as King’s placement etc. Let’s have a look at some scenarios below.
Illustration 5.13 W= Black’s King is active and White's King is passive. Black’s pawn on “e5” stops the pawn advance on “f4”. White has two weaknesses on “c2” and “f3” which are vulnerable to black King’s attack. Having these things in mind, white is sure that there is no possibility of winning for him, how can white hold the position?
1. Ke2 Reaching towards “c2” pawn to protect it.
Kc4; 2. f4! White sacrifices a pawn on “f4”, actually it is not a sacrifice but just a pawn offer to break the chain between black’s pawns. (2. Kd2??, d4; 3. Ke2, Kc3; 4. Kd1, d3 -+)
e4; (exf4; 3. Kf3, Kc3; 4. Kxf4, Kxc2; 5. Ke5 =)
3. f5; Kc5 White tries to promote his pawn. However it won’t be possible, it will make opponent King reach a passive position.
4. Ke3, Kd6; 5. c4!, dxc4; 6. Kxe4 =
Illustration 5.14 W+A situation where disconnected pawns are better than connected pawns.
1. Kb7, Kb4; 2. Kc6! (2. Kxc7?, Kxb5; 3. Kxd6, Kc4 =) White directly attacked “c7” and black made a counter on “b5”. After “Kc6”, both the sides hold their attack on respective pawns.
Kc4; (d5; 3. e4!, Kc4; 4. Kxc7, Kxb5; 5. Kd6 + -) Black is trying not to leave the attack on “b5” else “Kxc7” would cause trouble.
3. d3! Deflecting the black King with “d” pawn, capturing on “d3” would leave the attack on “b5” and “Kxc7” will come into place.
Kb4; 4. Kxc7! Since “c4” square is controlled, black King will not be able to capture the “d”
pawn.
Kxb5; 5. Kxd6 + White King takes the perfect lead for his pawn to get promoted. Black King will not be able to stop the “d” pawn.
Illustration 5.15 W+A situation where connected pawns are better than disconnected pawns.
1. Kh6! White grabs the opposition. (1. Kg6?, Kc6; 2. Kf6, Kd6; 3. Kf7, Kd7 =)
Kb7; (Ka5; 2. Kg6, Kb4; 3. Kf6, Kc3; 4. Kxe6, Kxd3; 5. Kd5 + -)
2. Kh7, Kb6; (Kc6; 3. Kg6, Kc7; 4. Kg7, Kd6; 5. Kf6, Kd7; 6. Kf7, Kd6; 7. Ke8 + -)
3. Kg8! White threatens “Kf7” and grabs the pawn on “e6”
Kc6; 4. Kf8!, Kd6; 5. Ke8 Opposition no longer matters since the white King has come well within the range to attack the black pawns.
e5; (Ke5; 6. Kd7 + -)
6. Kd8 Since black pawns moved away, white is in need to make an opposition to reach the other side and attack those black pawns.
Ke6; 7. Kc7 + -
Illustration 5.16 W= White’s pawn on “e5” is in real trouble, how can white continue to hold the position? g4+? We’ve seen this idea of “g4” before, where the opponent will no longer be able to capture our pawn without exchanging their pawn. But in this situation, Black's King is much more active and will be able to capture the “g4” pawn without exchanging black’s pawn. (1. g4+?, Kxe5; 2. Kg3, Ke4; 3. Kg2, Kf4; 4. Kh3, Kf3 - +)
1. Kh3! (1. Kg3??, h5 - +) The idea of “Kh3” is taking a counterattack on “h6” via “g4” and “h5”
Kxe5;
(h5; 2. g4+!, hxg4+; 3. Kg3 =)
2. Kg4, Kf6; 3. Kh5, Kg7; 4. g4 =
Illustration 5.17 W= When the disconnected pawn is a passer, it puts a lot of difficulties into opponent’s life. White needs to stop the “d” pawn as well as not allow the black King to enter the other side and lead the “h” pawn.
1. Kg2 (1. Kg1??, Ke5; 2. Kf1, (2. Kf2, Kd5; 3. Ke2, Ke4 -+) d3 - +) Holding a virtual opposition.
Kf5; (Ke5; 2. Kf3!, Kd5; 3. Kf2! (3. Ke2??, Ke4; 4. Kd2, Kf3 - +) Kc4; 4. g4 =) In this variation, white will be able to break on “g4” and promote the “h” pawn and make a draw, or the position transposes into the main line. There is another possibility for black, however, it doesn’t make any difference in the result, it may confuse a lot of players thereby insist them to make mistakes. (Kf6; 2. Kf2; Kf5; 3. Kf1!, d3; 4. Ke1, Kg4; 5. Kd2, Kxg3; 6. Kxd3, Kxh4; 7. Ke2! =) In this variation, there is a critical move (3. Kf1) where most players tend to make mistakes and lose the game.
2. Kf2! Trying to make an opposition by playing “Kf3” is a mistake, after black’s “Ke5” white will lose the opposition. (2. Kf3??, Ke5!; 3. Kf2, Kd5; 4. Ke2, Ke4 - +)
Ke4; (Kg4; 3. Kg2, d3; 4. Kf2, d2; 5. Ke2, Kxg3; 6. Kxd2, Kxh4; 7. Ke2 =)
3. Ke2, d3+; 4. Kd2, d4; (Kf3; 5. Kxd3, Kxg3; 6. Ke4, Kxh4; 7. Kf4 =)
5. g4! A pawn sacrifice to create a passer “Breakthrough”, we will further have a discussion on “Breakthrough” later.
hxg4; 6. h5, g3; 7. h6, g2; 8. h7, g1=Q; 9. h8=Q+ =
Illustration 5.18 W+It may seem simple at first sight, Black's “a5” pawn is vulnerable and black King cannot capture the pawn on “f3” since the “g4” pawn would get promoted. Can we follow the simple plan of capturing the “a5” pawn and coming back to assist “g” pawn for promotion? NO! (1. Kb5, Kh4; 2. Kxa5, Kg3!; 3. g5, Kxf3; 4. g6, Ke2; 5. g7, f3; 6. g8=Q, f2 =) Remember the “Winning Range” Concept, (32 Squares) for this position and the white King is out of the range, thereby making it a draw.
1. Kb5!, Kh4; (a4; 2. Kxa4, Kh4; 3. Kb4, Kg3; 4. g5, Kxf3; 5. g6, Ke2; 6.g7, f3; 7. g8=Q, f2 + -) since the white King is within the winning range, white is winning.
2. Ka4! This move avoids the stalemate possibilities when it comes to Queen versus 7th rank pawn.
Kg3; 3. g5, Kxf3; 4. g6, Ke2; 5. g7, f3; 6. g8=Q, f2; Black’s pawn is stuck on “f2” and white has already promoted his Queen. Since it is white to move, white has to find a way to stop the “f2” pawn.
7. Qc4+, Ke1; 8. Qe4+, Kd1; 9. Qf3+, Ke1; 10. Qe3+, Kf1; Black has blocked his own pawn with his King, white can bring the King and try to capture the pawn on “f2”
Illustration 5.18.1
11. Kb3! White has also allowed some pawn moves for black to avoid any stalemate possibilities.
Kg2; 12. Qg5+, Kh1; 13. Qh4+, Kg1; 14.Qg3+, Kf1; 15. Kc2 Since black has a pawn on “a5”, black was not able to play “Kh1” in reply to “Qg3+”, else it would have been a draw.
Ke1; 16. Kd3, a4; 17. Qh4, a3; 18. Qe4+, Kd1; 19. Qh1+, f1=Q+; 20. Qxf1#
Illustration 5.19 W= Both the sides need King’s assistance to progress the game, but those Kings are busy stopping opposed pawns from being promoted. This simple logic may decide the game result.
Illustration 5.20 Similar to the previous position but with some differences in black’s King position and Queenside pieces are placed before a rank. Can this difference change the result? Yes!
1. Kc5!, Kg7;
(a4; 2. Kb4 + -)
2. Kd6!, a4; 3. Ke7, a3; 4. h8=Q+, Kxh8; 5.Kf7! + Since white had an active King and well-passed pawns, white was able to make it.
Connected Pawns VS Doubled Pawns There is no doubt that “Connected Pawns” are superior to “Doubled Pawns” in most situations. The reason for this is simple, “Doubled Pawns” cannot protect each other and this will let the opponent’s King to easily exploit the vulnerabilities. “Connected pawns” can protect each other and this will make it difficult for the opponent’s King to exploit the vulnerabilities. In other words, “Doubled pawns” have more weaknesses than “Connected Pawns”. “Doubled Pawns” will find it difficult to create a pawn lever (pawn trade) since they cannot protect each other. “Connected Pawns” may create a pawn lever with the support of another pawn, thereby giving the connected pawns side some extra ideas and opportunities. All these downsides of the “Doubled Pawns” doesn’t necessarily mean a lost game, since chess is very dynamic, draws are possible often and wins are possible rarely for doubled pawns. Let’s take a look at some illustrations below to understand the different situations
Illustration 5.21 W+By taking a first look at this position, we may understand that white’s King seems to be far from both white and black pawns. Black King seems to be closer to both white and black pawns. In other words, White's King seems inactive and Black's King seems active. White’s pawns are stopped by black pawns and black pawns are blocked by white pawns. (Stopping the pawn refers to controlling the squares of a pawn) and (Blocking the pawn refers to creating a blockade so that the pawn cannot move) Is white King really inactive and black King is active? If not, why? White’s King is not inactive, the above position clearly shows that white King can attack the black pawns in three moves and capture it in the fourth move, if we compare this to black King, black King will be able to attack the pawn on “e2” in three moves and can capture it in the fourth move. This clearly shows that white King’s position is no way less than black King’s position. Let’s make this analysis further, white King can attack both “d4 and d5” pawn after the 3rd move, Black's King will only be able to attack the pawn on
“e2” since the other pawn is protected by “e2”. This clearly shows that white’s King has more opportunities than black King. Since the position is white to play, white King has an added advantage of a tempo, all these characteristics of white King make it superior to black King. (1. Kg6, Kb4; 2. Kf6, Kc3; 3. Ke5, Kd2; 4.Kxd5, Kxe2; 5.Kxd4 + -) This straightforward variation shows that black cannot try counter-attack strategy to defend the position since this variation makes the position better for white. So, black should try to defend the “d5 and d4” pawns to make a draw (win for black is not possible as we understand).
1. Kg7! White is not giving any chance for black to make a real opposition (1. Kg6??, Kc6!; 2.Kf5, Kb5 =) In this simple variation, white loses the opposition directly after “Kg6” thereby making the game draw. (1. Kg5??, Kc5; 2. Kf5, Kb5=) White loses the opposition. (1. Kh5??, Kb4; 2. Kg4, Kc3; 3. Kf5, Kd2; 4. Ke5, Kxe2; 5.Kxd4!=) In this variation, simple attack by the black decided the game
Kc5 Taking up a virtual opposition. (Kc6; 2. Kg6, Kc5) position converts into the same position without giving try for an opposition.
2. Kf7 After this move, black has no way of taking up an opposition since the “d5” square is occupied with black’s pawn. Taking a virtual opposition on “b5” absolutely makes no sense since white’s King can easily attack black pawns.
Kb6; (Kb5; 3. Ke7, Kc5; 4. Kd7, Kb5; 5. Kd6 +-)
3. Kf6
White holds the opposition strongly.
Kc7; 4. Ke5, Kc6; 5. Ke6, Kc5; 6. Kd7, Kb5; 7. Kd6 +-
Illustration 5.22 W= B= A situation where doubled pawns and connected pawns are equal. No matter who plays first, the game cannot be won without someone making a blunder. Let’s understand the concepts and tasks behind this situation. 1. White should try to capture “g4” or “g6” to make a winning progress. 2. Black King is restricted by opponent’s pawn and King. Meaning, black King cannot capture white pawns. So, black should play a defending game. 3. White has no reasonable pawn movements. Moving the “f” pawn to “f3” or “f4” will trade pawns and black will clear its weakness. 4. White King should reach “f6” or “f4” to threaten the black pawns. In both these scenarios, black King should be on “h5” to defend the pawns. (Corresponding squares) Having all these points in mind, let’s proceed with some variations and check whether anyone will be able to win the game.
(W) Variation 1. Kf4, Kh5; 2. Ke5, Kh6; 3. Kf6, Kh5; 4. Kg7, Kg5; 5.Kf7, Kf5 = Any other variations which may include “Ke4” or “Kd4” by white still makes
the position draw since white will not be able to make winning progress.
(B) Variation Kg5; 1. Ke6, Kh6; 2. Kf7, Kg5; 3. Kg7, Kf5; 4. Kh6, Kf6; 5. Kh7, Kf7 = Just similar to the previous variation, white will not be able to make winning progress thereby making the position draw.
Illustration 5.23 B= Referring to our previous illustration 6.22, can we play “g5” to make the position similar to it and claim a draw? No, Let’s take a look at that variation below. (g5; 1.Ke6, Kg6; 2. Ke5, Kh7; 3. Kf5, Kh6; 4.f3, g6+; 5.Kf6 +-) in this variation, white gets a waiting move which made black a victim of Zugzwang.
Kg5; Threatening to capture “g5” pawn, so that white is forced to play “f3” and lose his waiting move. On the other hand, black also blocks “g5” square with his King which may have a negative effect on black’s position, let’s continue.
1. f3 (1. Kxg7, Kxg4; 2. Kxg6, Kf3 =) this variation makes a simple draw. Since white is having connected pawns and active King, white will try to win the
game and not give draw easily.
Kh6; Black King has returned to his position to protect the “g7” pawn and allow the g6” pawn to “g5”.
2. f4 White is trying to stop the “g6” pawn from coming to “g5” (2. Ke6, Kg5; 3. Ke5, Kh4!; 4. Ke6, (4. Kf4, g5+; 5. Ke4, Kg3=) Kg3=)
g5; Trying to trade off the pawns so that the game will become a draw.
3. f5, Kh7; White didn’t want to trade the pawns to avoid a quick draw. Technically, there’s no way for the white King to attack the pawn on “g5” if black King stays on “h7” or “h6”. In this case, both the black pawns became safe.
4. Kf8, Kf6; 5. Kg8 White cannot use his pawns since it would lead to simple exchange and make the game end in a draw. Instead, white is trying to put black in some Zugzwang position to make the game progress. Unfortunately, it doesn’t work.
g6!; 6. f6 = Taking the pawn on “g6” will still leave the position drawn.
Illustration 5.24 W+Trapped black King gives some opportunities for white side. White King’s placement is the key, how can white proceed? Kf8 or Kf7?
1. Kf8! (1. Kf7?, h6; 2. gxh6 (2. Kf8, Kh7=) (2. g6=) Kh7=) In this variation, white King needs an additional tempo or to lose a tempo to win the game, having this variation in mind, “1.Kf8” sets off the tempo imbalance.
h6; 2. Kf7, hxg5; 3. hxg5, h4; 4. g6, h3; 5. g7 + -
Illustration 5.25 W= We’ve seen positions where the side with “doubled pawns” crave for a draw or lose. This position is little different, the side with “connected pawns” should do something to hold the position. Black’s King is very active and just 2 steps away from capturing “g2” pawn and make “h4” pawn progress, white’s King seems to be far from black’s pawns. Students around 1500 ELO found this difficult and took one long day to complete it.
1. Kf6 A simple shouldering technique having two ideas in mind, either to target “h4” via “g5” or target “h7” via “g7”. (1. Kf7??, Kf2; 2. f4, Kxg2; 3. f5, h3; 4. f6, h2; 5. Kg7, h1=Q; 6. f7, Qf1; 7. f8=Q, Qxf8; 8. Kxf8, h5 - +) In this variation, white loses after direct counter-attack battle since white’s target was a wrong pawn.
Kf4! Stopping the white King from approaching “g5” square to avoid the “h4” pawn to be attacked. (Kf2; 2. Kg5, Kg3; 3. f4, h6; 5. Kh5! =)
2. Kg7, Kg3; 3. Kxh7, Kxg2; 4. f4, h3; 5. f5, h2; 6. f6, h1=Q+ After some quick counter attacks, the position appeared like this.
Illustration 5.25.1 Most players gave up in this position saying “White has a bishop pawn, but not on the 7th rank, so a draw is not possible” referring to winning range concept we’ve learned before.
7. Kg8! After this move, there’s no check or pin or any other tactic to stop the 6 th rank pawn from moving to 7 th rank. There is no hope for the black King to enter the winning range either, hence the game became draw after some moves.
Kf3; 8. f7! After “f7” the game is theoretically drawn referring to “Winning range” concept.
Illustration 5.26 W+A situation where “Doubled pawn” is superior to “Connected pawns” However, the doubled pawn could be easily cleared by capturing on “g4”.
1. Kf2! “g5” and “g4” squares are controlled by white pawns, which disallows any King movements for the black. So, black has the only hope on “g4” pawn to avoid Zugzwang position. Knowing this, white is trying to remove the “g4” pawn’s ability to avoid Zugzwang by wasting its move.
g3+ (gxf3; 2. Kxf3, Kh3; 3. f5 + -) (Kh3; 2. Kg1! (2. f5?, Kh2=), Kh4; 3. Kg2, g3; 4. Kg1 + -) 2. Kg1! (2. Kg2?? =) Stalemate. g2; (Kh3; 3. f5 + -) 3. Kh2!, g1=Q+; 4. Kxg1 + (3. Kxg2??=) Stalemate.
Illustration 5.27 W= At a quick glance, it seems like black can stop white pawns with his King and even capture it. Whereas, white cannot stop the black pawns since it is connected, capturing one pawn will lead the other to get promoted. How can white hold the game?
1. h6! (1. Kf4??, f5; 2. h6, Kf6 - +)
Kf8; 2. h5!, Kf7; (f5;3. Kxf5!, g3; 4. Kf6!, Kg8; 5. Kg6, g2; 6. h7+, Kh8; 7.Kh6=)
3. Ke3!! (3. Kf4, f5; 4. Ke3, Kg8 - +)
Kg8; (f5; 4. Kf4, Kf6; 5. Kg3, Kf7; 6. Kf4, Kf8; 7. Kxf5, g3; 8.Kf6 =) 4. Kf4, f5; 5. Kxf5!, g3; 6. Kg6, g2; 7. h7+, Kh8; 8. Kh6 = Promoting any mating material would lead to stalemate and the game is drawn.
Disconnected Pawns VS Disconnected Pawns
Illustration 5.28 W+“Disconnected pawns versus disconnected pawns” is just similar to single pawn endings. The concepts used in single pawn endings are used in this kind of situations. Often in this kind of pawn endings, disconnected pawn endings may convert to pawn races. In the above position, white King is more active since the King is above one of its pawn where black King is sitting equal to their pawns.
1. Ke4 Taking an opposition. In this situation, this opposition will not only restricts the black King from coming in front but also makes the black to push their pawn, thereby making the black King less active.
f5+; (Kd7/Ke7/Kf7 will make it easy for the white King to penetrate into black’s camp) (d5+; 2. Kf4!, (2. Kd4??, Kd6; 3. f4, f5 =) f5; 3. d4, Kf6; 4. f3 + -)
2. Kd4!, (2. Kf4??, Kf6; 3. f3, Kg6!; 4. d4, Kf6 =)
d5; 3. f3, Kd6; 4. f4 + -
Illustration 5.29 W= Just a small change in this position. This time white has no reserve pawn moves and both the Kings are equally active. “Reserve Pawn Moves” are the moves which will be used for the sole purpose of making the opponent play in any given position. To be clearer, let’s imagine a position where if your opponent makes a move he loses the game, but unfortunately, it’s not your opponent’s move. In these type of situation, Reserve Pawn Moves will help us to switch the side of play and achieving a Zugzwang position. In the above position, there are no reserve pawn moves for both the sides making the position equal.
1. Ke4, f5+; 2. Kd4, d5; 3. Kc5, Ke5; 4. d4+, Kf4; 5.Kxd5, Kxf3; 6. Ke5, f4; 7. d5, Kg3; 8. d6, f3; 9. d7, f2; 10. d8=Q, f1=Q =
Illustration 5.30 W= Irrespective of white’s inactive King, white is able to hold the position. How can white hold the position?
1. Kf2! This move has two ideas, traveling along “g1 – a7” diagonal and capturing the pawn on “e6” and traveling along “e1 – h4” diagonal followed by “Kg5” > “Kf6” to capture the pawn on “h7” Black has two ideas to win the game. 1. By capturing the pawn on “e5” and promoting the “e6” pawn and 2. Capturing the pawn on “h6” and promoting the pawn on “h7” Unfortunately black can only try either of these two options. (1. Ke2??, Kc6; 2. Kf3, Kd5; 3. Kg4, Ke4!; 4. Kh5, Kf5; 5.Kh4, Kg6 - +) In this variation, white loses the opposition directly and also in the game.
Kc6; Black is trying to capture the pawn on “e5” which can be done quickly.
2. Kg3!, Kd5; 3. Kh4!, (Kh4 with the idea of taking the opposition when black captures the pawn on “e5” by playing “Kg5”)
Ke4; Black is trying not to give away the opposition
4. Kg4, Kd4; 5. Kh5, Kxe5; 6. Kg5, White has managed to take the opposition successfully, now white can penetrate into opponent’s camp via “f6” square.
Kd5; 7. Kf6, e5; 8. Kg7, e4; 9. Kxh7, e3; 10. Kg7, e2; 11. h7, e1=Q; 12. h8=Q = Let’s have a look at the black’s second idea and White's defense.
1. Kf2, Ke7; Black is trying to capture the pawn on “h6” and promote the “h7” pawn.
2. Ke3, Since black chose to target the “h6” pawn, white started targeting the pawn on “e6” to counter-attack.
Kf7; 3. Kd4, Kg6; 4. Kc5, Kxh6; 5.Kd6, Kg7; 6. Kxe6, h5; 7. Kd7, h4; 8. e6, h3; 9. e7, h2; 10. e8=Q, h1=Q = Even though white has the move, white will not be able to win the game since there are no tactics available on the board.
Illustration 5.31 W+At first glance, it seemed like white King is far away from black pawns and black King can make some progress to win the game or at least make a draw. But then I realized that white has a reserve pawn move which will give white the benefit of “Opposition” Still, 1. a4?? (Ke7; 2. Kg7, Kd6; 3. Kf6, Kc5; 4. Ke5, Kb4; 5. Kd4, Kxa4; 6. Kxe3, Kb3; 7. Kd2, Kb2 =) this variation gives a draw. How can white progress?
1. Kh7! Suddenly one of the positional factors caught my eye. After 1. a4?, black King needed five moves to capture the pawn on “a4” and white King needed five moves to capture the pawn on “e3”. What if white can gain some tempos? I asked myself. With the move 1. Kh7, it becomes possible. This move threatens “Kg6” which will make it easier for the white King to reach “e3”.
Kf7; The only way to stop the white King from reaching “g6”. (a4; 2. Kg6, Ke7; 3. Kf5, Kd6; 4. Ke4, Kc5; 5. Kxe3, Kb4; 6. Kd2, Ka3; 7. e4, Kxa2; 8. e5, Kb2; 9. e6, a3; 10. e7, a2; 11. e8=Q, a1=Q; 12. Qb5+!, Ka3; 13. Qa5+, Kb2; 14. Qb4+, Ka2; 15. Kc2 + -) in this variation, however, the
race between two pawns was equal and both the sides were able to promote the pawn into queens, Black's King position was vulnerable and black’s Queening square was at the corner and helpless. We’ve seen this kind of position in “Winning Range” concept.
2. Kh6!, Kf6; Once again white gains a tempo, from this “h6” square, it is possible for white to capture the pawn on “e3” in just three moves and black is still on five moves to reach the “a4” square. Reversing the opposition by playing “a4” might be a right choice since white gained enough tempos.
3. a4! This move reverses the opposition and the benefit of opposition is given to the white side.
Kf5; 4. Kh5, Kf4; 5. Kh4, Ke4; 6. Kg4, Ke5; 7. Kf3, Kd4; 8. Kf4, Kc4; 9. Kxe3, Kb4; 10. Kd4!! Whatever black plays white held the opposition and managed to capture the pawn on “e3”. Black was able to capture the pawn on “a4” successfully. In this situation, black King is well within the “Rule of Square” to the “e2” pawn. So, white King chases the black King with opposition to restrain it from stopping the “e2” pawn.
Ka4; 11. Kc4!, Ke3; 12. e4, Kb2; 13. e5!! Most players urge here to stop the “a4” pawn by playing “13. Kb5??” which will be met with “Kb3” making the position draw.
a4; 14. e6, a3; 15. e7, a2; 16. e8=Q, a8=Q; Once again both the pawns were able to get promoted, yet white can win with simple tactics using “Winning Range” concept.
17. Qe2+!, Kc1; 18. Qe1+, Kb2; 19. Qd2+, Kb1; 20. Kb3 + -
Illustration 5.32 W+White King is active and will be able to capture the “c7” pawn, but black will be able to counter the pawn on “c4” to hold a draw. How can white continue?
1. Kb4! This move restricts the black King from approaching the “c4” pawn. (1. Kc6??, Kb3; 2. Kxc7, Kxc4; 3. Kd6, Kb5!; 4. Ke7, Kc6; 5. Kf7, Kd7 =) in this variation, black will be able to take the opposition and the pawn cannot be promoted since it’s a rook pawn.
Kb2; (c6; 2. c5, Kb2; 3. Ka5 + -)
2. c5!, Kc2; 3. Kc4, c6; (Kd2; 4. c6!, Kd2; 5. Kd5 + -)
4. Kd4, Kb3; 5. Ke5, Kb4; 6. Kf6, Kxc5; 7. Kg7, Kb4; 8.Kxh7, c5; 9. Kg8, c4; 10. h7, c3; 11. h8=Q + -
Illustration 5.33 W+We’ve seen “disconnected pawns versus disconnected pawns” where both the pawns are in the same file, this position is little different. One pawn is on the same file to the opponent’s pawn and another pawn is on the adjacent file. This type of situation allows “Pawn lever” (offering pawn exchange to an opponent’s pawn) thereby creating an additional plan for both the sides.
1. h5! Stopping the black King from getting active. (1. e5??, Kg6; 2. Kg4, Kh6; 3. Kg3, Kh5; 4. Kh3, g6!; 5.Kg3, g5 - +)
Kf6; (g6; 2. h6, Kg8; 3. Kg5, Kh7; 4. e5 + -) (Ke7, 2. Kg5, Kh7; 3. e5, Kg8; 4. Kg6, Kf8; 5. h6, gxh6; 6.Kxh6, Kf7; 7. Kh7 + -) (Ke7; 2. e5 + -)
2. e5+, Ke7; 3. Kg5, Kf7; 4. h6+!, gxh6; 5. Kxh6 + After this position, white will manage to capture the pawn on “e6” and promote his pawn in few moves.
Illustration 5.34 W= B+Yet another Zugzwang position. Whoever has the move will end up having lesser than what they deserved. Let’s have a look at what we understand about this position at first glance. Person to play loses opposition. White’s King seems to be little more active than the black King since white King is two files above his “g” pawn and equal to his “c” pawn whereas black’s King is one file above his “c” pawn and equal to his “f” pawn. White pawns are well advanced, “g” pawn in standing two files above its original place and “c” pawn is standing four files above its original place, whereas black pawns are stuck way behind. This advantage will help white when it’s time to counterplay. For example: If black tries to capture the white’s “c” pawn and promote black’s “c” pawn, white will be able to promote his “g” pawn easily since it’s advanced. White is better in both King’s activity and pawn’s advancement, this means white has a better opportunity than black.
(B) Variation Ke7; (Ke5; 1. Kf7 + -)
1. Kg7 White is holding the opposition.
Ke6; 2. Kf8, Kd6; 3. Kf7 + (W) Variation 1. Kh6 (1. Kg7, Ke7; 2. Kg8, Ke8; 3. Kh7, Kf7; 4. Kh8, Kf8 = ) If White chooses to play “4. Kh6” instead of “4. Kh8” (4.Kh6?, f5!; 5. g5, f4; 6. Kh7, f3; 7. g6+, Ke7; 8. g7, f2; 9.g8=Q, f1=Q - + Black has a strong position and can exploit the vulnerable pawn on “c6” and gradually promote the “c7” pawn, however, it takes a long time black will eventually win.) (1.Kh5, Kf7!; 2. Kh4, Kg6; 3. Kg3, Kg5; 4. Kf3, f5=) White has made his King less active and barely draw the game by using opposition after losing the “c6” pawn.
Kd6!; Making a distant opposition. (Kf7??; 2. Kh7 + - black loses opposition and hence the game as well)
2. Kh7 (2. Kg7, Ke7 =) ( 2. Kg6, Ke6 =)
Kxc6; 3. Kg6, Kd7; 4. Kxf6, g5 = White’s three waiting moves gave away the advanced pawn advantage thus making the position equal.
Illustration 5.35 B-+ White’s pawn on “b4” seems to be a real vulnerability in white’s camp, but black cannot step towards it easily since white King is readily waiting to capture the black’s pawn on “e4”, How can black proceed?
e3!; Black just clears “e4” square for his King to gain an opposition.
1. fxe3, Ke4!; At this position, white has no way to enter the other side of the board to save his pawn nor take any opposition to draw the game. (2. Kh3, Kxe3; 3. Kg3, Kd4: 4. Kf3, Kc4; 5. Ke3, Kxb4 - +)
Illustration 5.36 W+(1. Kxb6, Looks simple isn’t it?) If you think so, you’ve fallen into my trap and the game will eventually
become a draw. This is one of my favorite position which I use to trick my students to get the answers wrong to prove them patience is really important.
1. Kc6!! (1. Kxb6??, Kg4; 2. Kc5, Kg3; 3. b6, Kxg2; 4. b7, f3; 5.b8=Q, f2 =) If you’re unsure why this position is a draw, Refer chapter 5, “Winning range” By playing “Kc6” white makes a virtual opposition and also threatens to capture the black pawn on “f4” if black tries to capture the white pawn on “g2” in future. (1. Kd6?, Kh6!; 2. Kd7, Kh5 =) White just loses the opposition and cannot win the game unless black is kind enough to give back the opposition.
Kg4; 2. Kd6! White just loses the opposition temporarily in view to reach the “f4” pawn, however black can only gain and hold the opposition at the cost of “f4” pawn (a worthless way of getting an opposition)
Kg3; 3. Ke5, Kg4; 4. Kf6, Kg3; 5. Kg5 + -
Illustration 5.37 W+We just came to a situation where both the disconnected pawns are adjacent to its opponent’s pawns, we will be able to perform two pawn levers and it creates some diversified plans.
White’s King is very active compared to the docked black King in the corner and black has a vulnerable pawn on “f5”, just marching towards “f5” pawn will leave white’s “b5” pawn vulnerable and creates some hopes for the black side.
1. Ka6! Stopping the black King from getting active. (1. b6?, Kb7! =)
Kb8; (f4; 2. g3, Kb8; 3. b7!, c5; 4. Kb5 +-) 2. g3, Kc8; (Ka8; 3. b6, Kb8; 4. b7, c5; 5. Kb5 + -) 3. Ka7! White just slowly penetrates into opponent’s camp.
Kd7; 4. Kb7, Kd8; (Kd6; 5. Kc8, Kc5; 6. Kxc7, Kxb5; 7. Kd6 + -) 5. Kc6, Kc8; 6. Kd5!, Kb7; 7. Ke5, Kb6; 8. Kxf5, Kxb5; The game just turned into a pawn race endgame. However, both the pawns have the same number of moves to get promoted, white will be able to slow down the black pawn with the help of his King. 9. g4, c5; (Kc6; 10. Ke6 + -) Trying to stop the white pawn will never work.
10. g5, c4; 11. Ke4! White will now try to stop the black pawn, this will force the black King to accompany black pawn to get promoted which will, in turn, slow down the process of promoting the black pawn.
c3; 12. Kd3, Kb4; 13. g6, Kb3; 14. g7, c2; 15. g8=Q + Refer chapter 5, “Winning range”
Illustration 5.38 W= Black’s King is quite active compared to the white King, black has vulnerable “g5” pawn and white has vulnerable “d3” pawn. The pawn on “c6” and “h3” has five more moves to get promoted. The only advantage that black has is an active King, how can white hold this situation?
1. Kg3! White decides to make his King active. (1. d4??, Kf2 - +)
c5; By playing “c5”, black avoids an interesting draw sequence. (Kd2; 2. d4!, Kd3; 3. Kg4, Kxd4) After “Kxd4”, “a1 to h8” diagonal is closed. This is going to help the white to make a draw, we’ll see below. (4. Kxg5, c5; 5. h4, c4; 6. h5, c3; 7. h6, c2; 8. h7, c1=Q+; 9.Kg6 =) After “Kg6” black King is out of “Winning range” and black Queen is not able to use the “a1 to h8” diagonal to stop pawn promotion as well as the white King from advancing. Let’s continue the mainline
2. Kf3! White tries to protect the “d3” pawn as well as approaching the “c5” pawn. White cannot go ahead to capture “g5” since “a1 to h8” diagonal is now free and black will promote the pawn first and will be able to stop the white’s pawn promotion. Here is a quick variation below. (2. Kg4, Kd2; 3. Kxg5, Kxd3; 4. h4, c4; 5. h5, c3; 6. h6, c2; 7. h7, c1=Q+; 8. Kg6, Qc3 - +) After “Qc3”, the black queen will be able to occupy the promotion square in next move.
Kf1; (Kd2; 3. Ke4, Ke2; 4. Kd5, Kxd3; 5. Kxc5 =)
3. Ke4, Kg2; 4. Kf5 = (4. Kd5??, Kxh3, 5. Kxc5, g5 - +) The white king is stuck in a danger diagonal and white’s pawn is not advanced enough to make a draw in this variation.
Illustration 5.39 W+Now we have a position where one set of a pawn is on the same file and another set is at a race. White has a passer on “d4”, however black King is within the rule of square. Black has a pawn on “b5” which is blocked by white King right away. Black cannot try to capture the pawn on “f2” since it will leave “d4” pawn on the run. These things clearly show that the white is in a better position, but how can white convert these advantages into a winning game?
1. d5! This simple move forces the black King to come to “f5” after which white will be able to play “f4” and control “e5” square to make it much difficult for the black King to stop the “d5” pawn. (1. Kb3?, Kf5; 2. Kb4, Ke4; 3. Kc5, b4; 4. f3, Ke3!; 5. d5, b3; 6. d6, b2; 7. d7, b1=Q; 8. d8=Q, Qf5 - +)
Kf5; 2. f4!, Kg6; 3. Kb3, Kf7; 4. Kb4, Ke7; 5. Kxb5 + -
Illustration 5.40 W= Black’s “a5” pawn is little advanced when compared to White’s “h2” pawn, it signifies that any straightforward pawn race will be won by black. Black’s “a5” pawn can be stopped if black King doesn’t support the pawn where White’s “h2” pawn is free from any obstacle.
1. Kd4 White king seeks to reach “a1” via “c3” thereby stopping the “a” pawn and may try to progress “h” pawn.
Kb4; Clearly stopping the white King from stopping the “a” pawn using opposition.
2. Kd3!, Kb3; 3. Kd2! White king tries, again and again, to get to “a” file and black king is stopping the white king from the same
Kc4! Black King gets into the rule of square so that he may stop both the white pawns from getting promoted, after which black tries to promote “e7” pawn to win the game.
(Kb2??, 4. h4, a4; 5. h5, a3; 6. h6, a2; 7. h7, a1=Q; 8.h8=Q+, Kb1; 9. Qh8+, Kb2; 10. Qb7+, Ka2; 11. Kc2 + -)
4. Kc2, Kd5; 5. Kb3, Kxe6; 6. Ka4, Kf5; 7. Kxa5, e5; 8.Kb4 = Both the Kings are well within the rule of square and can stop the opposing pawn easily. Trying to protect and promote our own pawn will let the opposing pawn on the run, hence the game is equal.
Illustration 5.41 W+At first glance, it may seem that white should stop “a5” pawn thereby leaving “f4” and “d4” vulnerable and the chances are thin for white to hold the game. But when we include some tactics into the game, the entire point of view changes.
1. Kc4 This move places the white King well within the rule of square to “a5” pawn. The difference between “Kc5” and “Kc4” is, “Kc4” allows the white king to stay within the rule of square even after black pawn moves to “a4” What about “f4” pawn? Defending the “f4” pawn by playing “Ke5” will make it easier for the black to promote his “a5” pawn.
Kxf4; 2. d5, Ke5; Black had no choice but to play “Ke5” to stop the white pawn from getting promoted easily, but the black King ended up in a bad square “e5” which is
in “a1 to h8” diagonal where the black pawn is about to get promoted. We’ve already discussed safe and unsafe places for Kings, in this situation, It may create some tactical possibilities like a skewer. (Kg5; 3. d6, Kf6; 4. Kd5, f4; 5. Kc6, f3; 6. d7, Ke7; 7. Kc7 +-)
3. Kc5, a4; 4. d6, Ke6; Black King is trying his best to stop the white pawn from getting promoted and it has also moved from the danger diagonal.
5. Kc6, a3; 6. d7, a2; 7. d8=Q, a1=Q; 8. Qe8+!, Kf6; 9.Qh8+ After Qe8+, black had no room but to move to the danger diagonal which gave the possibility of skewer tactics along the “a1 to h8” diagonal.
Illustration 5.42 W+A small change in the position, now we have one set of adjacent pawn and another set of racing pawn. White King seems to be more active comparing black King. White’s “b4” pawn seems vulnerable and Black's “h7” pawn seems vulnerable. However, white cannot simply go ahead to capture the pawn on “h7” since it would leave “f3” pawn weak. Black King may capture the “b4” pawn after few moves but it’ll leave the black King in danger diagonal where the opposing pawn is getting promoted. How can white continue?
1. Kf6! White just holds the control of some important squares and keeps the black King away using opposition. (1.Kh6?, Ke5; 2. Kxh7, Kf4; 3. Kg6 =) (1. f4?, Ke7!; 2. f5, Kf7; 3. Kh6, Kf6 =)
h5 Black is not trying to march forward with his “h” pawn, this move will at least distract the white King from having strong opposition and makes it come backward. After which the black King may chase white’s “f” pawn. (Kd5?; 2. f4, Kc4; 3. f5, Kxb4; 4. Ke5 + -)
2. Kg5 White King has no choice but to come back to stop the “h5” pawn from getting promoted.
Ke5; Black threatens “Kf4” if white King captures “h5”, this will make the position equal.
3. f4+, Ke4; White just advances his pawn a little bit with a tempo, whereas black is keeping his eye on white’s “f” pawn in order to protect his “h” pawn.
4. b5!! A brilliant pawn sacrifice on “b5” which will open the “h1 to a8” diagonal. Why does white open that diagonal and why is it brilliant? Black King is placed at “e4” which is in “h1 to a8” diagonal, and Black's “h5” pawn is going to get promoted on the same diagonal. Now, opening this diagonal will create some possibilities for “Skewer”
cxb5; Black can’t avoid the sacrifice, else the “b” pawn will get promoted.
5. f5 White pawn makes his way towards the glory.
h4; (Ke5; 6. f6, Ke6; 7. Kg6, h4; 8. f7, h3; 9. f8=Q + -)
6. f6, h3; 7. f7, h2; 8. f8=Q, h1=Q; 9. Qa8+! After Qa8+, white creates a skewer along the “h1 to a8” diagonal and wins the black Queen.
Illustration 5.43 W= At first sight, most of my students said that white is in winning side since white King is more active compared to black King and white pawns are well advanced than counterparts. Most of them didn’t realize the power of an outside passer. What is an outside passer and why is it powerful? Outside passer is a passer which is far away from opponent’s King and they are usually in the corners. These pawns threaten to get promoted and demands the opponent’s King to come and stop them, ultimately wasting most of the opponent’s precious moves. In this position, Black's “h5” pawn is an outside passer, if white King tries to stop this pawn from promoting, black King may capture both “f6” and “b5” pawns and make way for the “c7” pawn to get promoted. The point is, trying to capture the outside passer will give opponent enough time to participate in the game and leave white pawns vulnerable. How can white hold the position?
1. Kd5 White King makes his way towards “e6” to give some support to “f6” pawn to progress.
h4;
Black threatens promotion and demands white King’s valuable time which will help black win the game. (Ke8?, 2. Kc6, Kf7; (Kd8; 3. f7 + -) 3. Kxc7 =)
2. Ke6 White threatens “f7” after which the promotion would be unstoppable.
Ke8; 3. f7+, Kf8; Black King has stopped the white’s “f” pawn but given some room on the other side of the board.
4. Kd7 White is now threatening to capture the pawn on “c7” and make some way for his “b5” pawn to get promoted
h3; 5. Kxc7, h2; 6. b6, h1=Q; 7. b7 We’ve seen that “Knight’s Pawn on 7 th rank vs Queen” is a loss for “Knight’s Pawn on 7th rank”. Refer “Winning Range” But this one is an exception since another pawn is involved in the game, the pawn on “f7” will force the black King to capture it before making any progress towards white King, this will help white make this position equal.
Qa7+; 8. Kc8, Qc2+; 10. Kd8, Qd3+; 11. Kc8, Qc4+; 12.Kd8, Qd5+; 13. Kc8, Qc6+; 14. Kd8!! White sacrifices his pawn on “b7” in order to obtain a stalemate draw. Only thing white needs to remember is, not to get to “b8” square with his King since it would block his own pawn and allow black to progress towards victory. Black is now not able to capture the pawn on “b7” since it would leave the game drawn, what are the other winning tries for the black?
Qd6+; 15. Kc8, Ke7; Black allows the white to promote his pawn on “b7” which will lead to “Qd7#” checkmate.
16. f8=Q+, Kxf8; 17. b8=Q =
Illustration 5.44 W+White has an outside passer and black cannot stop it since it would leave black pawns vulnerable. Both “a4” pawn and “f5” pawn has four moves to get promoted. How can white proceed to win the game?
1. a5 Just an obvious move to make it progress towards promotion.
f4; 2. Kg4, Ke4; Black makes his “f” pawn progress towards promotion and white King tries to stop the same. Black King gives “f” pawn some support to get promoted safely. But, black King has ended up itself in a bad square, we will see below.
3. a6, f3; 4. a7, f2; 5. a8=Q, f1=Q; 6. Qe8+! Now, black King has only one square “d3” to move, which will make the black a victim of a skewer.
Kd3; 7. Qb5+ +-
Illustration 5.45 W+A small change in the position, now we have dual pawn races. White King is well within the rule of square to both of the black pawns, whereas black King is not within the rule of square to the “h4” pawn. Black pawns are little more advanced compared to white pawns. So, white has one advantage and black has one advantage, each sets them off. Here we have another advantage for white, Black King is placed on a danger diagonal where the “f4” pawn is getting promoted. How should white proceed?
1. f5! (1. h5?, g3!; 2. Ke1, d4; 3. h6, g2; 4. Kf2, d3; 5. h7, d2; 6.h8=Q, g1=Q+; 7. Kxg1, d1=Q+) = Most of my students thought that the first move was “1. h5” since the pawn is unstoppable by the black King, none of them saw the counter threats involved by black. This counter variation also applies for “1. f5”, but white promotes the pawn on “f8” with a check and gains a move, that’ll be sufficient enough to win the game. Given below. (1. f5!, g3; 2. Ke1, d4; 3. f6, g2; 4. Kf2, d3; 5. f7, d2; 6.f8=Q+) + -
Kc5; Black King is forced to play “Kc5” in order to stop the pawn from getting promoted with a check, yet the King is in a danger diagonal.
2. h5 The main idea of pushing forward the “h” pawn is to keep the opponent’s King away from the rule of square to “h” pawn. For each black King’s movement, white may reply with pushing forward his “h” pawn.
g3; 3. Ke1! “Ke1” allows the white king to stop the “g” pawn from getting promoted and stays away from “d” pawn which may create unnecessary checks if the King is placed at “e3” or “e2”. Variation below. (3. Ke3??, d4+; 4. Kf3, d3 - +) (3. Ke2??, d4; 4. f6, d3+! =)
d4; 4. f6, Kd6; Black King needs to step towards “f” pawn each time it moves to stop it from the promotion.
5. h6, g2; 6. Kd2, d3; 7. f7, Ke7; 8. h7, d2; 9. f8=Q+, Kxf8; 10. h8=Q+ +-
Illustration 5.46 W +White pawns are well coordinated with each other, whereas black pawns lack co-ordination. How can white proceed?
1. h3! This move directly controls the “g4” square thereby disallowing the black King from reaching “g4” to threaten the “f4” pawn. “f4” pawn is already controlling the “g5” square and threatening to get promoted if “h3” pawn is captured. This makes black King life difficult to reach “f4” pawn and also “h3” pawn, this is what we call coordination.
c5; Black tries to create coordination between his pawns (Kh5; 2. Kb1, Kg6; 3. h4, Kf5; 4. h5 + -)
2. Kb1 (2. Kc2??, c4 =)
c4; 3. Ka2, c3;
Some of my students stopped me at this position saying that they knew white is clearly winning this position. White king would take “a3” followed by “c” pawn as well, they added. They didn’t expect the following lines.
4. Kb3!! (4. Kxa3??, Kg3!; 5. f5, Kf4!, 6. f6, Ke3; 7. f7, c2; 8. Kb3, Kd3; =) If white had captured the pawn on “a3”, white King would have ended up itself in a danger diagonal, followed by a counter-attack by black King and put together resulting in a drawn position.
Kg3; 5. f5, Kf4; 6. f6, a2; Black follows some counter threats and tries to distract the white King from capturing “c” pawn as a final try.
7. Kxa2 The difference between “Kxa3” and “Kxa2” is the white King’s placement, now the white King has no worries since it’s not in a danger diagonal.
Ke3; 8. f7, c2; 9. f8=Q, c1=Q; 10. Qh6+ +White wins the black Queen by finding a skewer along the “c1 to h6” diagonal
Disconnect Pawns VS Doubled Pawns While we discuss “Disconnected Pawns VS Doubled Pawns” we may simply put it in words that “Disconnected Pawns” are usually better than “Doubled Pawns”, especially if a “Disconnected Pawn” is in the same file or adjacent file to the “Doubled Pawns” There are exceptions of course. Let’s take a look at some illustrations below.
Illustration 5.47 W= While we say white to play and draw this game, we don’t mean white should hold the position. Actually, black should hold the position since white has some winning tries and black has none. Thanks to the doubled pawns. Yet, white should try to win the game and black should hold the game. How do they do that?
1. d3 (1. b3?, c4; =) this variation immediately trades the pawn and makes the position equal. (1. Kd3?, Kb3; 2. Ke4, Kxb2; 3. Ke5 =)
c4; Black tries to trade the pawns thereby clearing doubled pawns and obtaining an equal position. (Ka4??; 2. Kc3, Kb5; 3. Kb3, Ka5; 4. Kc4, Kb6; 5. b3 + -)
Any move other than “c4” will allow the white King to penetrate into black’s camp.
2. d4 White doesn’t want to trade pawns.
Ka5; “Ka4” is also acceptable, only point to remember here is, “c3 and b5” became corresponding squares and the one to reach that square first will have the disadvantage. Refer “Corresponding Squares”
3. Kc3, Kb5; =
Illustration 5.48 W+Let’s make a small difference in the previous illustration and see how the game goes on. We’ve just made white King little more active in this illustration.
1. d3 It doesn’t matter whether it is “1. d3” or “1. b3”, idea behind the move is to stop the black from playing “c4”.
Ka5; 2. Kc4, Kb6; 3. b3 + Black is now under Zugzwang position where he is safe if he doesn’t make any move, but unfortunately, black King should move thereby leaving the
“c5” pawn unprotected.
Illustration 5.49 W= It seems like white has no way out to hold this position until we get to know how we may hold two pawns with one pawn.
1. Kh5 White just controls the “g6” square to stop black King from reaching “g6”
Kg7; 2. g6!! A brilliant sacrifice on “g6”, capturing the pawn on “g6” will allow the white King to occupy “g5” square, followed by “g4” pawn exchange thereby making the position drawn. (hxg6; 3. Kg5, Kf7; 4. g4 =)
h6; 3. Kh4, Kxg6; Some players still can’t believe the game is drawn since black has an extra pawn. Both the black pawns are in the adjacent file to the white pawn, meaning – they can’t run away without making an exchange. Exchanging one pawn will leave the game as “King and pawn VS King” where the game can be drawn using opposition. Variation below.
4. Kh3, Kg5; 5. Kh2!
“Kh2” is very important here to hold the opposition after black King reached “g4” (5. Kg2??, Kg4!; 6. Kh2, Kf3; 7. Kh3, h5!; 8. Kh2, Kf2; 9.Kh3, Kg1; 10. Kh4, Kg2 - +) In this variation, white gives away the opposition and let the black King penetrate into white’s camp, thereby losing the game.
Kg4; 6. Kg2, h5; 7. Kf2, Kh3; 8. Kf3, Kh2; 9. Kf2 =
Illustration 5.50 W+Both of the black pawns were stopped by White's “h3” pawn which makes white feel like having an extra pawn on “f3”, Black is now holding the opposition since it is white to move. How can white proceed?
1. Ke4! Just giving some room for the “f3” pawn to march forward. (1. Kg4??, Ke5; 2. f4+, Ke4; 3. f5, Ke5 =) “Ke4” also allows the white King to keep control of some important squares like “e5” and “d5” thereby disallowing the black King to penetrate into white’s camp.
Ke6; (Kg5; 2. Ke5, Kg6; 3. f4, Kf7; 4. Kf5, h5; 5. Kg5 + -)
2. f4, Kf6; 3. f5, Kf7; 4. Ke5, Ke7; 5. f6+, Ke8; 6.Ke4! White needs to make a small triangulation in order to avoid any draw possibilities. (6. Ke6, Kf8; 7. f7?, h5=)
Kf8; 7. Kf4, Kg8; 8. Ke5!, Kf7; 9. Kf5, h5; 10 Kg5 + If black King retreats, “h5” and “h4” will be taken by the white King. If black King tries to hold his pressure towards “f6” pawn by playing “Ke6”, white King may penetrate via “g6” square to lead the “f6” pawn to get promoted. Variations below. (Ke6; 11. Kg6, Kd7; 12. f7, Ke7; 13. Kg7 + -) (Kf8; 11. Kxh5, Kf7; 12. Kg5, Kf8; 13. Kxh4 + -)
Illustration 5.51 W= White can try two things to hold this position. White can either hold the opposition by playing “Kd3” to try making a draw without taking other pawns into consideration or white can try to capture the pawn on “a7” and lead the “a6” pawn to be promoted. Having these two ideas in mind, how can white continue?
1. Kb4! White King seeks to reach “a7”. (1. Kd3?, Kc5; 2. Kc3, Kb5; 3. Kd4, Kxa6; 4. Kd5. Kxa5; 5.Kxd6, Kb4 - +)
Ke5; Black King gives some way to the “d6” pawn to move forward. The reason why black King chose “e5” is to stay within the winning range just in case if the ending turns into “7 th Rank Pawn VS Queen” (Kc6; 2. Kc4, d5+; 3. Kd4 =)
2. Kc4! White is trying to move away the black King from the winning range. White will not be able to follow his initial plan chasing the “a7 since the black King is within the winning range. Trying to capture the pawn on “a7”
will lead to following lines. (2. Kb5?, d5; 3. Kc6, d4; 4. Kb7, d3; 5. Kxa7, d2; 6. Kb7, d1=Q; 7. a7, Qd7+; 8. Kb8, Kd6; 9. a8=Q, Qc7# 0-1) In the above variation, even though white was able to promote his “a” pawn, black was able to deliver a checkmate since the black King was within the winning range.
Ke4; (d5+; 3. Kd3 =)
3. Kb5! After black’s “Ke4”, black King moves away from the winning range, hence white will now be able to chase “a7”.
d5; 4. Kc6, d4; 5. Kb7, d3; 6. Kxa7, d2; 7. Kb7, d1=Q; 8.a7 = Taking “Winning Range” concept into consideration, black will not be able to win the game despite having a Queen. White’s additional pawn on “a5” doesn’t affect the winning range concept in any way, had it been anywhere else like “a2” or other squares, it might have affected the winning range concept since the black Queen will then be able to deliver a check on “b6” where white King will hide on “a8” to protect “a7” but doesn’t make a stalemate since white has another pawn sitting there with reserve moves. Will be much clear with next illustration, stay tuned.
Illustration 5.52 B= White’s “g4” pawn is freely running towards promotion whereas both of the black pawns are stopped by White's “b2” pawn. White’s “b2” pawn seems to be potentially weak. Can black capture the pawn on “b2” and try to promote his “a4” pawn? Or, can black try something else to hold the position?
Kd5; Black King tries to stop the “g4” pawn, black may consider this as a single pawn ending and hope for a stalemate as long as black holds the opposition. Black cannot try “Kb4” due to the following lines. (Kb4; 1. g5, Kb3; 2. g6, Kxb2; 3. g7, a3; 4. g8=Q, a2) It seems like the white King is far away from the winning range and win is not possible. But, black has a pawn on “a7” which affects the winning range concept since it has reserve moves which will prevent any stalemate possibilities, continuation below. (5. Qg2+, Kb1; 6. Qe4+, Kb2; 7. Qb4+, Kc1; 8. Qc3+, Kb1; 9. Qb3+, Ka1; 10. Qc2!, a5; 11. Qc1#)
1. Kg3. Ke5; 2. Kh4, Kf6; 3. Kh5, Kg7; 4. Kg5 After white’s “Kg5”, white holds the opposition, but black has a pawn on
“a7” which can reverse the opposition by playing a waiting move. Having this idea in mind, most players decide this move randomly as “a5” or “a6” with overconfident and that’s where good players fall behind average players. Let’s break down “a5” and “a6” below. “a5” reverses the opposition, but it nullifies any further reserve moves and makes it much easier for the white King to come and capture both “a5” and “a4” pawns in few number of moves (7 moves to be exact). “a6” reverses the opposition, preserves a reserve move for later use and makes it easier for the white King to come and capture both “a6” and “a4” pawns in few number of moves (8 moves to be exact) Which one do you choose now?
a6!; (a5??; 5. Kf5, Kf7; 6. Ke5, Kg6; 7. Kd5; Kg5; 8. Kc5, Kxg4; 9. Kb5, a3; 10. bxa3, Kf5; 11. Kxa5, Ke6; 12. Kb6, Kd7; 13.Kb7 + -) In the above variation, if black had an extra tempo, black might have drawn the game, the tempo was lost by playing “a5” instead of “a6”
5. Kf5, Kf7; 6. g5 (6.Ke5?, Kg6; 7. Kd5, Kg5; 8. Kc6, Kxg4; 9. Kb6, Kf5; 10.Kxa6, Ke6; 11. Kb5, a3!; 12. bxa3, Kd7; 13. Kb6, Kc8; 14. Ka7, Kc7 =)
a5; The preserved reserve move is now being used, it doesn’t matter if white King now decides to chase “a5” since the “g” pawn became closer to the black King. One tempo sets off the other.
7. g6+, Kg7; 8. Kg5, a3!; In order to obtain a stalemate, black needs to run out of legal moves, hence black decides to sacrifice his pawn on “a3” to run out of moves.
9. bxa3, a4; 10. Kf5, Kg8; = (11. Kf6, Kf8; 12. g7+, Kg8; 13. Kg6 =) (11. Ke5, Kg7; 12. Kd5, Kxg6; 13. Kc4, Kf6; 14. Kb4, Ke6; 15. Kxa4, Kd7;
16. Kb5, Kc7 =)
Doubled Pawns VS Doubled Pawns Theoretically speaking, we don’t have many situations in “Doubled Pawns VS Doubled Pawns” since it is completely going to be treated as “Single Pawn VS Single Pawn” ending. Yet, the key difference to be noted here is the possibilities of reserve moves and the control of some key squares that the other pawn is going to provide.
Illustration 5.53 W+Even though both Kings are docked at the corner, theoretically white King is active since the white King is placed five ranks above its advanced pawn and black King is placed three ranks below its least advanced pawn. This observation makes us realize that black pawns can be attacked easily by white King, but white pawns cannot be attacked easily by black King.
1. Kb8!! White has now grabbed a long distant opposition. (1. Kb7?, Kh7!;) White loses opposition and the game cannot be converted into a win.
Kg7; 2. Kc7, Kg6; 3. Kc6, Kg5; 4. Kd7! After white’s “Kd7”, white King found a way to clear the black pawns.
Kf5;
Black cannot try “Kg4” to get rid of white pawns, thanks to the “e2” pawn which is controlling a key square “f3” thereby restricting the black King. (Kg4; 5. Ke6, Kg3; 6. Kxe5, Kf2; 7. Kxf2 + -) (Kf6; 5. Kd6, Kf5; 6. Kd5, Kf6; 7. Kxe4 + -)
5. Ke7, Kg4; 6. Ke6 + -
Illustration 5.54 W+-
1. Kc5! “1. Kd5” is common. However, “1. Kc5” does the same job in a same number of moves. “1. Kc5” also allows the white King to hold an opposition if black King tries to reach the pawn on “f5” via “d3”
Kd3; Black King tries to reach “f5” to hold the position Another interesting line is given below. (Kc3; 2. Kd6, Kd4; 3. f3! + -)
2. Kd5! This move controls some key squares like “e4” and “d4” where “e3” is already controlled by the pawn on “f2”, thereby forcing the black King to step backward. This makes the white gain a tempo.
Ke2; 3. Kd6, Kf3;
Black knows pretty well that “f2” pawn is useless and “f5” pawn is important. (Kxf2; 4. Ke7, Kf3; 5. Kxf7, Kf4; 6. Kxf6 + -)
4. Ke7, Kf4; 5. Kxf6 After white’s “Kxf6” most variations lead to white’s victory, yet some players tend to pick the only bad move available on the board.
Ke4; (Kg4; 6. Ke5, Kh5; 7. f6, Kg5; 8. f3, Kg6; 9. f4 + -)
6. Kg5 (6. f3+??, Kf4 =)
Kd5, 7. f3 (7. Kf6, Ke4) repetition.
Ke5; 8. f6, Ke6; 9. f4, Kd6; 10. Kh6, Ke6; 11. Kg7 + -
Chapter 6. “King and Three or More Pawns VS King and Three or More Pawns” The Breakthrough “Breakthrough” refers to “Creating a passer pawn by sacrificing one or more pawns” Having this topic under “Three or More Pawns” doesn’t mean that we need at least three pawns to perform “breakthrough”, it is also possible with two pawns. But, it would be much more useful when we see “Breakthrough(s)” with more pawns. Let’s go through some illustrations to understand this well.
Illustration 6.1 W+Here is a popular three pawn vs three pawn breakthrough position. At first sight, it seems like white is in trouble since white King is far away and black King is ready to taste all of the white pawns in few moves. How can white proceed to win the game?
1. b6! This move either opens “a” file or opens “c” file.
cxb6;
Black is forced to capture the pawn on “b6”, else it would capture “a7” or “c7” and get promoted easily. (axb6; 2. c6!, bxc6; 3. a6 + -)
2. a6! This move forces the “b7” pawn to take on “a6” thereby creating a freeway for “c5” pawn.
bxa6; 3. c6! + White’s “c6” pawn is now on the run and cannot be stopped from the promotion.
Illustration 6.2 W+All of the white pawns are stuck, white King cannot move since it would leave the pawn on “e4” unprotected. Find a breakthrough.
1. c5! Threatening “a5!” (1. a5??, bxa5; 2. c5, b6! - +)
dxc5; (bxc5; 2. a5! + -)
2. a5!, bxa5; 3. b6, cxb6; 4. d6 + White has now created a passer on “d6” by sacrificing three pawns, pretty much all the moves are forced.
Illustration 6.3 W+At first sight, it may seem like black King is active and is ready to capture the pawn on “c5” in few moves, followed by leading the “c6” pawn to the promotion. Completely misleading.
1. f4! Threatening “g5” or “f5”
exf4; (Kb5; 2. f5!, gxf5; 3. gxh5 + -) (hxg4; 2. f5!, gxf5; 3. h5! + -)
2. g5!, fxg5; 3. e5 + Since “c5” pawn is controlling a key square “b6”, black King won’t be able to stop the “e5” pawn from the promotion.
Symmetrical Pawn Structures When we say “Symmetrical Pawn Structures”, it means that the pawn structures are going to be similar to the opponent’s pawn structure and there is no undue advantages or disadvantages regarding pawn structures for either side. If white has two connected pawns on the Kingside, black is going to have it as well. If white has an isolated pawn on the Queenside, black is going to have it as well. There’s literally no undue advantage for either side considering only pawn structures unless we make some random mistakes. However, there is one factor that is going to decide the advantage of either side, “King’s Activity”
Illustration 6.4 W+As we already discussed, both white and black have three connected pawns on the Kingside. White King is very active and already penetrated into black’s camp.
1. Kd6 The opposition doesn’t matter here since the white King has already penetrated into black’s camp. Kg7; 2. Ke7, Kg8; 3. Kf6, Kh7; 4. Kf7, Kh6; 5.Kg8 Now, the black King has no move and forced to play “g5” and lose a pawn.
g5; 6. hxg5+, Kg6; 7. Kf8, Kh7; 8. Kf7 + -
Illustration 6.5 W+This one is similar to the previous illustration, but the Kings are placed at different squares. The person to play has the advantage here, in this case, it is white.
1. Kd6, Kd4; 2. Ke6, Ke4; 3. Kf6, Kf3; 4. Kxg6, Kxg3; Both of the Kings raced towards the opponent’s pawns and started to capture them. Here comes a situation, if white takes on “h5”, black will take on “f4”. If white takes on “f5”, black will take on “h4” making the position equal. (5. Kxh5?, Kxf4; 6. Kg6, Kg3; 7. h5, f4 =) (5. Kxf5?, Kxh4; 6. Kg6, Kg3; 7. f5, h4 =)
5. Kg5! Making an opposition.
Kf3; 6. Kxf5 + (Kh3; 6. Kxh5 + -)
Illustration 6.6 W= There’s no doubt that black King is active compared to white King and there’s no surprise that white can’t win this situation. How can white hold the position?
1. Ke3! Making a virtual opposition. White can’t try a diagonal opposition here by playing “1. Kc3?” due to the following line. (1. Kc3?, Ka4!) White has no way to hold the opposition after black’s “Ka4”, continuation as follows. (2. Kd4, Kb4; 3. Kd3, Kc3; 4. Kd4, Kc2; 5. c5, Kb3!; 6.cxd6, cxd6; 7. Ke3, Kc3; 8. Ke4, Kc4 - +)
Kb6; (Ka4; 2. Ke4, Kb4; 3. Kd4 =) White is able to hold the opposition thereby making the position equal.
2. Kd3, Kc5; 3. Kc3, Kb6; 4. Kd3, c6; 5. dxc6 = “2. Ke4” is also acceptable
Illustration 6.7 W+Black’s King is far away. Yet, white King is not able to reach black pawns since they are well co-ordinated and restricting white King from reaching them. How can white break the co-ordination between black pawns and proceed to win the game?
1. f4! Directly threatening “g5!” sacrifice to break the coordination between black pawns.
Kb5; Trying to reach “e3” as a counter attack. (g5??, 2. f5, e5; 3. Kd5 + -) This move also stops the “g5” threat due to following lines. (2. g5?, hxg5; 3. fxg5, fxg5; 4. Ke5, Kc4!; 5. Kxe6, Kd3; 6.Kf6, Kxe3; 7. Kg5, Kf3; 8. Kxg6, Kg4! =)
2. h4! Renewing the initial “g5” threat.
h5; 3. g5, f5+; 4. Ke5, Kc4; 5. Kxe6, Kd3; Both of the Kings rushed towards opponent’s pawns, black King falls a little behind.
6. Kf6, Kxe3; 7. Kxg6, Kxf4; 8. Kxh5, Ke3; 9. g6, f4; 10.g7, f3; 11. g8=Q, f2; “Winning range” doesn’t applicable here since white has another pawn on “h4”, he may even sacrifice the Queen for the pawn on “f2” and promote his pawn on “h4”. However, it’s not required in this situation.
12. Qc4! + Threatening “Qf1” which is unstoppable.
Illustration 6.8 W+White King is little more active compared to black King since the white King is in the same rank to the advanced white pawn. Black King is placed one rank below its advanced pawn which makes it lesser active. Black has exhausted his reserve moves on the Queenside whereas white still has one reserve move on the Queenside (a3) which may be helpful to reverse any opposition later in the game. White pawn on “b4” controls a key square “c5” which may prevent black
King from penetrating into white’s camp. This allows the white King to move to “e4” without any worries. Black pawn on “f6” controls a key square “e5” which may prevent white King from penetrating into black’s camp. This allows the black King to move to “c6” without any worries. White’s “b4” pawn is stronger than black’s “f6” pawn since there are more pawn levers possible on the Kingside compared to the Queenside. There is no backup for the pawn on “f6” whereas the pawn on “b4” has a backup on “a2” Having all these things in mind, how can white continue?
1. g3! We have a lot of solutions to this position like “1. h3”, “1.Ke4” etc. due to the fact that the white King is more active and white has a reserve move on the Queenside. Despite everything, “1. g3” is the strongest. This move directly stops the “h5” pawn from coming to “h4”. White’s main idea should be to freeze all the pawn moves in the board and possibly deflect the pawn on “f6” or create a weak “f5” square by forcing the “g6” pawn to move forward.
Kc6; Since “f6” and “g6” pawns co-ordinated well to stop the white King from entering black’s camp, black is making a waiting move. There is an interesting line below. (g5; 2. f3!, g4; (Kc6; 3. Ke4 + -(Ke6; 3. Kc5 + -)) 3. f4, f5; 4. a3 + -) In the above line, white may fail to make it a win if “2. f3” is replaced with “2. Ke4” which looks reasonable but isn’t. Variation below. (g5; 2. Ke4?, g4!; 3. Kf5, Kd5; 4. Kxf6, Kc4; 5. Kg6, Kxb4; 6. Kxh5, Ka3; 7. Kxg4, Kxa2; 8. f4, b4 =)
2. f3!, Kd6; 3. h3 (3. h4?, g5; 4. Ke4, Ke6; =) “h4” should be played when the black King is not opposing the white King to follow “g4”
Kc6; 4. h4!, Kd6; 5. g4, hxg4; 6. fxg4 White is now ready to create a passer along the “h” file. At the same time, black may also be left with a passer on “f” file, but passer on “h” file would be much stronger since it is an outside passer which will waste opponent’s precious moves.
Ke6; 7. h5, gxh5; 8. gxh5, Kf5; 9. Kd5, Kg5; 10. Ke6 + Most symmetrical positions revolve around the idea of how you’re making your king active and stopping opponent’s King from getting active, that’s pretty much it.
Pawn Majorities “Pawn Majority” is a situation of imbalance between a number of kingside and queenside pawns. To put it in simple words, “One player will have extra pawn(s) on the queenside and the other player will have extra pawn(s) on the kingside” Considering the position as a whole, the number of pawns will be equal for both white and black, yet there can be an imbalance between kingside and queenside pawns. Let’s have a look at some illustrations to understand this well.
Illustration 6.9 (Understanding purpose only) “=” Here we have a situation where King and three pawns face King and three pawns. Yet, white has two pawns on the queenside versus one counterpart (queenside majority) and black has two pawns on the kingside versus one counterpart (kingside majority). Even though the number of pawns is equal on the whole, this imbalance between kingside and queenside is what we call as “Pawn Majorities” Which majority is better, queenside or kingside? Many grandmasters preferred queenside majority as a significant advantage
in ancient times, but modern chess theories and researchers never considered queenside majority as an advantage. “Kingside majority remained immaterial” So, it would be appropriate to ask “Whether queenside majority is an advantage or not?” Let’s try to understand why those grandmasters considered queenside majority as an advantage with the above illustration. In the above illustration, “white may try to create an outside passed pawn on the queenside by creating a pawn lever. This passed pawn will invite black King to stop it from getting promoted, white King may use this time to enter black’s camp and progress on the kingside”. This is the most common idea behind queenside pawn majority and has helped a lot of players in the game. On the other hand, “black will bring his King to the queenside to stop the pawns, and use his pawn majority to restrict the white King from entering into black’s camp while ensuring black King’s arrival (or) use his pawn majority to trade remaining pawns” This is the most common counter strategy against queenside pawn majority that’s been widely used by top players. Mere queenside majority will not give any advantage, we may have to consider other factors like King’s activity, pawn structure etc. to accurately evaluate a position.
Anti-Passer Strategy
Illustration 6.10 W+Let’s start this “pawn majorities” concept with a position where pawn majorities don’t work. In this position, black has the pawn majority on the queenside (3 VS 1) and white has the majority on the kingside (3 VS 1) “Whenever we say “Queenside”, we mean the opposite side of the King and not the queenside itself”
1. b5! This move prevents the black from marching forward his queenside pawns thereby making it harder to create a passer. “Restricting the opponent’s potential passer is known as Anti-Passer Strategy”
Kf7; The black king is forced to help the black pawns on the other side to make any progress in the game. (“g5” is not possible, it fails after “2. f4!” since the white king is there to stop the pawn)
2. f4, Ke7; 3. f5, Kd6; 4. h4, Kc5; 5. f6, gxf6; 6. h5 + There are variations to prolong the black’s survival time like “Ke5” instead of
“Kc5” etc. those variations will have no real game plan for black and hence omitted. “Move the unopposed pawn first” – This is a famous rule in handling pawns. Let’s imagine this position in our mind, White pawn on “b4”, Black pawns on “a7, b7, and c7”. Black to play and create a passer without sacrifice. Most beginners are tempted to play “b6” followed by “a5” or “c5”, but when black’s “b6” is met with White's “b5”, everything shatters for black. “Moving the unopposed pawn first” means, moving the pawn which is not in the same file first. In our imaginary position, black should have played “a6” or “c6” to stop “b5” before preparing “b6” followed by “a5” or “c5” to create a passer successfully. “Anti-Passer Strategy” is widely used by all type of players against pawn majorities. Best way to avoid this strategy being used by our opponent is to follow the “Move the unopposed pawn first” rule wherever applicable.
Illustration 6.11 B-+ A position where queenside pawn majority helps to win the game with the universal idea of creating an outside passer.
a6! “Moving the unopposed pawn first” and threatening “b6” followed by “a5” to create an outside passer. (b6??; 1. b5 + -)
1. h4! White is trying to trade the black’s “g” pawn thereby trying to obtain a draw.
Kf7!; White may follow with “h5” and “g5” followed by, “h6” trading the pawn on “g7”. “Kf7” disallows this idea. (b6??, 2. h5, a5; 3. bxa5, bxa5; 4. Ke1, Kf7; 5. g5, Ke6; 6.h6=)
2. Ke2 (2. h5, Kf6 -+) (2. g5, Kg6 - +)
b6; Black continues the idea of creating a passer on the queenside after stopping all of the white’s counter plays.
3. Kd3, Ke6; 4. Kd4, a5; 5. bxa5 (5. b5, a5; 6. Kc4, Ke5 - +)
bxa5; 6. Kc4, Ke5 - + Black king has penetrated into white’s camp and ready to taste white pawns, the poor white king is on the run with Black's “a” pawn. Black has enough time to capture all of the white pawns and promote his “g” pawn to be a queen. In this simple position, we have seen the universal idea of creating an outside passer to win the game, moving the unopposed pawn rule, counter strategy to make the position equal, defense against the counter strategy.
Chapter 7. “Imbalance in number of pawns” In this chapter, we will discuss positions where the number of pawns is not equal for both the sides. Usually, in most pawn endgames, the side with more number of pawns will win the game. But, there are other factors which may help the one with lesser pawn hold the game. Sometimes, we may find it difficult to convert an additional pawn into winning the game as well. Let’s get into those positions.
Connected Pawns VS Single Pawn
Illustration 7.1 W+White needs to find a way to capitalize his additional pawn advantage. Straightforward variation makes a stalemate (1. Kg5, Ke6; 2. Kf6 or Kg6 =)
1. Kh5, Ke8; 2. Kh6, Kf7; 3. e1=Q+!, Kxe8; 4. Kg7 + After “e1=Q+”, the game has been converted into winning “one pawn versus one pawn” endgame.
Illustration 7.2 W= Having an additional pawn didn’t help black in this position since the black king is little too far from the play. Yet, obvious moves can be a mistake, how can white proceed?
1. Kg3 Threatening “Kf4” followed by “Kxe4”.
Kf6; 2. Kf4, e3!; White cannot capture the pawn on “e3” due to the following variation. (3. dxe3, d3!; 4. Kf3, Ke5; 5. Kf2, Ke4 - +)
3. Kf3!; White can now capture the pawn on “e3” safely.
Ke5; Black is still not allowing the white to take the pawn on “e3” (exd2; 4. Ke2 =)
4. Ke2!, Ke4; 5. dxe3 =
Illustration 7.3 B= This one is simple and straightforward.
e5!; Since black already has the opposition, black decides to trade a pawn whenever white tries to advance his pawn. Trading a pawn will leave the position with a drawn single pawn endgame.
1. Kd2, Kd6!; Black is holding the opposition. (Kd4??, 2. Kc2, Kc5; 3. Kc3) The opposition is lost, so does the game.
2. Ke2, Ke6; Whatever white plays, black should hold the opposition and not allow the white king penetrate into black’s camp thereby making the position drawn.
3. Ke3, Ke7; 4. d4, exd4; 5. Kxd4, Ke6 = Since the white king wasn’t able to penetrate into black’s camp, white decides to trade the pawns and enter into black’s camp, however, it’s a draw.
Illustration 7.4 W+This one is a “Study Endgame” which was created in 1951, it seems to be simple but needs a little patience while thinking. The white king is trapped by the opposition, how can white proceed?
1. Kb8 To make progress in this game, white needs a helping hand from his king. However it seems to be trapped, there is a way to bring the white king into play.
Kb6; 2. Kc8, Kc6; 3. Kd8, Kd6; 4. Ke8, Ke6; 5. Kf8, Kf6; 6. Kg8, Kg6; 7. Kh8! After “7. Kh8”, black will not be able to play “Kh6” to restrict the white king since it would make the black king away from the “Rule of square” to “c5” pawn Black has another idea to restrict the white king again.
Kf6; 8. Kh7, Kf7; 9. Kh6, Kf6; 10. Kh5, Kf5; 11. Kh4, Kf4; 12. Kh3! + Black is held by “Rule of square” and cannot come to “f3” Now, white king can slowly come to “b4” and follow by marching his “c” pawn.
Illustration 7.5 W= Little different this time, the side with an additional pawn seeks for a draw since his king inactive. How can white hold this position?
1. g6!! The only way to make this position equal is to sacrifice pawns to obtain an opposition. (1. Kg2??, Kg4; - +)
fxg6; (Kxg6, 2. Kg2 =)
2. f5!! Sacrificing another pawn to bring the black pawn front to the black king (Commander in front of the soldier rule)
gxf5; 3. Kg1! Everything is well set up, white only needs the opposition to make the draw. (3. Kg2, Kg4 - +) Loses opposition.
Kg5; Black obtains a distant opposition.
4. Kf1! = Black can no longer hold the opposition.
Illustration 7.6 W= Despite having a passer pawn, white cannot win this position provided black knows some basic concepts like “opposition, corresponding square and rule of square” Can you try to win this game? Try 1 – Trying to penetrate via “a” file.
1. Kc2, Kc6; 2. Kb2, Kb6; 3. Ka3, Kb5; Black restricts the white king by using the corresponding square technique. Try 2 – Trying to penetrate via “e, f, g or h” file.
1. Ke3, Ke5; 2. Kf3, Kf5; 3. Kg3, Ke5!; 4. Kg4, Ke4 = Since black king cannot come to “g5” (out of the rule of square) black decides to hold a diagonal opposition to keep the opposition.
Disconnected Pawns VS Single Pawn
Illustration 7.7 B= No matter who plays, the game is drawn. For educative purpose let’s concentrate on inferior side. How can black hold this game?
Kc8! Black had only two choices, “Ka8” and “Kc8” (Ka8?, 2. Kc7, Ka7; 3. Kc8, Ka8; 4. a6 + -)
1. Ka7 (1. Kb5, Kc7; 2. Kc4, Kc6 =)
Kc7; 2. Ka8, Kc8! (Kc6??, 3. Kb8 + -)
3. c6, dxc6; 4. a6, c5; 5. a7, c4; = White king had no scope for any penetration due to weak disconnected pawns, trading any pawn would also leave the position drawn. The main theme of defending in a pawn down situation is to trade off most pawns and try to enter a single pawn endgame where the game is drawn (or) to counter opponent’s pawns.
Illustration 7.8 W=
1. Kf2! White is making his king active, this will help when black king tries to attack the “e2” pawn. (1. Kd2??, e3!; 2.Kd3, Kd5; 3. Kd2, Ke4; 4. Kd1, Ke3; 5. Ke1, d3; - +) In above variation, white fails to make his king active. Trying to exchange the pawns with “3. e3” won’t help since the opposition is grabbed by black.
Kd6; Black is trying to protect both of his pawns since white king may approach “f6” soon. (e3; 2. Kf3, Kd5; 3. Kf4, Ke6; 4. Kd4 =) (Kc5; 2. Ke3, Kc4; 3. Kf4, Kc3; 4. Kf5 =)
2. Ke3, Ke5; Black still keeps the opposition, but the problem is black king cannot leave black pawns alone trying to penetrate into white’s camp.
3. Kd3, d4; 5. e3 =
Illustration 7.9 W= At first glance, it may seem quite impossible to make a draw. But there’s way out. How can white continue?
1. Kf5 White attacks the “f6” pawn directly, forcing the black king to come to “g7”
Kg7; 2. e7 White threatens to promote “e” pawn, once again forcing the black king to come to “f7”
Kf7; 3. e8=Q+! White sacrifices his “e” pawn to make black king temporarily inactive and make black pawns vulnerable. Black is forced to capture the “e8” queen.
Kxe8; 4. Ke6!! = “4. Ke6” is the key move here, holding strong opposition and making black king stay out of the game. Most players calculate as “4. Kxf6” and give up the situation. (4. Kxf6??, Kd7; 5. Kf5, Kc6; 6. Ke4, Kc5 - +)
Illustration 7.10 W+“Obvious moves are our worst enemies” White cannot protect the pawn on “a7”, the white king is blocking the file of “d” pawn to get promoted. White may try to stop black’s “b” pawn if needed. Are you thinking about “1. Kc6” which gives the way for White's “d” pawn, attacks the pawn on “b6” and also stops “b5”? Think again, how can white proceed to win the game?
1. Kd6! (1. Kc6??, Kxa7; 2. d4, b5!; 3. Kxb5, Kb7 =) White makes the best use of corresponding squares “a7” and “c6”
Kxa7; (Kb7; 2. a8=Q+) +-
2. Kc6!, Ka6; Black could not have played “b5” since white has a reserve pawn move on “d4” to reverse any opposition. (b5; 3. Kxb5, Kb7; 4. d4 + -) Black may also not try “Kb8” since white obtains an opposition on the 6 th rank and black will not be able to make a draw.
3. d4, b5; 4. d5, b4; 5. d6, b3; 6. d7, b2; 7. d8=Q, b1=Q; 8.Qa8#
Illustration 7.11 W+Let’s take a look at this position where a single pawn can outperform two pawns. Looks straightforward, isn’t it? Think again.
1. Kf1!! This move allows black have a reserve move and avoids any chances of stalemate. (1. b8=Q??, f2+!; 2. Ke2, f1=Q+; 3. Kxf1, a2=) (1. Kf2??, a2; 2. Kxf3, Kb8; 3. b8=Q+, Ka1; =) In the above variations, black makes his point clear that he is seeking a drawn “Queen VS Pawn” endgame referring to the “winning range” concept.
a2; (f2; 2. Kxf2, a2; 3. Ke2!, Kb8; 4. b8=Q + -) “Winning range”
2. Kf2!, Kb8; 3. b8=Q+, Ka1; 4. Ke3! White promotes to a queen with a tempo and allows black to play his “f” pawn to avoid a stalemate. In a meanwhile, the white king also successfully entered into “Winning range”.
f2; 5. Qb5, f1=Q; 6. Qxf1 + (+ -)
Doubled Pawns VS Single Pawn Compared to “Disconnected Pawns VS Single Pawn”, doubled pawns are also prone to enemy attacks. But the key difference here is, doubled pawns cannot try to create a “passer” by sacrificing a pawn using “breakthrough” technique. These pawns are always dependent on “King’s Placement”.
Illustration 7.12 W+White king seems to be too far from white pawns, how can white avoid black’s any counter plans?
1. Kf7 White is not actually threatening to capture the pawn on “g7”. In fact, “g7” pawn cannot be protected by black anymore, white need not rush to take the pawn on “g7”. Instead, the white king is keeping a close eye on white pawns.
Ke5; 2. Kg6! (2. Kxg7??, Kf5=)
Ke4; (Ke6; 3. g4, Ke5; 4. g3! + -)
3. g4!, Kf4; 4. g5, Kg4; 5. g3! + -
Illustration 7.13 B= Just another similar position, but the kings are replaced. How does this affect the outcome of the game?
Ke6!; Black king allows the white king to take the “g7” pawn via “g6” square. But, seeks to counter-attack “g3” and “g2” pawns.
1. Kg6 (1. Kf4, Kf6; 2. g4, g6!; (g5??; 3. Ke4 +-) 3. g3, g5!; 4. Ke4, Ke6 =) In the above line, black holds strong opposition and grabs a draw.
Ke5; 2. g4, Ke4!!; (Kf4??, 3. g5, Kg4; 4. g3 + -) Black keeps his “Kf4” as a reserve move and threatens “Ke3” followed by “Ke4” again to wait for White's move to reach ‘Kf4” later.
3. g5, Kf4; 4. g3+, Kg4; = The white king is now forced to move leaving “g5” pawn behind.
Illustration 7.14 W+An interesting win here.
1. Kf4! White just brings his king forward and threatens “Kf5” followed by “e6” to trade of the pawn and lead the other to promotion.
Kc5; 2. e6! White clears “e5” square for his king and also brings the black pawn to the “e6” square from where it becomes vulnerable. (2. Kf5??, Kd4 =) In this line, white becomes a victim of Zugzwang situation.
dxe6; 3. Ke5 + As far as “Doubled Pawn VS Single Pawn” is concerned, it closely resembles “Single Pawn VS Single Pawn”, but the key difference would be “Reserve Pawn Moves” and “Additional Squares Control” that doubled pawns provide. In some cases, the additional pawn is also helpful to make a sacrifice and turn the game into winning single pawn endgame as shown above.
Illustration 7.15 W= We have seen positions where the side with only one pawn seeks for a draw. This time, the side with doubled pawn seeks for a draw. It looks like Black's “g5” pawn is unstoppable and white pawns are already stopped. How can white find equality?
1. Kf6! (1. Kg6??, g4; 2. h7, g3; 3. Kh6, g2; 4. Kg6, g1=Q+) - +
g4; Black is forced to move the pawn in order to protect it from the white king.
2. Kg6, g3; 3. h7, g2; 4. Kh6! = In this position, if black promotes the pawn to any checkmating piece, the position will become a stalemate.
We have successfully covered most important concepts regarding “Pawn Endings” which will help to crack any kind of pawn endgames. You’re now ready to face any battle against pawns. Yet, we have used basic, intermediate and some advanced level positions to understand the concepts clearly. We have a dedicated book coming soon for complex positions like “Endings with more pawns” and “Other Imbalances” as a second part to this book. Whatever you feel missed in this book will be released soon in another book since this is going to be a “Complete endgame series” Please follow “Karthik PM” on Amazon and stay tuned for future updates in this “Endgame Series”
