Someone please help me with endgames. I suck

Deleted by mod KS, Political discussions are not allowed in the general forums

Deleted by mod KS, Political discussions are not allowed in the general forums

You do know something about endgames.
I've been trying for years to classify basic checkmate positions properly.
Not mating sequences. Final positions. Much better.
To do something advanced sometimes you have to start with something very obvious.
For example there's only three ways to checkmate a King.
1) with a vertical/lateral check there (most common)
2) with a diagonal check there (less common but still common)
3) by knight mate. Much less common.
Obvious right?
But it can help with the classical mate positions.
Understanding is better than memorization.
Gueridon mate - vertical/lateral mate by an adjacent queen with the opponent unable to legally move his King to the two squares a knight's move from the mating Queen.
Dovetail mate - similiar but its a Diagonal check by the Queen.
Smothered Mate - goes back 500 years or so. A classic knight mate.
My latest theory is that all checkmate positions can somehow be variations on those three mates.
I haven't even tried to classify basic Stalemates yet!
There's no Check. But there is corner-stale and edge-stale and midboard-stale.

the poster there is breaking at least one rule.
Politics in chess.com public forums.
You can block him and/or report it or ask him to stop or let it go.

I had a look at your last game - against Alcon.
Bxf7ch was a nice tactic. Its not just a pawn.
He's busted. His King position is busted. Cafe Bustelo.

Regarding basic endings - many players might tell you you can't be good at the endgame if you're not familiar with positions like the Lucena position.
But that's a rook ending.
Rook endings are probably the hardest. Its a pain but they're probably the most common too.
Regarding knight and bishop versus lone King - that might never come up once in your entire tournament career.

Best investment: King and pawn versus King. Must be understood!
Common mistake: to believe you can't win that without the opposition.
Its dogmatic.
If you have a sixth rank king you can win it even without the opposition.
Because you're opponent is out of board. He has no ninth rank!
You can win - provided the pawn is not a rook pawn.
An apawn or hpawn.
If he gets his lone King in front of that edgepawn - or can - then Dead Draw.

Rooks belong behind passed Pawns, no matter whether those Pawns are friendly or enemy.

@blueemu - a very strong player - is of course correct on both points.
The positional idea of rooks of either side 'belonging' behind passed pawns was suggested by Nimzowitch.
Regarding King and pawn versus King - many basic endings simply are that plus one piece for each side.

Chess is a logical game. You won't find a winning move in an equal position.

If a winning move is there, then it's NOT an equal position. It's a WON position.

You mean that what if its equal regarding the extra piece for each side?
This indicates you're not familiar with those basic endings.
See my next post.

AR - after looking at your game and reading your posts -
its becoming clearer that you're aware of many if not most of these ideas.
But you've indicated that you're not getting good results in endgames.
So I'm suggesting that the conversation could move to trying to isolate where and how you're weakest in endgames ...
and another method is just to improve at them.
Or to do both.

But there's another idea:
Return on investment.
What areas of endgame study will pay a higher return on investment and what will give low or dubious returns?

I would say that the study of pawnless endings gives low return on investment.
In other words - what to not do rather than what to do.
You could invest an awful lot of time in rook and bishop versus rook.
A difficult ending. And not always a win.
And it might never ever come up in your games. And I mean Never.

So - where to invest? Or to invest in early. To Steepen your learning curve!
King and pawn versus King comes up a lot.
But its fundamental to other endings also.
I'm guessing you know about 'the square of the passed pawn' (which isn't the same as the Queening square - its multiple squares arranged in a bigger square.)
Could also be called a Zone.
And its simple enough.

But basic endings are the 'endgames of endgames'.
You'll need to be familiar with them so you know what you're doing in the earlier endgame itself.

Are you already familiar with these rook endings?
Philidor's - the Lucena position - the Euwe position - Lasker position and the much rarer Saavedra and Vancura positions? (low return on investment on that Vancura
position)
There's also the very basic Rook and pawn versus Rook Skewer trick!
Its very Neat.
The defending King cannot approach the pawn! Nor can he step up a rank.

And it does come up in games.
There's knight versus bishop with one pawn on the board or more pawns.
With a lot of pawns on the board - the knight often Romps! Especially if the pawns are clumped together. And this could happen after one side played to have the bishop.

The one I like the most is one pawn on the board plus a bishop for each side moving on the same colored squares.
That can be a Neat Neat ending!
You can't talk about a win if the defending King can maintain itself in front of the pawn.
But in the winning positions - the attacking bishop does a kind of 4-square Diamond Dance around his pawn. Depriving the other bishop of sacrificing itself on either diagonal - for the pawn or promoted pawn.

I looked at that ten minutes each game.
You dropped your bishop and later he dropped his queen!

Okay - rook endings.
The Philidor's is a classic draw.
The defending side laterally checks or can check the attacking King on its 6th rank making a win impossible.

The Lucena is a classic must-know win.
The other side wants to check your King on a file - from the rear. Distantly.
You can't support your pawn promotion if he can keep checking you.
The winning manoeuver is called 'bridge-building' you dance your king back from the pawn but then interpose your rook at the right moment.

The Euwe position (hey I'm not perfect - I might get a detail wrong due to memory) is a very pivotal position where if you've got the pawn and its your move you win but if your opponent has got the move he draws.
It features a classical idea: the defending King is 'filed off' from the pawn he must get in front of. Filed off by just one file. By Your Rook.
He might draw if he can maneuver his rook adequately ... but that Depends.

In the Lasker position - its a rook sacrifice tactic. To win.
More generally if you've got the pawn and you simply sacrificially pin his rook laterally - against his King - you win because then he's pulled off the Nimzowitch file and your pawn romps in to Queen.
Problem - you then have a pawnless ending. Queen versus rook.
That might be the 'pawnless' worth studying a bit. Its not easy though.
But point: The Lucena and the Euwe and the Lasker positions might come up with other pawns on the board! Then in the Lasker your Queen versus Rook Prevails easily!
The Lasker is an example of 'Decoy-Deflection'.
Probably the most fundamental tactical concept.
Re-arrange your opponent's pieces so You Win!

The Saavedra position is a neat position that leads to a weird sequence of moves!

The Vancura position is a heavyweight involving an edge pawn.
The defending King needs to be in an oddly shaped zone to have a chance to draw.
Its a curio though.

Which rook ending to start with? I recommend the Lucena.
And the Skewer Trick.
Why? Not that much work. Improve your understanding of rook endings efficiently.
High return on investment.

Lucena position here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7-LUSW1HX-wHere's the Skewer trick in a youtube. Ipatov again. He's pretty good.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=obP_UDIlQv0Point: the black king is essentially confined to h7 and g7. If he strays from those two squares - he is Zapped by the Skewer Trick.
Very basic.
It doesn't have to be an edge pawn either.
Here's a bishops of same color win:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s1psTcrSQz4not quite the one I was looking for ... this one has more sacrifice moves.
but you'll see how the bishops go round and round
If I find the more basic one I'll post it.