endgames exercise

One way to improve your endgame is to think up miniature practice-exercises like this one [you'll need tablebases for this sort of self-created endgame course]

Yesteday I thought this one up - white wins [as rybka with tablebases sees, albeit - rather more slowly than I expected ;)]. So practice winning this against strong players/programs - preferably programs with 5-piece tablebases. I have given the win against one line by black:

Another thing I forgot to mention: this works best (or only works) along with an endgame book - e.g. [my endgame bible is BCE+Analysing_the_endgame] - e.g. read up the idea of how to win with N+P v P+P; then practise the idea by making up excercises like this and practising on them.

also since sometimes the diagram takes too long to load, here is the pgn so you can copy and paste it into your favourite pgn viewer or whatever...

[Event "practice endgame"]
[Site "home"]
[Date "2008.09.27"]
[White "rybka"]
[Black "rybka"]
[Result "1-0"]
[FEN "1k6/pp6/8/8/8/8/2PN4/4K3 w - - 0 1 "]

1. Ke2 Kc7 2. Kd3 Kc6 3. Kc4 Kb6 4. Nb3 Kc6 5. Na5+ Kb6 6. Kb4 Kc7 7. Kb5 a6+ 8. Kc4 b6 9. Nb3 Kc6 10. Nd4+ Kd6 11. c3 Ke5 12. Nc6+ Kd6 13. Nb8 a5 14. Kb5 Kc7 15. Na6+ Kb7 16. c4 a4 17. Nb4 a3 18. Ka4 Kc7 19. Kxa3 Kd6 20. Nd5 Kc6 21. Kb4 Kb7 22. Kb5 Ka7 23. Nxb6
1-0

(practise winning this against all defences. The above is only one.)

Note that there is a correction here: rybka v rybka - because I remembered - or at least I now think, I am not sure - that this particular line of play was not me v rybka, but rybka v rybka. (with all relevant 3-to-5-piece tablebases. If you have 6-piece tbs then of couse the program will immediately see it as mate-in-34 starting 1.Ke2 OR 1.Nb3.)

wow

well calculated!

not really - i think it was rybka v rybka - I would have taken more moves :(

I have a cool tactics exercise but I think it deserves its own topic. :-)

make a post, ozzie!

Mine is not an exercise.. mine is an illustration of a do-it-yourself endgame training course using a good endgame book like BCE [or better still, a BCE-level book + ECE] for the ideas, and engines+tablebases to practice against.

[I also do the following when doing endings-practice this way, but I forgot to say it... I thank likesforests for reminding me...:]

One should also 'fiddle' with basic positions like this - change it a bit - move a pawn forward - shift the whole thing or part of the thing one square left - see if the result changes, and if not, see if the details of implementing the idea of winning drawing the damn thing change - in a trivial way they of couse change - what I mean is ... does the N-as-good-blockader idea come in later on or earlier on --- a more abstract level change in details..

Also, I play the other side -- maybe against a weaker/weakened engine -- maybe with tablebases disabled -- to practice good defence so that opp has be strong to achieve the *objective* result.

Third: if one can get hold of The Encyclopedia Of Chess Endings: it has LOTS of 'toughest cases' / most challenging positions with the given material --- so use those positions to practice. (I thank likesforests for this tip. I do not have access to ECE.)

come to think of it, even BCE illustrates configs with 'toughest positions' most of the time, so choose them...