Help with finding critical move in endgame + analysing + memorising?
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Wherés the podition?
The position is on the included chess boards in the post. If you cannot view those, I will include the PGN below:
1. Kg7 $3 (1. Kf7 $4 Kd5 2. Kf6 Kc4 3. e4 Kxc3 4. e5 c5 5. e6 c4 6. e7 Kd2 7. e8=Q
c3 8. Qd8+ Kc1) 1... Kc4 2. e4 c5 3. e5 Kxc3 4. e6 c4 5. e7 Kd2 (5... Kd3 6.
e8=Q c3 7. Qd8+) 6. e8=Q c3 7. Qd8+ Kc1 8. Qg5+ $3 Kb2 9. Qe5 Kb3 *
There is no general rule. This is about the endgame queen against pawn (on the 7th rank). In general, the queen wins. Except for the f- and h-pawns. Then the king must be within a certain area (but there are exceptions from these exceptions).
Queen against pawn on the 6th rank actually always wins, but in your example the queen has (after 1. Kf7) no check and cannot pin the pawn, so it is draw.
In short, you have to calculate the lines and then see whether you have such an exception. However, such positions do not occur in real life. I searched my database. The position does not exist in the database.
If you want to learn this endgame, it is best to get a book. You don't need a new book, an old book from Averbakh or something like this is good enough.
K+Q vs. bishop pawn and king is a draw if the pawn is advanced far enough. It's not losing, but it should have been winning. The reason the other endgame was winning was because the pawn wasn't advanced far enough and therefore could not force the queen to be traded/sacrificed for a draw. The same scenario holds true for rook pawns, as long as the opposing king stays close to the pawn, the game will be a draw.
There is a motif which nobody is talking about, which is triangulation. 1 Kf7 fails to 1...Kd5, but white would win after 1 Kg7 Kd5 2 Kf7.
>Is there a way to know to play that other than with experience of seeing the position in the past?
Yes. Let us take the original position. I will apply Noel Studer's recommended (paraphrased) thinking system to it:
1. What is my opponent doing next?
2. What is my opponent doing after my move?
If you follow this thinking process, then you just have to know two things:
1. Triangulation.
2. Triangulation's teleology (which is to aid in promoting a pawn...which means, generally, triangulation is useless if you are not trying to promote a pawn).
Moreover, after 1 Kf7 Kd5 2 Kf6, the d8-h4 diagonal would be obstructed...Piece harmony is a universal concept and important in all phases of the game...Some rules apply to all positions, and some rules are position-specific or phase-specific.
It is all about preventing the Black pawn reaching c2, when the well-known stalemate pattern will appear. And for achieving that, a vital check from g5 is needed.
The example comes from Mikhail Zinar's famous book on king and pawn endings, and the case is quite rare.
As a novice player, moving the king away from the piece you want to capture is certainly not intuitive.
Endgames aren't so much about intuition as they are about memorization of key points and motifs, blended with calculation. It's difficult to do well.
Wow 🤩
Thank you everyone for the advice.
It seems that I will need get a chess book or two, as they have been mentioned twice in this forum sub. I'll try to get the book that was mentioned and check around on these forums and online if there are any additional good options. I've never studied with a coach or off a book, so the terms used here are a bit foreign and there will be a bit of a skill gap, but I'll get used to it.
Again, thanks for the responses and advice,
Miles
I have recently decided to dedicate more time to improving at chess, so I have begun truly studying my arguably worst part, simplified endgames (outside of what I have gained through experience). For context of my rating, I am ∼1850 elo on a different platform and ∼1620 otb and have no coach or other chess superior. If you are going to look at the chess games I have on this account and base your answer off them, don't. I played them quickly without locking in just so that I could get a rating + the one loss was because its my second Dutch in a while + lag...
When learning 2p vs 1p endgames from online, I came across the following position. If you don't want to try it yourself, the second board has 3 variations played out, 2 winning and 1 losing, all based on the one critical move:
The trouble I have is not understanding why the first subline is losing.
After everything plays out, if Kf6 was played, then there is no more Qg5+, losing the tempo of check. He can hide behind his pawn and then his pawn moves to c2. We can't capture the pawn without stalemate or it goes to repetition/50-move, assuming perfect play.
The problem that I do have is understanding when to play Kg7. Is there a way to know to play that other than with experience of seeing the position in the past? There are 100s of variations of 2p vs 1p, 2p vs 2p, 3p vs 2p etc. Although I know a good 30+%, just from experience, is there any way other than just drilling them? Am I supposed to simplify an endgame to that almost exact position and remember it from training, or is there a list of blanket tips for pawn endgames that require critical moves such as these? Maybe I'm just overthinking and just need to get back to studying, but some advice going either way would be reassuring regardless.