Just played it vs lichess I can't force the computer to defend better. In any case its the same general principle. Move king forward check king back. The only way I could see anyone struggling with this is if they make no effort to advance their king.
Yeah it shouldn't be that bad. Things are always harder in a practical game though
In my experience almost no one knows almost anything at all about endings below 2000 rating. I have played vs masters on here who trade into losing king pawn endings.
The most important endings to know are king + pawn so you know if you can just trade off the pieces and win and vice versa. After that king+pawn+rook especially the 1 pawn scenarios. Beyond that is master/IM/GM territory learning openings or practicing tactics or reviewing your own games will be way more beneficial.
Yes, that's why knowing endgames is so useful. I agree, knowing pawn endgames are the most important because you trade into them so often
This actually illustrates my point above. I am about 1900. The player who knows the perfect technique is about 2100. No player under 2000 and even players over 2000 who haven't drilled vs a computer the way you mention is ever going to draw this vs me so it is kind of a waste of time to study.
Practicing endings like this is more something you should do around 2000+ elo and only if you plan to play a lot of slow tournament games.
I would evaluate trading into this position as "winning" 100% of the time and actually win at least 90% of the time even vs masters imo
It is a winning endgame, and I probably win it against the computer 70% of the time. Since you're much stronger than I am, you will probably do better than 90%.
As far as practicing endgames, I do it because it's fun. Also, I do learn some things that can be used in other parts of the game. For instance, I've encountered KBN vs K endgames about 10 or so times (not really worth the bother to learn it), but the way that you can get a Knight and Bishop to work together has come in useful many times.
The one that is really practical is learning the computer techniques to draw vs 1 pawn on the losing side. I know the winning techniques but not the defensive techniques. I wonder what a good way to do this in practice though is. How do you even play vs the tablebase?
Here is a sample of how good players endings are. Look at the king pawn ending this 2100 player decides to voluntarily trade into starting on move 28 and I still lose it under time pressure. He should know at a glance trading into this ending is suicide and I should've won it on autopilot.
I could have easily won by just not racing at all and going back for kingside pawns. If you can correctly evaluate around move 24 that if you trade down and double his c pawns its winning pawn endgame that is a huge strategic edge that starts to make itself known around 2000 elo.
Him playing 27. Rd2? and then the even worse 29. RxR shows this 2100+ player knows nothing about endings. I bet his openings and tactics are pretty good though
Another interesting note is I actually struggle tactically more against 1800ish players. I think 18xx is about as high as you can get with great tactics and bad strategy/openings. When I am rated 1900+ and getting players 2000+ as opponents I run into "better strategy/worse tactics players" who I much prefer to play against compared to players with no positional knowledge and great tactics. I am sure around 2100+ they have great strategy and tactics.
I recommend checking out some endgame books, especially Dvoretsky's endgame manual. It really helped me learn the value of having that extra tempo in pawn endgames. Here's some of my recommended endgame books.
Congratulations on making such a popular forum!
i think it's the knight and bishop and king vs lone king
I wish someone would write an article on how to play rook and pawn end games especially under time pressure.
Good idea, I might write a blog post about that sometime soon!