King & Queen

King & Rook

Activate Your King

Push Passed Pawns

Weaknesses

Opposition

Rule of the Square

Rooks Behind Passers

the endgame

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The Endgame is the final phase of any Chess game. If neither side has managed to checkmate their opponent, the game will be decided here. Generally, endgames occur when significant material has been traded off the board.


When too much material comes off the board, it becomes increasingly harder to checkmate the opponent. Although you can be checkmated in the early endgame - generally games go down a different route in order to find a victor.


Whilst the end goal is still to checkmate the king, a temporary goal is targeted by both sides - get more material back on the board. How is this possible? Pawn promotion.


The Endgame comes full circle from the opening. Whilst the middlegame can only be solved using problem solving skills, both the opening and the endgame have theory you can learn that will work every time you play with certain pieces in the endgame.


Let's take a look at both common endgame principles, and endgame checkmates.


We've already briefly touched on checkmates as a whole, but let's look at some simple checkmates you'll need to use during the endgame to deliver the knockout punch to your opponent.


Alike the opening, the endgame also has various principles that can help guide you through the chaos. Let's take a moment to explore some of the most important endgame principles for the beginner level.


checkmates
PRINCIPLES

Mating with just a queen and king is absolutely imperative Chess knowledge to have.


Proper technique and avoiding stalemate is crucial to converting the maximum amount of games into wins.


Sometimes your opponent won't make mating them easy - mating just with a king and rook is slightly trickier.


It can take some time to get used to, but mating in this fashion is a necessary skill to have.

Activating your king at the right time is a crucial skill to learn in Chess. It can be the difference between winning and losing at any moment.


Lets' explore how to navigate this principles.

This principle will not always be the case, but its a great motif to get drilled into your brain.


Passed pawns are at their strongest when there's a rook behind them boosting them to promotion.

Again, this principle will not always apply, but the closer a pawn gets to promotion, the bigger of an asset it becomes.


Let's look at when, and when not to push our passed pawns.

The rule of the square is a handy tricky to help us judge whether or not a king will be able to catch a distant passed pawn or not.


Its extremely simple, and can make endgame calculation a LOT easier.

Chess is all about strengths and weaknesses. The endgame is the epitome of this fact because the phase is constantly on a razor's edge.


Let's look at how to identify, and exploit weaknesses in your opponents position.

Opposition is the most common principle that comes up in basic pawn endgames. Its absolutely necessary to know how to use opposition to your advantage.

FINISH