The main Chess End Game Principles:
Get your king close to the action – ideally in front of your own pawns.
Cut the enemy king off from the action when you can.
Rooks should be placed behind passed pawns – your pawns or your opponent's pawns.
Advance your good pawns to increase your chances of creating a passed pawn.
Many chess players focus their attention primarily on the opening and the middlegame. Little do they know, that endgame is something that can bring their chess to the next level. Because endgame involves far less pieces than opening or middlegame, it is a phase of the game that can be mastered by a player of pretty much any skill level. Today we will learn seven most important principles of endgame that all chess player should know.
Endgame Principle 1. Centralize your king as soon as possibleThis is by far the most fundamental endgame rule. Surprisingly many amateurs neglect this important principle often missing a big opportunity to win or draw the game. The idea of centralizing the king is rather simple. In the endgame, when majority of the pieces are gone, the king becomes a powerful weapon and should actively participate in the game to support his own pawns and piece as well as to attack the opponent’s ones.
The first step of your thinking in any endgame position should be how to centralize your king quickly and efficiently.
In the position below white has serious advantage because they centralized the king three moves earlier than black
Endgame Principle 1. Centralize your king as soon as possibleThis is by far the most fundamental endgame rule. Surprisingly many amateurs neglect this important principle often missing a big opportunity to win or draw the game. The idea of centralizing the king is rather simple. In the endgame, when majority of the pieces are gone, the king becomes a powerful weapon and should actively participate in the game to support his own pawns and piece as well as to attack the opponent’s ones.
The first step of your thinking in any endgame position should be how to centralize your king quickly and efficiently.
In the position below white has serious advantage because they centralized the king three moves earlier than black
Endgame Principle 3. Obtain an oppositionOpposition is a powerful endgame technique. It is commonly used to force the opponent’s king away from the pawns, giving up control of the key squares. Generally, a side that holds an opposition has a positional advantage, often winning or drawing the game.
Position below is the most classical example of the opposition. If it is white’s turn to move the game is drawn, because white cannot penetrate black’s position without advancing the pawn. If it is black’s turn to move, black needs to give up space and loses. In other words, the side that holds an opposition has some sort of advantage which is enough to win or save the game.
Endgame Principle 4. Flank pawns are strong against the knightsKnight is a short range piece and it has especially hard times in the endgame positions involving passed flank pawns. For example, in the position below black’s knight cannot stop the passed rook pawn due to knight’s low mobility and inability to reposition itself into a better defending position on time
Endgame Principle 5. Place the rook behind passed pawnThis is another very important rule to remember. Many amateur players disregard this simple rule placing the rook in front of the passed pawn and then have trouble converting the advantage.
Don’t make that mistake and always remember to place the rook behind the passed pawn. This placement of the rook supports the pawn all the way through the promotion square and also makes it possible to threaten the opponent’s king or pawns from the safe distance.
Creating a passed pawn should be one of the priorities in the endgame. Passed pawn possesses a large value due to the possibility of promotion. In fact, a passed pawn is so valuable that if it reaches the 7th rank it is worth a rook.
It is especially easy to create a passed pawn if you have a pawn majority on one side of the board. In the example below, white can easily create a passed pawn by first exchanging the b-pawn on the opponent’s c-pawn and then exchanging off the opponent’s b-pawn.
If you have a minor piece for a rook (aka exchange down) you should save the remaining rook, since this is the only piece that can guard open files and ranks. Without this piece your position will collapse and the pawns will fall.