The endings every serious player must know — from the king-and-pawn races a beginner needs in their first six months, to the rook positions a grandmaster still rehearses before a tournament. Each entry pairs the theory with the canonical position, illustrated and explained.
The foundation of all pawn endings — when one extra pawn wins, when it draws, and the geometric concepts of key squares and the rule of the square that decide every case in three rules of thumb.
TheoreticalThe most important concept in king-and-pawn endings — the geometric position of two kings facing each other on the same file with one square between them, and how the side without the move-tempo is forced to step aside.
The minor-piece debate that has divided endgame writers for two centuries — when the bishop's range outperforms the knight's hops, when the knight's leap defeats the bishop's lines, and the practical heuristics that decide each case.
The endings where two pawns up is often not enough to win and three pawns up is sometimes not enough either — the most paradoxical balance of forces in chess, and the practical rules that turn the paradox into useful conclusions.
The technique for losing a tempo with the king — taking three moves to reach a square the opponent reaches in two, and using the spare move to force the opponent into zugzwang.
The most common endgame on the board — appearing in roughly one in eight master games — and the one whose theory is too rich to be a single position. A map of the cases that arise, the ones that win, and the ones that draw.
The canonical winning technique in king-and-rook-and-pawn versus king-and-rook — when the pawn has reached the seventh rank, the defender's king is cut off, and the attacker must build a bridge to shelter from rook checks.
TheoreticalThe defensive cousin of the Lucena — how the weaker side draws king-and-rook against king-and-rook-and-pawn when the defender's king is on the queening square and the rook can hold the third rank.
TheoreticalThe defensive method that holds rook-and-pawn against rook when the pawn is a rook pawn — the case where the Lucena method fails and the Philidor needs reinforcement.
Theoretical