The Endgame: Your Final Destination

By GM Einar Gausel

In this article, GM Gausel offers ICC readers a valuable package of practical advice. Read on and learn...

If you’re anything like me, you don’t spend nearly enough time polishing your endgame skills. Learning some cool new opening is much more fun, and the chances of picking up an easy point in your next tournament game as a direct result (i.e. instant gratification) seem much higher. Am I right?

Now, think about this: Unless you beat your opponent straight out of the opening (which is rarely a likely prospect), you’re going to have to play a middlegame and, if you still haven’t nailed his head to the board, an endgame. Your "cool new opening" might secure an advantage, but from this point on, you’re pretty much left to your own devices.

The point I’m trying to make is: More often than not, the outcome of the game will be decided in some sort of ending. You’d be surprised how many points are saved and thrown away in the latter part of the game. Even in encounters between strong Grandmasters.

Let’s take a look at an instructive example:

White has no problems holding the rook ending after 37.Kxa5 Txa2+ 38.Kxb4. Why Ljubo chose to take with the rook, is beyond me. I mean, a quick general assessment would tell a GM that the rook ending is completely drawn - no precision required. Pawn endings on the other hand usually require precise calculation and execution of moves: One single mistake could be fatal!

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In this position Browne missed the winning continuation, but my guess is he wasn't looking too hard. At this stage he had probably (just guessing again, folks!) resigned himself to splitting the point. The game finished:

White marches his king over and gobbles the f-pawn, and black does the same with white's b-pawn.

Now, the winning move in our second diagram is far from obvious, but the fact that white’s king is on the edge of the board (where mates usually occur!) should set off some sort of mental alarm. I imagine Browne saw that 39…Kd5 turns the game into a pawn race, but his calculation must have been a bit off that day. His analysis probably went like this:

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 39...Kd5 40.b4 f5 41.b5 f4 42.b6

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The move he must have missed was 42...Kc6! which forces white’s king onto a most unfortunate square indeed. The point is that after 43.Ka6 f3 44.b7 f2 45.b8D f1D is CHECK!

Here white has to choose between 46.Ka7 allowing 46...Da1 mate, or

46.Ka5 which loses the queen and the game after 46…Da1+ 47.Kb4 Db1+.

Note that if white tries to catch the f-pawn with 40.Kb4, black simply cuts him off with 40…Kd4. 41.Ka5 will then transpose to our main line after 41…f5 42.b4 f4 43.b5 Kc5 44.b6 Kc6!.

What did we learn from this example?

1.Keep it simple! There was no reason for Ljubojevic to allow a complicated pawn ending (where he had no winning chances whatsoever) when the rook ending was easily drawn.