SharpMind

Even in the endgame, it’s important to keep your mind sharp and calculate when you have the time.

In the position below, black is winning, if he or she finds one of two moves. Let us go through the variations.

As you may already notice, Black has 4 available moves. These are moving the king to g1, playing h2, or b4 or c5.

h2? and c5? simply lose the game for black.

c5 gives white a very fast passed pawn and h2 puts black in zugzwang after white plays the paralyzing move Kf2!

Now, let’s evaluate the most forcing moves for black. At the current position there are no checks and captures, so we can only work with the threats.

1…Kg1

By playing Kg1, Black threatens to play h2 and h1=Q, so white is forced to play Kxh3.

The moves that Black can follow up with require calculation, and they are as follows:

Variation 1

1…Kg1

2. Kxh3 b4!

3. cxb4 Kf2

4. Kg4 Ke3

5. Kg5 Kxd4

6. Kf5 Ke3

7. Ke5 d4!

Now it doesn’t matter that white can go and grab our c6 pawn. We promote first and are at least two moves ahead on the promotion race.

Because of that, we can give the appropriate checks, win some pawns and win the game.

Show variation 1

Black can also win by playing 1…b4 first because as a matter of fact, he or she was going to always lose the h-pawn if they were to win the game.

This variation also leads to the same result, that is, black promoting on d1 and proceeding to win the game.

Show variation 2

Pro tip: Improvement comes only through intentional and consistent study. Keep practicing your chess concepts, day in and day out. You can track your training progress by using our training calendar on this app.