A week ago I posted an article about an importance of pawn endings in improvement of calculation skill of a chess player. And today I have something like continuation of the “serie” with new example.

Would you find the right way to win the games as white?

White to move.

Pawn endings are very useful when it comes on the calculation of variants. As there are only pawns and kings on the board, one can easily “see” the long sentences of moves and possible continuations. This is why pawn endings are ussually recommended by chess trainers to train to improve one’s calculation skill.

Here is a very special pawn ending:

Why is it so special? Because, if white is to move, then white wins. And when black is to move, then black wins. Will you find the right continuations?

I would give you a clue. Tempi are VERY important in pawn endings. You have to think twice about each move of a pawn and (usually) be very careful about double-steps of pawns (like e2-e4 for example).

Do you use pawn endings for training of anything else than technique in pawn endings?

White to move.

In this type of endings the goal of the stronger side is to reach a draw. But if you play knight vs. pawn ending and your opponent has a pawn on a-column or h-column then you can get into serious troubles sometimes.

Let’s look at some examples:

But this position is a draw:

This position is also a draw:

So how is it possible to win this type of ending if you are the side with a pawn? The answer lies in the situation when the opponent’s knight does not have access to the promoting square. See this example:

I would like to show you some interesting positions which I liked. The positions will be based on some tactics, positional and strategic threats or on a good knowledge of endings/typical positions, which should be known to players of our strength. Here is the first one and I hope you will enjoy it.

White is to move. White has an additional pawn and he is close to win the game. Do you find the exact way?

Please, write you ideas and share them with the others in the comments below! And no usage of computers, please!