Chess Basics: Winning a Won Endgame
-
Chess Basics: Winning a Won Endgame
Six-time World Chess Champion Emanuel Lasker once said, “The hardest game to win is a won game.” Young players who find themselves with an advantage in the final phase of a chess game often struggle to convert that advantage into a win, which can lead to frustration and disappointment.
In this lesson, we'll cover how to convert material advantage into victory, or how to get from "Winning" to "Won".
Converting Your Advantage
A player with any sort of material (piece) advantage has some important decisions to make:
-
Is it already time to play for checkmate and finish the game? OR
-
Should I first promote a pawn and obtain an overwhelming material advantage?
-
Should I first capture more pieces to eliminate any resistance?
In the position below, White is up a rook, which is considered a winning advantage.
They can use this powerful piece to eliminate opposing pawns and ensure the promotion of one of their own pawns. Use the game viewer to see one way that White can win:
Playing for Checkmate
Checkmate is the ultimate goal in chess. Beginners sometimes need to be reminded that you cannot win a game of chess simply by capturing all of your opponent's pieces. At some point, you must use your accumulated advantage to finally trap the enemy king and end the game via checkmate.
One of the first checkmating patterns that students learn is the ladder checkmate with two rooks. Another common way to end the game is using a King and Queen checkmate. We teach many more checkmating patterns in our online Academy program.
In this example, White has used their rook to escort their passed pawn to its promotion square. Once the pawn becomes a queen, White uses the rook and queen to execute a ladder checkmate:
Playing for Pawn Promotion
If a player has a material advantage but doesn't have a clear way to checkmate, they can obtain an overwhelming advantage via pawn promotion. Pawns that reach the other side of the board can be turned into another piece. This is known as pawn promotion and, unsurprisingly, the mighty Queen is the most popular choice for the new piece.
In the example below, White doesn't have enough material to checkmate right away. However, White's pawn on the a-file (circled) is guaranteed to reach the end of the board and will be promoted into a new queen. Once that happens, White can play for checkmate.
Pawns often need help from other pieces to become passed pawns. Coordinating the pieces, including the king, to support pawn promotion is an important winning strategy.
Don't Over-Promote
Beginner chess players frequently get carried away with the excitement of promoting their pawns and lose sight of their ultimate goal: delivering checkmate. Creating too many queens can lead to an accidental stalemate, which will destroy a big lead in an instant:
The black king is not in check, but White's excess queens have cut off every square around him, making it impossible for him to move. Despite White's huge advantage, this game would end in a tie.
Instead of promoting every passed pawn they have, students should only promote enough pawns to generate the pieces necessary for a ladder checkmate, then use those pieces to lock in the win.
Conclusion
