00:00it's time now to talk about end games and I know many players they don't have
00:19an appetite studying end games because it's boring it's not exciting the
00:24country so much exciting and since we don't have much time and the end games
00:31they are limited it's not just computer and games five six seven pieces where
00:36machines already calculate everything to move 525 now we're talking about
00:41practical end games and I thought that maybe we could stick only with pawn pawn
00:46end games simple just pawns no pieces there's so much drama there so it's the
00:51and by the way interesting rules one of the most amazing things is geometry so
00:57the chessboard is eight squares by eight squares but geometry with the kings
01:02because king king is a king king is the is the only piece left a board and it's
01:08very important to move correctly and sometimes you know the the road to
01:15victory or to a draw it's not it's not the one that looks shortest visually but
01:24something else so let's you know start with position so put a you on the white
01:32side so it's king on h4 and the pawn on b6 black pawn is on b7 king goes on b1 so
01:41what do you think about this position so kings are far away from the pawns now
01:48which king comes first sorry let's cover it king g5 king c2 king f6 king b3 king
01:54g7 king c4 king d6 king b5 king c7 king a6 boom white lost yes okay so now we
02:04established that white cannot win this pawn so white should save the game so the
02:10only way to save the game we know is opposition so you have to make sure that
02:14when black king takes this pool where should be our king
02:17the moment it happens where we should be b before before so before so that's the okay we
02:29established that now we know we cannot win we should save the game the moment he takes on b6 we
02:35should be on before now let's try to get there how do we go there you can go like you're going
02:44towards the pawn but not towards the pawn but now this important thing you know don't forget the black
02:49king may try to do two things you know shooting two birds with one bullet it's what we call
02:56shouldering in chess so it could prevent our king from coming there so it's um let's say if we go king
03:04g4 what happens how why this move is bad king c2 king c2 i go king f3 king d3 exactly and so it's here
03:16and our king is cannot go around so since we already established this move was bad so how do we go to
03:24b4 square what is the not the shortest because technically it's it's all about one two three four
03:31five six but if we go there black king will find a way to stop our king so how do we go there
03:39g5 g5 let's say we have to be here and uh what scores we use what what is this what it actually
03:48is like stairs how do we go there so we go here here king c2
03:53f4 with a block a block again block again so king f2 king f2 king d3
04:06then we need to go e1 of course so we just go e1
04:12so c4 d2 so it's and he can be exactly and reach this position so again it's amazing that so this is
04:21this is the the right uh uh uh root actually the only one that saves the game as if you tried to
04:29cut exactly but this is absolutely it's it's it's about you know sort of uh moves with dual functions
04:38so you can have uh uh similar positions so this is this is again you play white for instance
04:44your king is there it's g8 g6 and the same problem so the moment black takes this point you have to be
04:52with king on c2 so what's the right move how do you how do you make sure that the when black kings take
04:58this pawn your king is here so which way you go with the king now f8 or h8 h8 h8 of course because
05:08you go f8 he goes king f6 and then runs here but if you go king h8 and you you are behind
05:16that's and this is is this not this is not triangulation this is this this is about opposition
05:22and and and and maybe it's about shouldering so let's make sure that you know either you use this
05:27this uh uh trick to win the game or you have to make sure that it's not used against you
05:32i understand so that's uh you know the rule you know how to apply it now um of course you know
05:39with the you all know that's there's a famous position so whether kings are there so so how
05:46you win here i in the middle yes b6 a b6 c6 and it's that's easy okay so that's easy and how black
05:54should defend the only defense here it's two of the king b6 the only correct the only defense is b6 to
06:01make sure that there's no breakthrough let's make it a little bit more complicated you know the rule
06:07you know how it works let's slightly change the position same structure
06:16you have white so we move the pieces a little bit uh and uh we have the same pawns configuration
06:24but uh kings are not taken away because in in the original position kings play no role
06:31this time we have both kings in the game which makes it a bit more complicated so then immediate
06:35breakthrough doesn't work because pawn will be taken with the check so we have to move the king
06:41somewhere now well this is a big question so what are the options so where are we going to move the king
06:48um either here or two two squares and uh let's see now this that looks good
06:55and then after king of three we do our breakthrough but there's a problem he takes on c5 d5 takes this pawn
07:03and now because we have kings in the game so he starts creating his own counter play
07:09so for instance we move the king he keeps sacrificing this pawn and then he organizes his own
07:17his own his own uh his own passport so this is b6 his pawn is also he was also advancing so we just we
07:28we cannot king c2 king d2 yes because this pawn is also rushing so it's the it's a it's a problem so it's
07:38the so what we discovered so by by making this this analysis that king d2 then king king on d3 gave him an
07:45extra tempi so now when we combine our knowledge how do we solve it by moving the king to d2 to d2 forcing
07:56him to give up the opposition absolutely so and uh if he goes there then we do the same but he doesn't
08:04have time to organize counter play so as you could see so much can happen you know just
08:10uh what within the realm of pawns ending but here we have three points but one of my favorite examples
08:23it's actually an end game with king and a pawn also king and a pawn how much game can you expect from
08:30king and a pawn versus king and a pawn actually a lot one of the best dramas that uh i was in the end
08:37game but before we move in just let's memorize a few other rules so we do remember what happens
08:44when we have a queen versus pawn so if um here is you you have white so you uh if black has this pawn
08:58or a2 it's most likely it's a draw this one is of course lost
09:03now this pawn in many cases is a draw because we know this is the bishop pawn offers uh offers the weak
09:10side opportunity to survive because when we when we give a check with king on b1 so the king goes on a1
09:17and it's it's a draw so it's a stalemate um so the this pawn is is dangerous because we are also to remember
09:26that's uh the drawing motifs just as in introduction because now we start with something very very simple
09:39uh you know just because you play white i have to change it
09:42here is the position king on g6 pawn on a2 your king goes on the free actually black
09:51is on the free and pawn on c7
09:55uh it's an amazing compilation of different themes that we can learn uh from the end games
10:02um okay first is simple so we just have to make sure that uh you know his pawn is neutralized so how do
10:10do that like king of five king of five immediately we'll go king of five and it's at first it seems
10:17that you know the game is over so let's say if he tries to go close to our pawn we keep doing the same
10:25he keeps going and we we keep going he keeps going and we keep going so we stop his pawn paralyzes
10:34this king and our pawn will move on except to me too easy now nothing is too easy so this is this maybe
10:46black has a chance of of making our life a bit more complicated so king g3 king g5 now they have to stop the king
10:56and the only chance to stop the king is to play c6 and now we have to make a choice tough choice so do we
11:05push the pawn or we attack the attack it because if we attack the pawn then his king can perform two
11:16functions support the pawn and actually to get to the square by opposition yeah king d4 king takes
11:23c6 and king c4 and a4 king d4 our pawn is neutralized bad luck so we we cannot do that so the only way
11:34for us to play for win after c6 is keep pushing a4 so he has no choice he can go king d3 a5 now it's it's a
11:45race c5 a6 c4 a7 c3 eight queen remember we talked about the queen c2 now we reached a new position
12:00uh his pawn is on c2 but his king is not ideally located so can we use it
12:09and this is a very interesting case of chest geometry purest chest geometry how it works and
12:17it's it's very difficult to find but um i think it's beautiful though for machine it'll be very simple
12:26not for the human eye um so how can we stop it so um we need just to do something with our queen so we
12:35could just put her on the first rank yeah yeah but then he goes king d2 queen b2 he goes king d1
12:42now we pin on b3 maybe but that doesn't it doesn't matter this is he's there he's just you know it's
12:48he's on the he's on the right side it doesn't work so any other ideas for instance if we go queen e4 check
12:57for instance king d2 and king d2 because he cannot go on c3 but it's important because then we go check
13:02and we block we block the square so he has to go on d2 but it seems that we run out of ideas aren't we
13:16so what what else left so what how about this check
13:23that separates or potentially separates so he cannot go here we already know that because we
13:27give check on d4 and and make sure that we and i put our queen and a1 protecting this square
13:34so there are two options he can go on e2 but here is this it's another interesting trick you should
13:41remember that sometimes we can let opponent queen but then queen is is is trapped and and our if our
13:49king is close enough we can have this winning position so the pin
13:56king d1 and now we need we need our king king e4 c1 queen king d3 wow yeah wow that's right it's over
14:09it's over no way to avoid but you should remember that our opponent always looks for for best moves
14:19and he of course goes on e3
14:24and he'll reach a point where uh we have to think about geometry it's more than more geometrical than than
14:31than chess uh we don't have this this pin but look at this king and look at the potential queen queen g2
14:43bravo bravo bravo queen g2 yeah queen g2 is is is a beautiful move now if he queens
14:51we win we win we win the queen if he goes on d3 we still go queen g5 and and and and block on c1 so
15:03as you could see we just had one king and one pawn versus one king and one point but so many ideas
15:10inside so end games i think it's they offer great opportunity for those who would like to study chess to
15:18to get better because most of the time people spend these days on openings databases but in the
15:26end game you know many games to be won because uh great ideas and also by the way plenty of excitement
15:32so i wish we had more time just to go with other end games because we just had pawns imagine if we
15:37had knights bishops rooks queens so there's so many great things and i also love studies so there's the
15:43studies where you could just have it beautiful but just it is just you know like a classical paradox
15:49yeah they're unusual yeah very very unusual and this is and just you know to um ended up uh on high
15:56note something that is just uh uh it's um um um not uneasy for human eye right again easy for machines
16:08but for humans to to realize the uh the beauty of the combination when it's being played you can see
16:15it uh but uh it's quite hard to um to calculate it without moving it's not but it's all about
16:23calculation it's about psychology it's the end of the studies one of my favorite studies uh
16:29uh this is the the end of the study so it's the two extra rooks with black checked our king so
16:45so what can we do so i mean going here is not an option because it's a mate
16:49so going there it's also not the best option because after queen g6 rook g6 is a
16:55stone mate now since both moves are not working so you can guess that there's something else which
17:04is so unusual for humans to figure to figure out because you don't give up queens but it is for
17:12nothing it's queen f6 it doesn't matter in this case it doesn't matter by the way the beauty of the
17:17pawnless end games that it you know you don't need in a notation because it just it's uh it's uh it's
17:24like a mirror you can just go around so it's a queen of six check if he takes with a king then
17:29rook g6 check and we win the queen and after queen x6 we go king h7 and uh now there are many threats
17:37so that black queen should escape and now it's it's again a beauty of coordinations of two rooks
17:44you have to cut the king how we cut the king trap it cut cut it b e b5 bingo so this is this is we cut
17:56the king it's a mate mating threat and no matter what he does he can check us because we can always
18:00protect it but that's that's the end of the story so there's so much you know can be found so this is
18:07and it's and if you you know if you have an appetite for for the beauty of the end game i will say it's the
18:15it's uh one of the best way to improve your uh your um uh chess playing strengths
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