Skerries Chess Club

Endgame Challenge

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(2) K+Q - K White to play and win endgame Diagram 1.Qg4 Cut off the king. 1...Kd6 2.Qf5 Ke7 3.Qg6 Move the queen a knight's move away from his majesty. 3...Kd7 4.Kd2 You need your king to help. 4...Ke7 5.Kd3 Kd7 6.Kd4 Ke7 7.Kd5 Kd7 8.Qf7+ Kd8 9.Kc6 Kc8 10.Qc7# *

(3) K+R - K White to play and win endgame Diagram 1.Rh4 cut off the K 1...Kf5 2.Ke2 Kg5 3.Ra4 Kf5 4.Ke3 Ke5 5.Ra5+ Kd6 6.Ke4 Kc6 7.Kd4 Kb6 8.Rh5 Kc6 9.Rg5 to waste a tempo so the BK must move opposite the WK. [9.Kc4 is wrong as the K is not opposite our K once it move and it can escape if we check with the R as follows 9...Kd6 10.Rh6+ Ke5 the K gets back into the centre, out of our trap.] 9...Kd6 10.Rg6+ Ke7 11.Kd5 Kf7 12.Ra6 Ke7 13.Rb6 Kf7 now we must chase him 14.Ke5 Kg7 15.Kf5 Kh7 16.Kg5 Kg7 17.Rb7+ Kf8 18.Kg6 Ke8 19.Kf6 Kd8 20.Ke6 Kc8 21.Rh7 Kd8 22.Rg7 Ke8 23.Rg8# *

(4) K+2B - K White to play and win endgame Diagram 1.Kd2 Kd4 2.Bb2+ Kd5 3.Kd3 Ke6 4.Ke4 Kd6 5.Bc4 Kc5 6.Bf7 Kb4 7.Kd4 The idea is to push the king into the corner, ususally without giving check. 7...Kb5 8.Ba3 Ka4 9.Be7 Kb5 10.Be8+ Kb6 11.Kd5 Kc7 12.Kc5 The black king cannot approach the clergy when they are together like this. 12...Kb7 13.Kb5 Kc8 14.Kb6 Kb8 15.Bd7 Ka8 16.Bd8 [16.Bd6 would be stalemate, a draw!] 16...Kb8 17.Bc7+ Ka8 18.Bc6# *

(5) K+Pe2 - K White to play and win endgame Diagram 1.Ke6 Get the opposition! (Kings opposite each other with your opponent to move) [1.e4 is a mistake and the Black player draws if they know the drawing technique! 1...Ke7 Black gets the opposition! 2.Kf5 Kf7 Oppose kings when you are defending. 3.e5 Ke7 4.e6 When you cannot oppose kings move straight back as: 4...Ke8 5.Kf6 Kf8 6.e7+ Ke8 7.Ke6 stalemate, a draw.] 1...Kd8 2.e4 Ke8 3.e5 Kd8 4.Kf7 Outflank him 4...Kd7 5.e6+ and the K on f7 shepherds the pawn home. 5...Kd8 6.e7+ Kd7 7.e8Q+ Now mate with the Q as usual. *

(6) K+Pa4+Pf4 - K+Pa5 White to play and win endgame Diagram 1.Kf3! this forces the BK back. [1.Kd4? Kxf4 Now there is only one square between the kings so the defender will be in time 2.Kc5 Ke5 3.Kb5 Kd6 4.Kxa5 Kc6 5.Ka6 Kc7 6.Kb5 Kb7 7.a5 Ka7 8.a6 Ka8 9.Kb6 Kb8 10.a7+ Ka8 11.Ka6 stalemate] 1...Kf6 2.Ke4 Ke6 3.Kd4 White leaves the Pc4 as a decoy. The defender must kill it first. 3...Kf5 4.Kc5 Kxf4 Now there are 2 squares between the kings so the defender will be too late to stop the a-pawn. 5.Kb5 Ke5 6.Kxa5 Kd6 7.Kb6 White stops the black king reaching c7 and b8. 7...Kd7 8.Kb7 Kd6 9.a5 Kc5 10.a6 Kd6 11.a7 Kc5 12.a8Q etc. *