I just posted the latest clinic on endgames which members can find here. As usual I should stress the importance of this part of the game which can benefit a player's chess as a whole by offering a safe and logical way to convert advantages as well as develop what I would term micro-patterns. My own chess improved a lot when I devoted more time to the endgame in the 1990s. It is also one of the main things that I have studied with my son Sam.

Sam has two of his games in this clinic with the first of them showing how the endgame is neglected at club level. In the Preston Congress he reached the following position as Black having just captured the pawn on b7:

One maxim states that all rook endgames are drawn, which while not being true certainly indicates the drawish nature of rook endgames even one or two pawns down. Yet instead of keeping his rook on the board White exchanged with 44.Rxb7?? which leaves him with a completely lost pawn endgame. The game concluded with the moves 44... Kxb7 45.Kb5 Kc7 46.Kc5 Kd7 47.g3 f5 48.h4 gxh4 49.gxh4 g6 50.f4 Kc7 51.Kc4 Kc6 52.Kd4 Kd6 0-1.

How should someone go about studying the endgame? Well Tiger Chess just happens to have a 160 lesson endgame course that covers both technical endgames and endgame strategy, plus there are downloads which help practicing different positions against the computer. You need to join to access it or course...

Nigel Davies

The October clinic came out today with the topic being endgames again. Tiger Chess members know the importance I place on this area of the game as it has profound effects on the rest of a player's game. Many of the greatest players in history have recommended putting endgame study before anything else, most notably Jose Raul Capablanca. This is what he said: "In order to improve your game you must study the endgame before anything else; for, whereas the endings can be studied and mastered by themselves, the middlegame and the opening must be studied in relation to the endgame."

Pawn endgames are particularly important as all the other endgames can end up as pawn endgames. In this clinic there was one very nice one played by J. T. who reached the following position as Black:

White's connected passed pawns look imposing here and in endgames with other pieces on the board they might have promised him an advantage. Yet in a pawn endgame it is Black's kingside pawn majority and distant a-pawn that give him a decisive advantage as White's king is unable to control both. The game continued with the moves 1...f5 2.g5 ( 2.f3 fxg4 3.fxg4 h6 4.Kd2 g6 5.Kd3 h5 6.gxh5 gxh5 7.Ke4 h4! also wins for Black) 2...h5 3.gxh6 gxh6 4.Kd2 h5 5.Ke3 h4 6.Kf3 a5 7.c6 Kd6 8.Kf4 a4 9.Kxf5 a3 10.Kf6 a2 0-1.

Members can access the clinic here and four years of monthly clinic archives here.

Nigel Davies