Learn Your Endgames

Author: gambler104

Young grandmasters are superb players. There is no question about it. But the one area that they seem to struggle in is endgames. In fact, that is a common theme among many chess players. They are very sharp in their openings and middle games, but they struggle somewhat in the endgame. If you looked at most C level chess players (rating 1400-1599), you would likely find that many of them could not mate with a knight and bishop and king versus a king in fifty moves or less. And I find myself at times, drawing won endgames or losing drawn endgames. And there is personally nothing more devastating than playing a great game for thirty or more moves just to blow it at the end.

So I am giving one quick piece of advice: learn your endgames. Most players know the simple ones such as queen and king, two rooks, and rook and king. But I would challenge you to learn to mate with a knight, bishop, and king. And I would encourage you to at least acquaint yourself with the general strategy of rook and pawn versus rook, and minor piece and pawn versus minor piece. It would be hard to learn every situation and it certainly is important to spend some time on openings and the middle game as well since you have to do well in those to get to a difficult endgame ahead. But spend a little time on endgames now- it will save you a lot of heartache later.