Elementary Endgames (part 1)
The Queen is the strongest piece. Because of her superior mobility, she can confine the hostile King with a few moves and force him into a mating net. Of the other pieces, the Rook is no doubt the strongest because he can force a mate in conjunction with his own King. The Bishop or Knight can not do so. Two Bishops are apparently stronger than two Knights, while it is not possible to say anything about the relative value of one Bishop and one Knight. The above statements are true only when the board is nearly vacant and the pieces can make full use of their mobility. Mobility decides the value of a man, and positions often occur in which a Knight is more valuable than a Rook or in which a pawn might be preferable to a Bishop and so on. The reason is that sometimes the weaker man occupies a commanding square while the stronger man is obstructed somehow and can not be made to work.
Although it is impossible to indicate exactly the relative value of the men in each position, the following is a fair estimation of their average strength: The Queen is about as strong as two Rooks or as three minor pieces (Bishops or Knights). A minor piece is about equivalent to three pawns, and a Rook is equal to a minor piece and one to two pawns. The value of a pawn is the hardest thing to grasp for the beginner. A pawn appears to be of so little use because of his limited mobility, that it seems hardly worth it to waste time saving a Pawn that is attacked, as so much greater things are apparently at issue. What he overlooks is the future value of the pawn that lies in the possibility of queening him later in the game.
To realize the importance of the pawn it is necessary to know exactly under what conditions he can be queened. This knowledge is indispensable to the chess player because the vast majority of all games resolve into pawn endings in which the advantage of one or more pawns decides the game. In most cases, some pieces are on the board in addition to the pawns. Sometimes, it is only by their exchange that the game can be won. The most elementary example is that shown in the following diagram.
White is a pawn ahead and it is his goal to queen it. The beginner, in his haste to advance the pawn, will probably play e5 at once and lose the pawn because Black can answer Q-d4 check. This move attacks the king and pawn at the same time. The correct way to play for White is:
1. Q-d1+ K-a3 or b4
2. Qxa4 Kxa4.
Now that the Queens are exchanged, White no longer has to worry about any interference with his plans to queen the pawn except maneuvers of the black King, which might still lead to the capture or the blockade of the Pawn.
A hasty advance of the pawn would again be the wrong thing to do. The right way of playing is indicated by a simple calculation. The pawn needs four moves to reach the queening square, but the black King arrives there in the same number of moves, so that he can capture the pawn the moment he queens. Therefore, White will only be able to safely queen his pawn if he can gain control of the queening square with his own King.
Now, White needs three moves to bring his King up to his Pawn on f4. In the meantime, Black will have reached the square d6 and after White's K-f5, Black will block the further advance of White's King by K-e7. However, White can force Black to get out of the way. The maneuver by which he does this is one which occurs in a similar form in nearly all pawn endings and its thorough grasp is therefore essential. The following diagram shows the critical position.
White can win the game only by K-e5. The technical term for this move is going into opposition. The Kings oppose each other in one line of squares of the same color. The one who has to move out of opposition, in this case Black's King, is compelled to allow the advance of the opposing King to the next line. If Black plays K-d7, White answers K-f6, and if Black plays K-f7, K-d6 would follow. Then, after Black's K-e8, White repeats the maneuver by taking the opposition with K-e6, and again Black must back out with either K-d8 or K-f8, so that White can advance to either f7 or d7. This clears the way for the pawn who now advances unimpeded to the queening square.
The important role which the opposition of the Kings play in pawn endings is still more strikingly illustrated by the situations which would result if in the position in the above diagram, White played 5. e5 instead of K-e5. This would allow Black to draw the game by maintaining the opposition himself. He would play K-f7 and although after
6. e6 K-e7
7. K-e5
White has regained the opposition, he cannot keep it if Black continues correctly. The move which saves the game for Black is K-e8. K-d8 or K-f8 lose because then White could go into opposition by K-d6 or K-f6. The play in these three cases would be this:
A)
7. ... K-e8
8. K-f6 K-f8
9. e7+ K-e8
10. K-e6
Black is stalemate, the game is drawn.
B)
7. ... K-d8
8. K-d6 K-e8
9. e7
Black must move K-f7 enabling White to obtain control of the queening square by 10. K-d7.
C)
7. ... K-f8
8. K-f6 K-e8
etc., similar to the play in B.
To sum up the investigation of this pawn ending: The deciding factor is the opposition of the Kings on the 6th and 8th ranks. If the weaker party succeeds in obtaining that opposition with the pawn on the 6th rank he draws the game. If the pawn is not yet advanced to the 6th rank, the opposition of the Kings is of no avail to the weaker party as the pawn advancing would force the opposing King out of opposition again. Suppose White has the King on e6 and the pawn on e5 while Black's King stands on e8 with White on the move. White must get out of opposition by playing K-f6 or K-d6 and Black keeps the opposition by K-f8 or K-d8. But then White has a move to spare which forces Black out of opposition and wins the game. He plays e6 and the game ends in the way discussed above.
The ending King and pawn against King is one of the most important for every chess player to know. Not only because a great number of positions can be reduced to this ending by the exchange of all the other men left on the board, but also because it gives the first insight into the peculiar maneuvers of the King which have to be carried out in connection with gaining or giving up the opposition, and which constitute the essence of the most frequent pawn endings.
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