A Simple Pawn End Game This shows how to promote a knight-pawn when the defending king is in the corner near the queening square The introduction is for beginners; the rest may be useful to intermediate players and even more advanced competitors Introduction to a few key concepts The two files indicated above are the sixteen squares of the knight files In modern algebraic chess notation, the left one is the b-file and the right, the g-file In chess diagrams, the usual orientation is to have the white side on the bottom and the black side on the top That means white pawns advance up the diagramed board and black pawns advance down In many diagrams, especially showing openings and middle games, the white king will be seen at the bottom and the black king, at the top, although endgame positions are often exceptional, for kings can wander around quite a bit in the end game A draw, whether by stalemate or some other way, means neither side completely wins or loses In competition, a draw gives
half a point to each player, meaning it s only half as valuable as a win but better than a loss In an end game in which one side should win with best play, it s considered almost like a defeat to end up with only a draw when you were on the winning side; likewise, the player who was losing can rejoice at escaping a loss by getting a draw A Challenging Pawn End Game The blue circle above shows the queening square for the white pawn, which has advanced up the board and is now three squares away from promotion Move all four of the above items to the left, from one to four places, and both starred squares will be equally important In the above position, however, the star on the left may be irrelevant Many chess books may cover this special pawn ending, but not many will explain it in as much detail as the following (or they may rely more on chess notation)
White s turn to move How can White force the promotion of that pawn to become a queen? If the pawn were on a file closer to the center, it would be easier, but knight pawns sometimes require special handling when the defending king is in the nearby corner or next to that corner In the above position, it s critically important who has the move now remember the two green stars, applying them to the above position Only the star on the right is important here, the square on which the black king is now sitting For White to win, the white king must get to that square It will take six moves by White and five moves by Black
White s king-advance forces the black king into the corner Moving the white king up the board, in the above position, may look counter-intuitive, but it has a purpose It leaves the black king only one move, which will then allow the white king to come over to the other side of the knight file Black just moved the king into the corner In the above position, the black king was forced into the
corner This allows the white king to begin to come around, getting closer to the right-side key square Notice what would happen if the pawn were to advance in the above position: Black would not be in check but would have no legal move: It would be a draw by stalemate That s why it is so important to make the following series of moves for White Black s turn to move White just moved the king in front of the pawn, forcing the black king to move to the left, onto that same file
After each side made a move It s now Black s turn In the above diagram, the black king moved to the left and the white king moved to the right If the black king now moves toward the left or lower left, White could soon win by advancing the king straight up the board, to the square of the right-green-star shown in the second diagram Let s now see what happens if the black king moves back into the corner Black s turn After the black king moved back into the corner, the pawn
moved forward Let s see what happens after the black king moves to the left again and the pawn advances Black s turn, after the black king moved left and the pawn advanced In the above diagram, it s Black s move, and the black king is forced to move down to the left The white king will then move to the key square
Again it s Black s move the pawn will become a queen Notice, in the above position, that the white king has finally arrived at the rook-file key square Here it can escort the pawn to it s final destination Remember the diagram that had two green stars? The white king is now on the more important of those two key squares Remember what was said about the other square: the star on the left may be irrelevant? It depends on the exact position and whose turn it is to move Consider the following position, in which the white king is on the other key square:
Whose move? If it s Black s turn, White can win quickly In the above diagram, the white king is on the bishop-file key square If it s White s turn, the king will need to take the long way around to the other key square If it s Black s turn, however, the black king must move down to that light-colored square The pawn can then advance straight up the board, soon becoming a queen, for the black king will be put into check If the black king then moves into the corner, that pawn will advance again, checking that king again The importance of the key square for the white king is this: It s guarding the promotion square where the pawn will become a queen What chess beginner would have guessed that winning such a simple-looking end game could be so complicated? ### Tactical Puzzles From Chess Books When used wisely, chess problems can develop a player s tactical abilities, including the ability to calculate in looking ahead Chess Book for the Beginner This chess book has large diagrams, with simple but engaging English explanations See where you can get a checkmate and where a position is not quite set up for checkmate, at least not yet