Spam Log #5: "SS2’s" Incomplete Endgame Course (Part 2)

Yes, SS2=SSS. Is it a drama? No. Will this series continue? Absolutely.

Answer

This is a drawn position (also taken from a Xeransis game). Black can play 1...Nd6 (there are other moves but this is the most forcing one). Nxb5 leads to a draw by pawnitization (as discussed in my last blog), so white plays 2.b6, but now 2...Nb7 blocks the white pawn forever. Black does not need to move the knight. Just regard the knight as a blocked pawn, we can clearly see this is another pawnitized position — white can attack neither the black pawn nor the knight, and this position is a dead draw. Black just moves the king around.

Connected Kings Endgames

In this blog, I will be talking about some common endgames. Hopefully this can help you convert more endgames. This part is about endgames with connected kings. That means the kings are next to each other, and checks don’t apply.

KQQ vs K

You have two more queens. This is an easy endgame, but you need to learn the idea. You can’t check the king if the kings are connected, so you have to separate them. How? You need to use the power of zugzwang.

Step 1. Move your king to a corner square. Your king has 8 adjacent squares in the center, but only 3 in the corner. So in order to limit your opponent’s options, put your king in the corner. Any corner is fine, let’s take a1 as an example.

Step 2. Put your two queens orthogonally next to your king. Say your king is on a1. Now put your queens on a2 and b1. Beware of stalemate— don’t ever touch b2 unless your opponent’s king detaches from your king (then play Qb2+)! Then you won’t stalemate your opponent. For example, a normal maneuver can be h7 to h1 (to c1 if b1 is occupied) to b1, or h7 to a7 (to a3) to a2.

Step 3. Checkmate. Now your opponent’s king is on b2 and is forced to move away. (If at any time your opponent’s king moves away from your king prior to this point, play Qb2+ and the king is forced away. Then you can do ladder mate or any mate you want.) Kc3 is the only legal move, then move either queen to b2 and then the just moved queen to d4 to give mate. You can premove this. You can memorize this as "King to corner, queens L-shape, b2, d4 GG mate!"

To visualize all this, you can consult Illion’s study, Chapter 2.

You can try out this technique at https://chessvariants.training/Endgames/Atomic/KQQ-K-Adjacent-Kings . (Click "Start!")

If you have more material, when using this technique, make sure the c3 square (or same-position squares for other corners) is not attacked by anything!

KQR vs K/KRR vs K

These are similar, they share the same idea which is putting the opponent king in zugzwang. The separation process is also the same, moving one of the rooks or queen to b2 forces separation, and you can do whatever you want, just make sure you check the king to avoid stalemate!

You can also train this endgame on CVT at https://chessvariants.training/Endgames/Atomic/KRR-K-Adjacent-Kings.

KQB vs K/KQN vs K

The idea and set up is similar, just with more steps.

For bishop, move your king to the opposite color corner and put your bishop next to it. Say your king is on a1 and bishop on a2. Now move your queen to the first rank. If opponent king is on b1, wait one move on c1, forcing Kb2 Qb1. If it’s on b2, obviously Qb1 and Kc3 Qb2 the kings are separated (then use the queen to chase the king till mate). If it’s on c2, do Qd1+. Kb2 Qb1; Kb1 Qc1; and if Kc3, Qc1+ forces Kb2, then Qb1. It’s slightly more difficult.

For knight, the set up is the same. Knight one side and queen other side, Only difference is the king goes to c1/a3 rather than c3 after Qb2. The kings are still separated and mate next move.

KRB/KRN vs K

These are wins, but not that easy. You can see Illion’s study for these endgames (Chapters 6 and 7), you can also train them at https://chessvariants.training/Endgames/Atomic/KRN-K-Adjacent-Kings and https://chessvariants.training/Endgames/Atomic/KRB-K-Adjacent-Kings .

But these are like KNB mate in standard chess, they rarely happen in real games, so you just need to understand the ideas. The KRB mate needs a gate on the edge of the board (rook second rank, bishop first rank); the KRN mate needs a particular type of gate (it’s often done in the corner, for example king a2, rook b2, opponent’s king on b1 then maneuver your knight to a1). The key is zugzwang, and that’s what you need to know.

Not knowing KRB/KRN mate is OK, but if so, don’t underpromote to bishops and knights in pawn endgames!

KPP vs K

Your opponent can’t block your pawns forever, you can just promote them to queens and do the KQQ mate.

KBB/KBN/KNN vs K

Draw. Draw even if kings are separated.

KQ vs K

With kings connected, this is a draw. The defending king needs to stay near the other king. And the queen can’t force the king away on its own.

However, you might lose this endgame in time trouble because you need to follow the other king every move. This is why it’s a "scam endgame". It’s unethical to flag people in drawn positions, but that’s what happens in bullet chess :(

KR vs K

Dead draw, and it can be auto claimed.

KP vs K

We are in the connected kings section, so, draw.

KQP vs KP

This is very common. In many endgames, you are up a pawn, you make a queen but your opponent is able to connect kings. But if you both still have other pawns, it’s a win for you.

You can refer to

.

Blocked pawns

You can train this endgame at https://chessvariants.training/Endgames/Atomic/KQ-K-Adjacent-Kings-Blocked-Pawn . A simple way to win one-pawn-up endgames is to keep at least one pair of blocked pawns. They can’t move, and you can easily create a gate.

Step 1. Create a gate. Put your queen on the same rank with your opponent’s pawn, leave a one-square gap between them.

Step 2. Move the king through the gate. Just as it says. Move your king through the gap. If you can, move through the gate from your pawn’s side to the other side. Make sure your opponent’s king also passes through the gate. Keep moving away — For example, if the queen is on b5, opponent pawn on d5, your pawn on d4, you go b4 (to b3 to c4 if needed) to c5 to d6 to e7. If your opponent voluntarily goes into the gate before you, back out and ... mate next move!

Step 3. Queen takes pawn mate when possible.

There are tricky positions where you need to triangulate, but remember the key is to force your opponent’s king into the gate, then move away and you win. So when you maneuver your king, try to limit your opponent’s options and force it into the gate.

Other occasions

If you both have a passed pawn, block your opponent’s pawn with the queen and promote your pawn, you can treat it as a blocked pawns endgame (consider your blocking queen as a pawn). There are other ways to win too.

If the pawns are adjacent (Illion’s study Chapter 3 and 4), you can either win it like a KQ vs KP endgame (see below) or force your opponent to push the pawn, turning both pawns into passed pawns.

KQ vs KP

This is a tricky endgame, especially with other pieces present. The conclusion is: The pawn is harmful to the defending side. In most cases it’s a win for the queen side.

For details, see study

and . The main procedure is: firstly, put your king in front of the pawn. Secondly, put your queen directly behind opponent’s pawn and go around the pawn, move your king behind your queen. Thirdly, either force separation or queen takes pawn mate.

For a and h file pawns, aim for a position where the queen is diagonally near the pawn and they separate the two kings, with opponent to move. You can see detailed examples in Illion’s study.

Some positions with queen blocking the pawn are draws (Pawn on seventh rank and a,b,g or h file). But they are rare.

Now train your KQ vs KP skills in

!

More general endgames

KP vs K, KQ vs K

Just play it out till queening — the pawn pushes and the king gets closer to the other king. If the queen can separate the kings in time, it’s a win; otherwise draw. Illion introduces a rectangle rule in study

. Am I just stealing contents from Illion? Probably, but Illion’s studies are great, you should definitely check them out. There is also a technique called Kung Fu Queen introduced in Wolfram’s study .

KPP vs KP

This is very common. The main rules:

1. Any passed pawn = win for KPP. (unless the KP side can promote first, of course)
2. Backwards pawn, see study
   https://lichess.org/study/Iv9L9LTR
   . If the kings are far apart, play it out, push the pawns and try to stop the king from connecting. If the kings are connected, it’s most likely a draw. The defending king needs to stay close to the attacking king while avoiding all squares near the "breakthrough square" (in front of the backward pawn), and the square attacked by the other pawn. This is the general idea. You can find some exercises in
   https://lichess.org/study/K75Qiesx
   .
3. Two backwards pawns, again the breakthrough squares must be avoided. This is harder to defend and in some cases this is a win, as the kings might get too far apart.

KRP vs KP

If pawns are passed, this is again an easy win (block the pawn with the rook).

If pawns are blocked, this is a combination of KQP vs KP and KP vs K endgames. Firstly, you separate the kings by creating a gate. Then you force the opponent king as far away from your king as possible, then take the opponent’s pawn. Then play out the KP vs K endgame. In most cases this is a win. In some cases the opponent’s king can be forced into RxP mate. You can refer to

and . (Am I a Illion study linker?)

KR vs KP

Seriously, I am out of depth. I admit I can’t play this. Refer to

. Just remember, this is not always a draw. Try to play it out.

KQQ vs KR, KQQ vs KQ

These are draws.

KQQ vs KN/KB, KQQQ vs KR, KQQQ vs KQ, KQQN vs KR

Don’t bother.

OK, thanks Illion for making so many good endgame studies. That’s why this should be called Illion’s Endgame Course rather than SS2’s. I’m bad at endgames myself.

Some Examples

Uthopia is one of my favorite players. In this game, uthopia played as black, and chose the Nf3 e5 opening to avoid theory. White chose to get into an endgame with a pawn up (but missed chances to get a bigger advantage). Time control is short so they made further mistakes but white had a chance to mate with rook and bishop. Rook and bishop combinations are very hard to find in real games, after 19.Rg8 Ke7 20.Re8, black king gets stuck and either the f5 pawn or the queen side pawns will be fatal for black (a line is 20...Kd6 21.Re7 Kc5 22.b4! Kb5 23.Re5. I certainly can’t find this sequence in a game.) But instead of taking a draw, white panicked and blundered the invading rook to an explosion. Remember, pieces near your opponent’s king are not always safe, they can be exploded if adjacent pieces (not near the king) are threatened. Uthopia demonstrated the RN mate with kings separated— limit the king to the edge, form a knight-rook-king straight line with mate. (Without pawns, this is often done by putting rook at (2,3) position like c3, b2 and so on, then maneuver the knight to (3,3) with check and mate next move.)

Another example, white strangely did not use the classical opening, but still got into the endgame with an advantage of an exchange and one pawn. White opened and simplified the position (Always trade rooks with an exchange up!) and just pushed pawns. Then white traded into a simple winning KPP vs KP endgame with a pair of blocked pawns and one passed pawn. White demonstrated the gate technique in the resulting KQP vs KP endgame.

Quiz

1. https://lichess.org/editor/6R1/8/7k/8/8/4K1p1/6P1/8_w_-_-_0_1 White to play in this position. What’s the quickest way to win?

2. https://lichess.org/editor/6k1/p6p/8/3p2P1/8/P3P3/8/2B4K_w_-_-_0_1 White to play. What’s white’s idea? (Slightly modified version of an Illion exercise)

3. Do you think endgame is important in atomic? :)

It has been a long road
in the spam and farming field.
You have cracked my code,
now good luck in the shield!

Enjoy atomic, everyone!