When to Avoid a King and Pawn Ending

As a rule, you should never trade down to a king and pawn ending unless you are sure you know how to achieve the result that your are playing for.  If you are playing for a draw, you better be sure that the king and pawn ending is drawn, and you better be sure that it's won if you are playing for a win.  Otherwise, you are better off keeping pieces on the board.

Here is a perfect example from Prospect's match against Barrington.  With rooks on the board, the ending was likely a draw even though White would be down a pawn, but the king and pawn ending with even material was lost for White.

Pos. 1

After 33. Kf4 bxa5 34. Re8+ Kf7 35. Rb8 Rb3, Black is going to find it very difficult to capitalize on his extra pawn.

Pos. 2

The problem for Black is how to get his rook out from in front his b-pawn without losing it once he gets the pawn close to queening as in Pos. 3.
 

Pos. 3

If the White king were on f3, Black could play 1...Rf1+ followed by 2...b1=Q.  If the White king were on f2, Black would have the tricky 1...Rh1! 2.Rxb2 Rh2+! winning the White rook.  However, if the White king stays on g2 or h2, or in front of its pawns on g4 or h4, the Black rook can't move without losing the b-pawn.  That means that the Black king will have to come over to help, which will give the White king a shot at the Black pawns.

Unfortunately, White played 33. Re3?  After 33...Rxe3e+ 34. Kxe3 axb5 35 Kd4 Kf7 36. Kc5 Kf5 37. Kxb5 Kf5, White got his pawn back but his position was dead lost because he could not stop the Black king from getting at his remaining pawns and his king is too far away to get at the Black pawns.

Pos. 4

Even if the Black pawn were a file closer on c5 as in Pos. 5, the position would still be lost for White.

Pos. 5

The problem for White is that it still takes him three moves to get to the Black pawn, which leaves him insufficient time to get back to protect his own pawns. After, 35 Ke4 Kf7 36. Kd5 Kf5 37. Kxc5 Black would just have to be careful to play 37...Ke5 rather than 37...Kf5 (as in Pos. 4) in order to prevent the White king from blocking the Black king's path with 38.Kd4.

Pos. 6

In order to be able to draw this ending, White would need the Black pawn to be both a rank and a file closer on c4 as in Pos. 7.  

Pos. 7

Now the White king has time to capture the Black pawn and to get back to block the Black king from getting to the White pawns.  35 Kd4 Kf7 36. Kxc4 Kf5 37. Ke3.

Pos. 8

Remember:  Rook endings are notoriously drawish.  Don't trade off a well placed rook just to win back a pawn unless you are sure that the resulting king and pawn ending is good for you.

A Rook v. Knight Ending in the MSL Tournament

On Saturday, the Mid-Suburban League held its championship tournament.  In the first round, Prospect freshman Kyle Gilligan played Schaumburg's Vince Calabrese on 7th Board.  Early in the season, Kyle struggled to keep accurate notation so it was a pleasure to find that his score sheet accurately recorded all sixty-nine moves for both players.  Not surprisingly in a game that long, a lot of interesting endgame issues arose. 


Pawn Structure:  What is Black's best move in this position?

Material is even but Black would be happy to trade off all the pieces to reach the following king and pawn ending.

Black is effectively a pawn ahead here due to White's tripled c-pawns.  Black will be able to create a passed pawn with his extra pawn on the king side while White won't be able to do so on the queen side. 15...Qxd1+ 16.Kxd1 0-0-0+ would have been very pleasant for Black.

Pieces Before Pawns:  A basic endgame principle is that a player should improve the position of his pieces before he advancing his pawns unless the position involves a pure pawn race to see who queens first. 

Black played 34...c6 here.  It wasn't a bad move, but he should have been looking for a way to exploit the superiority of his rook over the White knight.  34...Re1 intending 35...Ra1 would have shortened White's resistance.

Confining Over Attacking:  You cannot capture an opponent's piece without attacking it, however, attacking a piece that can run away often ends up being a waste of time.  Therefore, covering the squares where your opponent's piece can move is often better than attacking the square on which it sits.  Sometimes restricting a piece's movements is just as effective as capturing it.  In the following position,  Black played 44...Kb7 and the White knight simply skipped away with 45.Nd7.

 Look what happens on 44...Kd6! though.

The White knight is completely confined.  White can play Na6, but the knight cannot escape via b4 due to Black's c-pawn.  White is helpless against 45...Rb1 46.Na6 Rb6 when he loses his knight.

Winning Efficiently:  Having offered several criticisms, it is my pleasure to compliment an excellent move.

With 53...Rxg5!, Black gives up his rook to gain a new queen after 54.Nxg5 a3! when the a-pawn cannot be stopped.  Black would still have been winning after 53...Rh4, but the potential for an unhappy accident involving a knight fork would have been greatly increased.

A Final Question:  Is there any reason for Black to bother capturing the White c-pawn with 68...Kxc4? 

All other things being equal, no.  Black had three minutes on his clock and 68...Kc3 69.Ka1 Qb2# (which Black played) wins the game.  However, what if Black was down to a couple seconds on his clock and he did not see the two-move checkmate?  By grabbing that last pawn, even if Black ran out of time, the game would still be a draw because White would no longer have sufficient material to deliver checkmate.  Of course every player should be able to deliver checkmate with a king and queen (or a king and rook) against a lone king using only the five seconds per move allowed by the delay.  However, if you have any doubts, it doesn't hurt to grab your opponent's last pawn to guarantee yourself at least half the point.

Here's the complete game.

Don't Trade Your Rooks

I become frustrated with players frequently, but I only get angry in rare circumstances. One of those circumstances is when a player voluntarily trades his last piece to reach a lost king and pawn ending. Consider the following position that arose in the MSL Tournament:

Fig. 1

White is dead lost here. There are pawns on both sides of the board and Black has a healthy extra pawn. Since he can obtain a passed pawn any time he wants by ...a6 and ...b5, White has to keep his king on that side of the board to defend. That leaves the Black king free to run over to the other side of the Board and pick off White's g-pawn and h-pawn. If Black's extra pawn was doubled or backward, White might have a chance, but Black's extra pawn is healthy so the position is hopeless for White. If all the pawns were on one side of the board, White might be able to trade down to a drawn king and pawn verses king ending, but with pawns on both sides, that's not going to happen.

With a couple of rooks on the board, White chances are much improved.

Fig. 2

Black should be able to win this ending with his extra pawn and better pawn structure, but it is not a lock. At some point, Black will want to attack the White pawns with his rook, but if he is not careful, he will find his own pawns falling as well. Such endings are often drawn as a result of all the pawns getting traded off. Unfortunately, White played 1.d4 cxd4 2.Rxd4 Rxd4 3.Kxd4 and reached the dead lost position in Figure 1.

Here is another dead drawn position from the MSL Tournament:

Fig. 3

Black has more space and a more mobile king, but the White rook can prevent his king from ever getting close enough to the White pawns. All White has to do is put his rook on the 8th rank and keep the Black king cutoff.

About the best that Black can hope for is to reach a position like the following:

Fig. 4

Unfortunately, Black still can't take the f-pawn because he will lose his rook. 1...Rxf3 2.Ra2+ Ke3 3.Ra3+ Ke2 4.Rxf3.

So the position in Figure 3 should be drawn and the players in fact agreed to a draw after a couple more moves. Those moves were 1. Re1 Kd5 2. Rf1 Kd4 3. Rf2 Rd1+ 4.Rf1 Rxf1+ 5. Kxf1 Ke3 6. Kg2 1/2-1/2. Although the players agreed to a draw and the material is even, White is now dead lost.

Fig. 5

All Black needs to do is play 6...Ke2 and the White king must give way 7.Kh2 Kxf3. 8.Kg1 Kg3 9.Kh1 Kxh3 and all the White pawns fall.

It is never a good idea to trade off your last piece if the resulting king and pawn ending is a loser. You almost always have better chances of making a comeback with pieces on the board, even if those chances are only marginally better. With rooks, however, the chances are often dramatically better with Rooks. If you add a pair of knights to the position in Fig. 5, White's hopes would improve, but Black still would have excellent winning chances. However, if you add a pair of rooks, Black's hopes evaporate and the position is dead drawn.

Here's the lesson to remember: If your only reasonable hope is a draw, unless you can clearly see how you will get it in the king and pawn ending, keep the rooks on the board.

The Art of Trading

As a general rule, the player who is ahead material wants to exchange pieces while the player who is behind wants to exchange pawns.

Consider the following position in which Black has lost a knight in exchange for a pawn early in the opening.




















Ideally, White would love to trade off all the pieces to reach a position like the following.





















White would send his king to one side of the board and his knight to the other side of the board and the Black king would be unable to defend his pawns on both sides.

Black, on the other hand, would like to trade off pawns, followed by trading off pieces, to reach the following position.




















Black is still down on material, but White cannot checkmate with a knight alone.

If Black were down by a rook, simply trading off the pawns would not be enough to draw as White could checkmate with the king and the rook, however, Black's chances of coming back are better if he does not have to worry about White queening a pawn.

Even when it is in a player's interest to trade pieces, it may not be in his interest to initiate the trade. It is always important to consider what the position is going to look like after the exchange.

QUESTION: Which of the following positions is better for White?

Pos. 1




















Pos. 2


















If you said Pos. 1, you would be correct. In both positions, White is ahead by three pawns. However, in Pos. 1, White's rook is sitting on an open file threatening to win another pawn while in Pos. 2, it sits inactively in the corner.

Pos. 2 resulted from White's decision to initiate a rook exchange with 26. Rxe8?! in Martin v. Brahmbhatt on 4th Board.




















While White is happy to trade rooks with his three pawn advantage, 26. Rae1 would have left him with greater control of the position.