Endgame 101
 This is the first in a continuing series of articles on endgame play. We'll start with the basics of king and pawn endgames.
Opposition
Distant Opposition
Horizontal Opposition
Diagonal Opposition
Disconnected Opposition
Outflanking
Key Squares
Test Problems
The opposition is one of the most important concepts in endgame play. In the diagram below, whoever is not to move has the opposition. This means that they can prevent their opponent from ever making forward progress.
So with Black to move, White has the opposition. If Black plays 1...Ke6, White can reply with 2.Ke4 and prevent Black from making any forward progress. With White to move, Black has the opposition. White can never make any forward progress if Black maintains the opposition.
In this diagram, one side has the distant opposition. If Black is to move, White has the distant opposition. Again, Black cannot get past the White king. 1...Kd6 2.Kd4 and White has the close opposition discussed above. In general, whenever you can move your king so that there is an odd number of squares between kings, you have gained the opposition. In this case, White can eventually force a close or regular opposition.
Here is an example of horizontal opposition. If Black is to move, White has the horizontal opposition and can prevent Black from ever reaching the right side of the board. After 1...Kd4 2.Kf4 Black can make no progress.
The opposition can also work diagonally. If Black is to move, White has the diagonal opposition and can turn it into close (vertical or horizontal) opposition. The main benefit of having the opposition is to be able to prevent your opponent's king from being able to reach a certain part of the board.
When the kings are not on the same file, rank, or diagonal, you can still achieve a disconnected opposition by moving your king to the corner of a large square where all four corners of the square are the same color. In this diagram, if you draw a square on the board so that the kings are in opposite corners, you see that the four corner squares are all dark squares. Thus, if Black is to move, White has the disconnected opposition, and can eventually force a close opposition, preventing Black from ever reaching the lower-left corner of the board.
Once you have grasped all the forms of opposition, you can learn how to utilize the opposition to make forward progress via outflanking. |
