Endgames
Pawn endgame tactics
Kings and pawns only, which sounds simple and is the least forgiving part of chess: there is no piece left to fix a mistake with. Almost every one of these is decided by a tempo, and the tactics are breakthroughs, king opposition, and pawns that queen with check.
How to spot it
Count the race before anything else, move by move, both sides. Then look for the pawn break that costs material and wins the race anyway, and for zugzwang, which is the real subject of this ending: the position where whoever is to move loses.
The positions
Easiest first. Every one is from a real game, and the rating under each board is what it costs the players who have tried it on lichess.
-
1. Black to play Play it out →Answer
45...bxa4 46.b5 a3 47.b6 a2 48.b7 a1=Q
-
2. White to play Play it out →Answer
58.Kd6 c5 59.Kxc5 Kc7 60.Kd5
-
3. White to play Play it out →Answer
31.e4 Kd6 32.Kd4
-
4. White to play Play it out →Answer
55.Kxf5 gxf4 56.Kxf4
-
5. Black to play Play it out →Answer
46...g4+ 47.Kf2 Kh2 48.f5 g3+
-
6. Black to play Play it out →Answer
45...Ke4 46.Kd2 Kf3 47.h4 gxh4
-
7. White to play Play it out →Answer
73.d6 cxd6 74.cxb6
-
8. White to play Play it out →Answer
37.axb5 Kxb5 38.Kd4 Kc6 39.Ke5
-
9. Black to play Play it out →Answer
34...b3 35.Kc3 b2 36.Kxb2 Kd4
-
10. Black to play Play it out →Answer
35...a4 36.bxa4 Kc4 37.a5 bxa5
-
11. Black to play Play it out →Answer
39...a3 40.Kd2 a2
-
12. White to play Play it out →Answer
44.Ke5 f5 45.gxf5 gxf5 46.Kxf5 h5 47.Kg5 Kc5 48.Kxh5
Reading about a pattern is the easy half. Motify finds the positions where you missed one, by running your own lichess and Chess.com games through Stockfish, and puts each of them behind two or three puzzles on the same idea so you meet it having just found it three times. See how Motify works.
Positions from the lichess puzzle database, released under CC0.