Endgame Secrets Worth Hundreds of Rating Points
Endgame study is the most efficient way to gain rating points. Unlike openings (where your opponent dictates the line) and tactics (which require in-game calculation), endgame technique is pure knowledge, patterns you can learn once and apply forever. Here are six endgame secrets that most club players have never studied.
1. The rule of the square
Can a king catch a passed pawn? Draw a mental diagonal from the pawn to its promotion square, if the king is inside this "square," it catches the pawn; if outside, the pawn promotes. This simple geometric test eliminates calculation in countless pawn endgames.
2. Triangulation
When you need to lose a tempo (give your opponent the move in a zugzwang position), the king triangulates: it takes three moves to return to the same square, effectively passing the turn. This technique decides dozens of king-and-pawn endgames.
3. The Lucena bridge and Philidor defence
The two most important rook endgame techniques. See our dedicated guide, learn these once, use them in every rook endgame.
4. Bishop vs. knight: the open position rule
In open positions (pawns on both sides), the bishop usually beats the knight. In closed positions (locked pawns), the knight usually beats the bishop. This heuristic determines whether to trade into a bishop or knight endgame.
5. Opposite-coloured bishop endings are drawn (usually)
When each side has one bishop and they operate on opposite colours, even a one- or two-pawn advantage is often drawn, the defender's bishop blockades the promotion squares. But in the middlegame (with more pieces), opposite-coloured bishops favour the attacker, because the attacking bishop controls squares the defender's bishop cannot.
6. The wrong bishop and rook pawn
If you have a rook pawn (a- or h-pawn) and a bishop that doesn't control the promotion square, the endgame is drawn even when you're up a full bishop. This knowledge prevents you from trading into a drawn endgame when you could have won with a different piece exchange.
Study all six techniques on the analysis board and test them in endgame practice against the AI.