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AN ENDGAME EXPERT
by GM Igor Smirnov
Lesson 1: Introduction
Hi, I am Igor Smirnov, International Grandmaster and a chess coach. It is my great pleasure to talk
to you again! Welcome to my new course “An Endgame Expert”.

Why I decided to make an endgame course? Well, there are a few reasons. First, I always consider
the most frequent questions of my pupils while considering the next course’s topic.

Secondly…

An Endgame Stage Becomes Very Important Phase And A Very Powerful Weapon Nowadays

In this introductory video I am going to tell you why it is so.

In these latter days computers bear strong influence on chess players. Computers have changed
players’ learning, opening and pre-game preparation and the game style in general.

Modern chess players mainly know:

- A lot of opening lines.

- Standard middlegame plans (everyone can find a lot of typical games for a certain position in a
database).

- They can calculate tactical variations well (computers are very strong in tactics and calculation,
thus we have a great teacher here).

This Is A Typical Chess Portrait Of A Modern Player

As you know, we should exploit the opponent’s weaknesses to gain a victory. Therefore, let’s think
about weak points of such players.

Perhaps you have noticed that all the merits in this portrait are relates to an opening and a
middlegame stage. Thus…

There Is A Huge Hole In An Endgame

A lot of players (even titled players) don’t play endgames very well.

If You Can Do It A Bit Better, You’ll Get The Great Advantage Over All Of Them!

One my friend, who is an experienced Grandmaster, says: “Last 10 years I’ve fed my family on
endgames’ account”. Certainly it is a bit joke, but it is not far away from reality.

“An Endgame Expert” by GM Igor Smirnov. http://chess-teacher.com All rights reserved.

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Another friend once came from the tournament, where he got the 1st place. When he showed me
his games, I was quite surprised: in 7 games out of 9 he had a totally equal endgame positions. At
the same time he won most of these games.

When I asked him about this situation, he answered me the following:

“You know how it happens: you play and get an equal endgame, then your opponent offers you
a draw, and when you decline it - he doesn’t know what to do at all. After that an opponent
starts making silly things and you win easily.”

This time it is not a joke even. It really happens like this in practical games.

Let me show you one concrete example.

Malakhov V. – Najer E.

White: Kg1, Qe3, Bc3, Bd1 Pawns: b4, c5, e4, f2, g3, h4.
Black: Kg8, Qe7, Bc7, Bg6 Pawns: b7, c6, e5, f6, g7, h6.

It’s White’s Turn

During the whole game the situation was about equal and now it comes to an equal endgame.

Let’s see what happened then.

White played 28.Bg4-Qe8. Black did a mistake. He tries to cover the c8 square, but it was better to
make it by playing 28…Qd8. Now white is playing 29.Qd3 and is getting the control over the open
file.

29…Kf8 30.Bd2-Bb8. Another strange move was played. I am not sure what is the idea behind the
30…Bb8 move. Instead of that black still was able to play 30…Qd8 with a normal position.

31.b5-h5 32.Bh3-cb. The black’s position has already become unpleasant, but after 32…cb it is just
loosing.

White played 33.Bb4 and black has no sufficient defense against the c6 discovered check. 33…Kg8
doesn’t help, because white will play 34.Qd5-Kh7 35.Qb7 and the “c” pawn will go forward very
soon.

“An Endgame Expert” by GM Igor Smirnov. http://chess-teacher.com All rights reserved.

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Black Did Mistakes By Every Second Move And Lost An Equal Endgame Very Quickly

Do you think that he is just a weak player? No, he is a strong Grandmaster with 2600 rating. I can
show you a lot of similar examples.

You can see that even very strong players have huge problems in an endgame stage.

Why the situation is so sad? Well, as I’ve already told you a computer can’t help much here.

That’s Why Nobody Knows Exactly How To Improve One’s Endgame Skills

Endgame books are not very helpful either.

There are 2 main types of endgame materials:

- An endgame manual, which contains a couple of well-known rules. Something like “You should
bring the king into the game”. Such books are good only for the beginners.

- The collection of theoretical positions. It is something like a rook and a pawn against a rook, and
so on. Many chess players think that to play an endgame well, you need to learn a lot of
theoretical positions. It is a common misunderstanding and I’d like to warn you against it.

First and foremost…

Most Of Theoretical Positions Never Happen

How often have you played a position with a queen and a pawn against a queen in tournament
games? For most players the answer is “Never”. Even if you played it once or twice, it is so scarce
that we may not to consider it seriously.

Yes, some theoretical positions happen more often. Nevertheless, the quantity of such positions is
quite low and you can learn them relatively easily.

Here Is What Happens In A Practical Game Play Most Often

You get a knotty endgame position.

In such situation you should rely MORE on your general endgame understanding, not on your
memory. The one with better endgame skills will outplay his opponent.

When the situation clears and nears its end (when a theoretical position may happen), the result
of the game is already clear.

We may conclude again, that your theoretical knowledge is not the main factor.

“An Endgame Expert” by GM Igor Smirnov. http://chess-teacher.com All rights reserved.

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There is a famous game Capablanca J.R.-Menchik V, where 2 World Champions did a lot of
mistakes in a simple theoretical position.

Capablanca J.R.-Menchik V

White: Kf7, Re7 and pawn on f6.

Black: Kh7, Rb6

It’s Black’s Turn

It is the black’s turn and it is a well-known theoretical position. Almost any move for black is good
enough for a draw. The only thing that black should not do is to keep the rook on the 6th rank.
Nevertheless, it is exactly what black did in the game.

55…Ra6?.

Now the situation becomes easily winning for white. He should play 56.Kf8 check and push the
pawn then.

Instead of that Capablanca played 56.Rd7?, which is a terrible mistake and which misses a win.
56…Ra8 57.Re7 The similar situation happens again. As we already know black should move the
rook somewhere. Almost any square except the a6 is good. However, black did this mistake again
57…Ra6?

This time Capablanca played the correct move 58.Kf8-Kg6 59.f7. Now the situation becomes easily
winning for white, but the adventures don’t stop here. By the way, now we can see why the a6
square is bad for the rook.

After 59…Kf6 white may respond 60.Kg8 and black can’t make check on the “g” file, because his
king closes the rook line.

In the game black played 59…Ra8 60.Re8-Ra7 61.Re6-Kh7

Now white should move the rook somewhere back to be able to make checks. Instead of that he
did another terrible mistake 62.Ke8?.

Here after 62…Ra8 63. Ke7 black can play Kg7 and it is a draw! White has no defense against Ra7
check. If the white’s rook was on another square, he could make a check on the “g” file, but now
he can’t.

“An Endgame Expert” by GM Igor Smirnov. http://chess-teacher.com All rights reserved.

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However, black did the last mistake and she played 63…Ra7? And white finally won the game after
64.Kf6.

It is a well-known game and usually authors show it to prove an importance of knowing theoretical
positions.

I’ve showed you this game with an opposite purpose. Yes, they both did a lot of mistakes.

However:
- They both were World Champions.
- Capablanca was a genius of an endgame and he won most of his endgame positions.
- Capablanca won this game anyway.

I am not saying that you don’t need to study theoretical positions at all. I say that it is not the main
thing.

Spend 10% Of Your Endgame Study To The Theoretical Positions

And 90% - To The General Endgame Skills

This course “An Endgame Expert” will help you to develop your general understanding.

There are a lot of books containing the collections of theoretical positions and I am sure you can
study them by yourself.

There are a few more reasons why it is important to play an endgame well:

- Modern opening theory sometimes leads to an endgame.

It happens especially often in sharp openings like Najdorf variation, Gruenfeld defense or King’s Indian
defense.

- Normally a game between 2 players will be decided in an endgame.

Rarely you can checkmate your opponent in a middlegame.Even if you develop a strong attack, an
opponent can sacrifice a pawn or an exchange, but prevent himself from being mated. Therefore you have
to be able to realize your advantage in an endgame to gain a well-deserved victory.

- We often play endgames in a time trouble.

Thus you need to have a clear understanding of what you should do in an endgame, and you need
to automate your endgame skills.

The one more note I’d like to make here is that…

An Endgame Is NOT A Draw

“An Endgame Expert” by GM Igor Smirnov. http://chess-teacher.com All rights reserved.

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A lot of players afraid to exchange pieces, because they think that such simplification will lead to a
draw. This idea is certainly wrong. Often we should simply a position to win the game! I will give
you only one example here, because we will talk about it later.

White Pawns: a2, b2, d4, f2, g2, h2.

Black Pawns: a7, b7, e6, f7, g7, h7.

For instance, when you play against an isolated pawn, you should trade the pieces, because it will
make it simpler for you to capture the isolated pawn in an endgame. There are a lot of other
situations when a simplification is the best way for a win.

I hope that after a study of this course you will see that an endgame is a very complex and
interesting stage of a game. Many aggressive plans are possible in an endgame. Moreover, most
players are not well-versed in this phase of a game.

Thus There Are A Lot Of Chances For A Win Even In An Equal Endgame

If you’ve studied my other courses, you probably know the basic ideas about an endgame already.
In this course I will explain everything in more details and will show you more advanced ideas.

I will explain some rules particularly and something may seem simple for you.

Please, Take It Seriously!

If I tell you only the final conclusions, you will have to mechanically memorize them. This is what
most chess books do, and it is totally ineffective. You can’t keep many rules in your head while
playing.

Instead of that you need to understand the endgame principles.

Then They Will Become Natural For You And You Will Follow Them Automatically

You don’t need to be reminded that you need to breathe regularly, right? J

This course will help you to play an endgame well and to make it easy and automatic.

Thanks for your attention! I am waiting for you in the 2nd lesson, where we will talk about
endgame planning.

“An Endgame Expert” by GM Igor Smirnov. http://chess-teacher.com All rights reserved.