Endgame
The endgame is the stage that follows heavy trading, when too little material remains for mating attacks to dominate, so the kings join the fight and the struggle turns on promoting pawns and exact technique.
Rather than a fixed starting point, the endgame is recognized by a change in priorities. Mate threats fade, so the king leaves its shelter and heads for the center, where it can attack pawns and escort its own. Pawns, which were mostly part of the scenery, become candidates for promotion, and a single passed pawn can tie down a whole piece. Tempo counting also gets sharper: with few pieces left, one wasted move can turn a win into a draw.
Endgames are usually grouped by the material left. King and pawn endings are the purest form and the place many other endings arrive at after the last pieces are traded. Rook endings are the most frequent type in practice. Minor piece endings and queen endings each have their own rules about which material is enough to win.
A few theoretical positions carry a lot of weight, such as the opposition and key squares in pawn endings and the Lucena and Philidor positions with rooks. Knowing them gives you landmarks to steer toward or away from long before the board is empty.
Good habits: activate the king as soon as the queens leave, look for ways to create a passed pawn, and before any trade, picture the ending that remains.
A neighboring idea is Syzygy tablebases. Syzygy tablebases are a compact set of endgame tablebases created by Ronald de Man that cover endgames up to seven pieces and are widely used by modern chess engines.
It sits close to Endgame study. Endgame study is the focused practice of reduced-material positions, learning the basic checkmates, pawn endings and rook endings that decide many games and sharpen your sense of what each piece is worth.
Also worth reading is Theoretical win. A theoretical win is a position in which one side can force victory against any defense, so the result is settled and only correct technique is needed to convert it.
Endgame ideas like "Endgame" are won or lost on small details, which a coach can check in your own games. The first lesson with George Li is where that review starts.
Related terms
King activity describes how freely a king can take part in the endgame, by centralizing, attacking enemy pawns and supporting its own, and the more active king frequently decides otherwise equal positions.
A king and pawn endgame is an ending in which only kings and pawns remain, so the result depends on promotion races, king placement, opposition, and exact counting of moves.
A rook endgame is an ending in which each side has a rook and some pawns and no other pieces, and it is the most common type of endgame, so its main ideas are worth learning early.
Opposition is a standoff between the two kings on one file or rank with a single empty square between them; whoever does not have to move holds it, because the other king must give up ground.
A passed pawn has a clear road to promotion as far as enemy pawns are concerned: none stands ahead of it on its own file or the two neighboring files, so the opponent must spend a piece or the king to stop it.
Zugzwang is the bind of having to move when standing still would be best: the player on move has only moves that weaken the position, and since passing is not allowed, the duty to move itself costs something.
Guides that go further
What to decide first, the questions to ask, what a first lesson should show and the red flags to avoid.
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Published rates for private, group and subscription chess coaching, with the source and the date of each.
A game review, a read on your level and a written study plan from George Li.
Want to spot this in your own games?
A first lesson starts with your games: George reviews them and builds a study plan around what he finds.