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FIDE Surveys – Dejan Bojkov

Dejan Bojkov:

Endgame Mastery- Improve
Everything that You Have

You have definitely heard the fundamental
endgame principle "Do not hurry" many
times in your chess career. I know people
who take this advise literally and start
playing fast and careless at the last phase
of the game. while it is true that with the
new time control we have very little time
left to find all the subtleties in the
endgames we have, it is also true that the
Classics meant something different when
they formulated this principle.
The hidden wisdom in these words is- do
not rush to force matters before you are
ready, before you have improved
everything that you have.
Let us take a look at a very simple study
example from A. Panchenko:

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White has an outside passer on h2 and this
advantage is good enough for the win. The
winning process can be separated into
three parts. 1 - first of all we must improve
the position of the king and to get ready to
attack the black pawns.
1.Ke3!
Actually, Panchenko reverses the
phases in the plan and suggests instead
1.b4 b5 2.a3 a6 3.Ke3 Kf6 4.Ke4 e6, which

leads to transposition. For methodological
reasons I prefer to switch the phases as the
activity of the king is of major importance.
1...Kf6 2.Ke4 e6

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The king is optimally placed. Part two
comes next: before deflecting the king with
our outside passed pawn, it is always
useful to improve the pawns on the other
side of the board, in order to be closer to
the promoting rank.
3.b4! b5 4.a3 a6

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3 - finally, when all the preparations are
done, we push the outside passer, deflect
the opponent's king, and win all the black
pawns.
5.h4! Kg6 6.Ke5 Kh5 7.Ke6 Kh4
8.Kd5+– 1:0.
Simple and effective play. However, a lot
of my students ask me the very reasonable

FIDE Surveys – Dejan Bojkov

question- why could not White simply
phase two and start advancing the h pawn
instead:

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Indeed, the move
2.h4
(Instead of the move 2.b4!), wins after
2...Kf7 3.h5 Kf6 4.h6 Kg6 5.Ke5 Kh6
6.Ke6 Kg5 7.Kd7 Kf4 8.Kc7 b5 9.Kb7 b4
10.Ka7 Ke3 11.Kb6 Kd3 12.Kb5 Kc2
13.Kb4
The white king comes just in time. 1:0.

However, it will be fundamentally wrong
to teach the students play this way. If we
compare the two lines, we shall see, that in
the second one White won the game for
just one tempo. One tempo means the
world in the endgame, very often this is the
thin difference between a draw and a win
(and sometimes even a loss and a win).
Further on, White had to be very precise in
his/her calculation and this is not always
possible at the end of a long, exhausting
game with little time left on the clock.
Take into an account the fact that we had a
relatively simple pawn endgame, this could
have easily have been a complicated rook
one instead.
Most importantly, if we have chosen the
second way- we did not learn the
fundamental chess habit of limiting the
chances of the opponent. Just check once
more the position after move two by
Black- can he do anything? Of course not,
they are doomed to passive defense. Then,

it would not hurt if we improve everything
that we have to the maximum.
How important the endgame habits are
demonstrates the following rapid game
from the World Cup in Baku:

Jakovenko D. : Amin B.
Baku 2015

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This was the second rapid game and after a
draw in the first one Amin has to fight for
his life. The white king is ready to grab the
last black pawns and the bishop is clearly
superior to the knight. In time trouble, the
Egyptian GM made the most obvious
move:
66...Kf3?
But this failed to activate everything that
he had. The study-like draw could have
been achieved with 66...a5! One good
think about this move is that the pawn
marches to a light square, where the bishop
cannot take it. Another - it improves its
absolute power by getting closer to the
promotional square. Black survives after
67.Kc6 a4 … with two possible lines:
1) 68.Bb4 Nd1 69.e4 Kf4 70.Kd5 Ne3
71.Kd4 Nc2 72.Kd3 Nb4 73.ab4 a3! and
once again it is the energy in this pawn that
saves the day, after 74.Kc2 Ke4 75.Kb3
Kd5 76.Ka3 Kc6=.
2) 68.Bd4 Nb1 69.e4 Na3 70.e5 Nc2
71.Bc5 Kf4! to force the white pawn into a
fork. 72.e6 a3 73.Ba3 (73.e7 a2 74.e8Q
a1Q=) 73...Nd4=.
67.Kc6 a5 68.Bd4 Nb1 69.a4!

FIDE Surveys – Dejan Bojkov

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Now the black pawn got fixed on a dark
square and will be inevitably lost.
69...Nd2 70.Kb5 Nb3 71.Kc4 Nd2
72.Kd3 Ne4 73.Bb6 Nf2 74.Kd4 Nd1
75.e4 Nc3 76.Kc3 Ke4 77.Kc4 Ke5
78.Kc5 Ke6 79.Kc6 1:0.
It would not be fair to blame the extremely
talented Basem Amin for not finding the
study-like draw in time trouble, in a game
with enormous psychological pressure, but
I have the feeling that if he had build these
fundamental endgame habits in his young
days things would have ended differently.
A similar mistake was seen in another
crucial game from the ladies' World Cup.
This time things ended well for the
"impatient" person:

Cramling P. : Pogonina N.
Sochi 2015

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36...g5
White has a better pawn structure and more

active rook. It is one of those positions
about which we say that the chances for a
draw and White's win are 50 – 50. In order
to crack Black's stubborn defense
Cramling needs to use every little tool she
has.
37.Kg3 Kd8 38.f3?
Too early. The do-not-rush (improve-
everything -that-you-have principle is
violated). Black had nowhere to go and the
move 38.h4!

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was the right thing to do. If Black now
captures that pawn 38...gh4? (Thus, Black
will have to wait with somehting like
38...Kd7, but then 39.h5! is the little
improvement that tips the scales into
White's favour.) 39.Kh4, then the white
king will get an access to the kingside and
this should be enough for the full point.
For example: 39...Kd7 40.Kg3 Kd8 41.Kf4
Rf6 42.Ke5 Rf2 43.Rd5 Kc8 44.Ke4+–.
38...ef3 39.Kf3 Kd7 40.Kg3 Kd8 41.Kf2
Kd7
For a while Cramling maneuvers trying to
find an improvement.
42.Ke2 Kd8 43.Kd2 Kd7 44.Kd3 Kd8
45.Ke2 Kd7 46.Kf1 Kd8 47.Kg2 Kd7
48.Kg3 Kd8 49.h4!
Back to the right plan, but in a far less
favourable situation.
49...Kd7?
Pogonina returns the favor and the game
transposes position that could have arisen
after the correct 38.h4!
Instead she could have saved the game
with 49...gh4! After 50.Kh4 Kd7 the

FIDE Surveys – Dejan Bojkov

maximum White can get is a queen
endgame with an extra pawn after: 51.Kh5
(In comparison to the winning line from
above White does not win a pawn after
51.Kg3 Kd8 52.Kf4 Rf6 53.Ke5 Re6
54.Kd5 Re3.) 51...Kd8 52.Rb5 Kc7 53.Rb6
Rb6 54.ab6 Kb6 55.Kh6 Kc6 56.Kg7 b5
57.Kf7 b4 58.g5 b3 59.g6 b2 60.g7 b1Q
61.g8Q (Baburin)

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but this is an obvious draw after 61...Qf5=.
50.h5!
Now White wins in the way she should had
won twelve moves earlier. The pawn on h6
is a fixed target and the white pawn on h5–
a potential deadly passer.
50...Kd8 51.Kf3 Kd7 52.Ke2!
Activates the last piece to the maximum.
52...Kd8 53.Kd3 Kd7 54.Rb5 Kc7 55.e4
Breaks into the enemy camp.
55...de4 56.Ke4 Rf6 57.Rf5 Re6 58.Kd5
Rd6 59.Kc4 f6 60.Rb5 Re6 61.Kd5 Re3
62.Rb6 Rf3 63.Ke6 Rf4 64.d5 Re4
65.Kf6 Rg4 66.d6 Kc8 67.Kg6
Also good was 67.d7 Kd7 68.Rb7 Kd6
69.Kg6 Ra4 70.Kh6 Ra5 71.Kg6+–
(Baburin).
67...Rg1
67...Rd4 68.Kh6 g4 69.Rb3!+–.
68.Kh6 g4 69.Kg7 g3 70.h6 Rh1 71.Rb2
Rh4 72.h7 Rg4 73.Kf6 Rh4 74.Kg6 Kd7
75.Rb7 Kd6 76.Rb1 Ke5 77.a6 g2 78.Rg1
Rg4 79.Kh5
1:0.

In order to avoid mistakes like the ones
that we saw in these two games, I suggest
to my students to follow a very simple
three step routine when playing in the
endgames:
The three steps that we follow are:
1) Look at the activity of the pieces.
2) Look at the activity of the kings.
3) Look at the pawn structure.
One should follow it in precise order as the
pieces have the most energy left in them,
then come kings and finally-pawns.
Let us check a modal game by a great
master:

Granda Zuniga J. : Fier A.
Baku 2015

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White is a pawn up and has the advantage
of the bishop pair. However, his pawns are
not ideal (four pawn islands and three
isolated pawns). On the top of that Black
has a good chance to build successful
blockade.  In order to win Granda needs to
improve everything that he has and ruin the
blockade.
38.Kf2  h6  39.Bb4  b5  40.Bc5  Be8  41.g4
White made a lot of progress, activated his
pieces and now the king.
41...Bc6  42.Kg3  Re8  43.Kf4  Re5  44.Bb4
Re8 45.h4 Ne5 46.Rd6 Ba8
All  the  pieces  are  wonderfully  placed  but
there is time for one more improvement:
47.h5!

FIDE Surveys – Dejan Bojkov

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The signature of the great master. There
will be no annoying checks on g6, the
black king will be in constant danger (if
the black rook leaves the back rank, the
white one will occupy it and Bb4–f8 would
prove deadly) and the pawn itself is
increasing its energy.
47...Nc4 48.Ra6 Nd2 49.Bc5
Not bad was 49.Rb6 Ne4 50.Bd7 Rd8
51.Bb5+–.
49...Be4
49...Ne4? 50.Ra8.
50.Bd4 Bf5 51.Bf6 Kh7 52.Kf5

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A pair of pawn were traded but the most
important achievement for White is that he
broke the blockade. His pieces are
dominating.
52...Nc4 53.Kf4 Ne3 54.Rd6 Nc4 55.Rd7
Kg8 56.g5

The most convincing win. White plays for
an attack.
56...hg5 57.Kg5 Na3 58.Kh6
With the idea Rd7–d5–g5.
58...Kf8 59.Kh7 Re6 60.Rd8 Re8 61.Re8
Ke8 62.Kg8

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The h pawn decided the game. 1:0.

Improving everything that you have is one
of the most fundamental chess principles.
The team play is needed when you have
sixteen chess units on the board which
need to prove superior to other sixteen.
In the endgame, things become more vivid
as every little tempo counts.
Thus, do not forget to check if there is
something little left to improve before you
go for decisive actions.