15 Rules For The Endgame (Chess Ending Principles)

[@ChessVibesOfficial]

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[@mislavivkovic9996]

You cant play like this in the middle game you have to watch to not doble triple your pawns later is very hard to push for anything with a clock down too

[@MrKlettermax]

I work in a library and we normally like old books. Maybe your public library can repair it, even eventually for free😉

[@CxdyCxdy]

Love that you basically gathered the keypoints to an interesting book that I would 100% would have never read and made it into something super interesting & easy to understand visually

[@viktorvondoom9119]

Thank you Nelson. Personal notes: 4:42 Rule 3: When ahead 1 or 2 pawns, trade pieces but not pawns 7:00 Rule 4: When 1 or 2 pawns behind, trade pawns but not pieces 7:50 Rule 5: When you have an advantage, do not leave all your pawns on one side 19:42: Rule 14: A rook on the 7th or 2nd rank is sufficient compenation for a pawn (if it can block off the enemy's king)

[@seto749]

A similar principle that Edward Lasker attributed to his relation is, in an ending with bishop and knight, put them on the same colour as often as possible in order to control different-coloured squares.

[@adriansrfr]

Doing summaries of books and key takeaways is a great idea. Thanks!

[@Factsnotfox]

I have this book, although I haven't looked at it in years. English Descriptive notation seems so archaic now. My copy came with an insert listing pages of corrections (or mistakes). At the time nobody had ever attempted such an ambitious encyclopedic treatment of chess endgames. It was inevitable there would be mistakes. In the "Queens Gambit" TV series I recall Beth Harmon telling Benny Watts "I found another mistake in Fine's book". Yes, give us more content like this.

[@Paul_Hanson]

I learned descriptive notation a long time ago. Perhaps because it was the first thing I learned I like it better than algebraic notation. It seems more elegant to me. However, I will acknowledge that algebraic is easier to learn and less confusing. But still, I like descriptive notation better.

[@alancoe1002]

@@Paul_Hanson I hear you. I'm sorta stuck with it, because I have a lot of old chess books, and, like you, I learned on it. After years of algebraic, it's kinda jarring to use descriptive, but it's nostalgic as well.

[@marcconnelly5652]

Is it Laskers Manuel

[@michaels4255]

@@marcconnelly5652 No, a different book.

[@michaels4255]

@@alancoe1002 I still default to "English notation" faster than algebraic. I glance at the board and instantly know whether it's a King Knight's file, Qneen's Bishop's file, etc., and it is quicker to count the squares going forward (as is always done in English or descriptive notation) than to count them backwards as one must do when one has the black pieces with algebraic notation. But I do like that algebraic gives every square a unique identifier.

[@Lord7979]

I would definitely find it interesting to see more endgame techniques. Quite often I find myself with a palpable advantage and then blunder it away into a draw or loss in the late middle or end game.

[@michaelmassaro4375]

Im not the best at end game either I know bringing the king into game at that point is a must having more pawns than your opponent is a plus

[@JrbWheaton]

“Hmmm Hitler invading USSR, Japan attacking Pearl Harbor, world in shambles. Now is a good time to write a book about chess endings” -Reuben Fine, 1941

[@ChessVibesOfficial]

😂

[@xantte]

Books generally take 2 years to write, specialized ones I suppose much longer.

[@pem7107]

Just a little research on Fine showed that he worked for the USN in researching U-Boat movements (a little like chess), and as a translator. As a Russian Jew, I guess that he would have been very engaged in the war effort. Without much high level play, he probably just needed a outlet for his energy.

[@godlyvex5543]

well what do you expect, it's not like all life revolves around those war events, you're watching chess videos while russia and ukraine are at war

[@goodspellr1057]

"No matter how bad the rest of the world gets, I'll be Fine." - Reuben Fine (probably)

[@alexalexvnhcm6684]

00:00 Intro 00:39 1.Avoid doubled, isolated and backward pawns 02:48 2.Push passed pawns as rapidly as possible 04:42 3.When ahead 1 or 2 pawns, trade pieces but not pawns 07:00 4.When behind 1 or 2 pawns, trade pawns but not pieces 07:49 5.When you have an advantage, leave pawns on both sides of the board 09:03 6.With pawns on only one side of the board, 99% of the time it's a draw (when ahead by 1 pawn) 11:36 7.Pure pawn endings are the easiest to win 12:04 8.Easiest endgames to draw are opposite colored bishops 12:56 9.The king is a strong piece, use it! 13:53 10.Don't put your pawns on the same color as your bishop 15:28 11.Bishops are better than knight in all position (except blocked positions) 16:47 12.2 bishops vs a bishop and knight constitute a tangible advantage 17:49 13.Passed pawns should be blockaded by kings or knights 19:42 14.A rook on the 7th rank is sufficient compensation for a pawn 21:03 15.Rooks belong behind passed pawn

[@powerlinkers]

Stuck at 1800 because I am weak in endgames… I always lose out due to time pressure in the endgames. Your video is helpful. Thank you.

[@Lagger625]

That's why some are against blitz chess and prefer classic chess, where you can take your time

[@sushicooking]

may I ask what you are rated today?

[@dl1272]

😊nice 😊

[@randybarnhart6976]

I’m so glad that you found this old book and summarize the 15 rules. This was very interesting. Nice job

[@33niboR]

Blockaded pawn doesn‘t mean backward pawn. A blockaded pawn can‘t move because there is a piece in front of it

[@steinanderson]

and yet there wasn't one of those in the example, hence why he assumed it was a typo.

[@georgebush6002]

@@steinanderson Would the two A pawns be blockade?

[@aliguibril234]

A blockade is a technique used by the opponent, it's not a permanent feature of your pawn structure. It's probably a case of a shift in chess nomenclature.

[@dannygjk]

The confusion comes from in typical practical positions if a pawn is 'blockaded' the square in front of it is weak in the sense that you don't have a pawn that can protect that square. Even if a piece is not currently there a piece can potentially move there and physically block the pawn with no fear of being driven away by a pawn. So looking at it literally to say it's blockaded means there is a piece there. If there is no piece there but moving the pawn there would be a mistake then in practical terms it is blockaded.

[@georgebush6002]

There are too many positions where the compensation is enough to justify creating a backward pawn. Compensation for isolated, doubled and blockaded pawns is harder to come by.

[@trickyknights2226]

I love how simple yet complex the endgame phase is! Thanks for another amazing video Nelsi

[@ilmanti]

Man, you're some kind of psychic. I've been watching video after video about the endgame because I essentially lose every game that gets down to K+P or K+P+a piece and stockfish yells at me a lot, and now you come out with this nugget of gold. Thank you :)

[@lakshmanmohanlanka9334]

What's your rating

[@ilmanti]

@@lakshmanmohanlanka9334 1000-1100 ch*sscom

[@williamrheartloft]

Right now I'm thinking that I'm bad at endgame and you just post at the same time as I'm thinking that lol

[@sorinacios07]

That happened to me too, but it's because I'm thinking that all the time xd

[@alekhinesgun9997]

@@sorinacios07 I as well 🤣

[@joshwhitelam]

what rank are you?

[@mislavivkovic9996]

You cant do nothing just practice this is hardest thing in chess

[@mislavivkovic9996]

@@joshwhitelam i am 1700 now i went nuts for almost year to improve this

[@DDigitalDreamer]

Great teaching, great concepts and PACE. Many others are moving at lightspeed and are difficult to follow. Bravo.

[@bobroth1951]

I haven't played chess in years, but this is a really good tutorial! You can learn a lot in 22 minutes! Excellent presentation! You make it seem easy. Well done!!

[@denzilsemtex]

Love the way you reference old books vs stockfish odds, very good to analyse

[@mchammer8806]

On rule number 2: “can still win the game using that” that is the point of Reuben Fine using that pawn to the advantage not necessarily protecting it to promote to queen like you were explaining. That is why he is a GM.

[@awang_ir]

Oh geez, another high quality content! Great video as always

[@PabloLopezDuque]

Your content is so useful that every video I feel like adds up a little brick building my chess knowledge, it's perfectly sumarize, it really shows you spend time preparing your content. Thanks Nelson

[@etiennelawrence2589]

I love your channel Nelson! I really like the format of videos which are on the short side, with easily digestible lessons. You also have a really nice way of imparting chess theory. Cheers,

[@rosiefay7283]

10:33 Zugzwang is much rarer if there are other pieces, especially line-pieces (e.g. bishops). I think the point is that if the only way one side can win is using zugzwang, the position is probably drawn.

[@JohnTrasher]

Didnt know that zugzwang found its way into englisch Language 😁 it means turn obligation directly translated

[@insidetrip101]

Its so cool to see you use all of these old resources. There's so much knowledge out there. Databases and engines are not the only resources! I love how you've been doing this.

[@nomirrors3552]

This was great, thank you. I don't think I would like a more indepth video, but this was right on my level.

[@xantte]

General rules are what I would like much more of :) Well done :) Thank you :)

[@WakeUpBuildUpLevelUp]

Amazing teaching skills and very straight to the point! Thanks. Subbed

[@kp_devendra]

Great stuff there. I'll be happy to see more advanced concepts covered in videos like this one. Keep up the great work brother.

[@johnperkins1301]

Really enjoy your videos with understandable analysis and exploring options of each position

[@jimbuddy9142]

i love how this author managed to figure all of this out way before there were computers to suggest or confirm anything 😀 ... thanks for dragging this ancient tome out ... this information is invaluable!

[@michaelmassaro4375]

I enjoy hearing all the principles and instruction you go over I’m not a beginner my game does need improving for sure it’s more relaxing for myself to listen in sometimes instead of playing less anxiety producing

[@fts_02]

Amazing Video Like Always. These types of videos are my favorite, very instructive and helpful. Keep up the great work Nelson.

[@ValRoyD]

And if you study the book itself, it’ll be even more instructive.

[@j.thomas1420]

Thank you ! There is a revised version of this book by Pal Benko, and the conclusion now contains 20 rules.

[@zanti4132]

There was a time when Fine's book was well respected. Then in the 1970s, numerous errors were found in the analyses, causing players like GM Larry Evans to comment that he had a lot less faith in the book than he once did. When you see these generalizations, just remember that, as with almost any chess principle, the real answer is "it depends" - it depends on the position. Anyway, a red flag should be raised anytime someone say "99% of the time" (or 99.9% of the time, etc.), as the statement is almost always an exaggeration. Humans have a weak understanding of probability.

[@johnmarlin7269]

I owned a copy of BCE and it might still be somewhere in my mother's house. I wasn't ready for it at all (was in high school) but I managed to get through the basic mates and about two-thirds of the K+P endings. It was just too big and exhausting. So when I returned to the game after college, having heard about the importance of endings, I studied Averbakh's "Chess Endings: Essential Knowledge" pretty hard, and I one my next tournament and in two tournaments bumped up from an 1100 to a 1300 Elo. I'm returning to the game again in retirement and, yes, I've got a couple of endgame books to start my study (De La Villa and Silman). I hope it's as helpful.

[@redminote7334]

I was blown away. Not because of the rules but when he said horses change color every time they jump. I never noticed that. Excellent video overall, thank you

[@Consta53]

Great video Nelson. I'm trying to break 1200 for the first time and I think these principles will really help 👍

[@jmerk9556]

You know I've never read a chess book. I came to know most of these endgame principles after thousands of games. For anyone trying to progress up the ranks, I imagine reading chess books is a must.

[@sijumathew2234]

Awesome stuff.... seriously this is the channel which provides all sort of info to improve the game

[@davehumphreys1725]

I have a copy of the same book. Many years ago, when chess engines had been developed, I decided to put some of the positions from the ook into the engine. Now, I can't recall what games they were, but, I found at least 2 endings, that Fine said were wins for white, that were in fact draws! So I tried other books and found that the expert's conclusions were also wrong. So you should be careful with these old books. Modern, powerful chess engines can often come to completely different conclusions with some of the positions.

[@ChessVibesOfficial]

Good observation, Dave!

[@michaelkrailo5725]

I particularly hate examples of games where a player resigns too early. Don't assume it was a lost game. For instance, the commentator of that game in Logical Chess Move by Move (von Scheve vs Teichmann in Berlin 1907) totally missed the move 18.Bxf7+ that could have turned whites game totally around and at least played for a draw or possible win. That really surprised me.

[@davehumphreys1725]

@@michaelkrailo5725 I used to play a lot of weekend,competition chess back in the '70's, and I remember having to carry a suitcase full of reference books with me! These days, you have to be very careful using old chess books. Modern chess engines can often completely invalidate the conclusions reached by the authors.

[@nhalsey99]

I'm so glad KZbin recommended you. Thank you for everything, it's a huge help!

[@robfhh]

Mr Nelson ur channel is the best chess channel on youtube. I wish u to become a GM. U desereve it

[@shadowphoenix8962]

Ive Got a 60s paperback edition,I'd forgotten about that list. Take it out tomorrow, time for a review.thanks.

[@lordhelps1]

A "blocked pawn" is a rather general term that describes a pawn that cannot advance because the square above it is occupied by pieces or pawns and in certain rare cases it can be blocked by a fellow pawn as in doubled pawns the rear one is blockaded. This is different from a backwards pawn, which is a pawn that is behind all pawns on the adjacent files and cannot be safely advanced. A backwards pawn is frequently blockaded, forces built up behind the blockader, then when the blockader moves, can be attacked and won.

[@JaimeWarlock]

I had that book and the Art of the Chess combination by Znosko-Borovsky when I was a kid and studied them all the time. My openings sucked, but if I survived to the middle game, I always won.

[@favianaustinborja242]

Hey nelson, I love this channel it taught me chess for a long time but can you teach me how to trade properly because after some long trades I feel like I'm in more losing positions

[@s1ck_editz]

well if he sees this he might do it

[@johndrake3472]

Learned a lot from this - great video

[@cfgauss71]

Loved it! More, more, more please!!!

[@DDigitalDreamer]

Well presented using the rules as an outline.

[@jaskiratwalia]

I really love your endgames and tactics videos. I really think they are one of the best ones on KZbin.

[@ericsong19988]

The rule about trading pieces and not pawns when up a pawn or 2 is somethjng I never thought about and this just gained me 100 ratings thank you so much! Everything about this video is so simple and easy to follow but I never thought about

[@georgebush6002]

I can understand the confusion but I checked the book and I think Fine meant blockade. "blockade" appears 57 times while "backward" is only mention once in the context of passed pawns, which aren't even necessarily connected, (406) "If the more advanced pawn is not yet on the seventh in such cases, there may still be time to make use of the more backward one." The most explicit evidence for his intent is Example NO 81 (Page 40) "shows why blockaded pawns are such a serious handicap".

[@lancemcque1459]

Wow. Thanks for sharing. Those are really helpful rules to follow.

[@Qoko88]

Just for reference, I'm 1820 rated and the majority of these were not new to me, but definitely not all of it! The combination of what to trade when up or behind (rule 3 & 4) makes sense, but I've never seen it stated like that. Then there's rule 13, which might be a bit more position dependent, but is good to think about. Great video.

[@maroinu8112]

Nice, all your videos have been quite instructive.

[@giovannicorno1247]

Endgame is the less studied but most important part if the game. It can be classified due to little presence of pieces and technique helps when one is tired after playing opening and middle game.

[@hamm0155]

I have had that book for years but never thoroughly read it. Thank you for pointing out the list of rules in the back!

[@EloquentMoves]

I currently have this book, I borrowed it from my uni library. It's s do old that it makes it hard to understand and super long, but that also makes it kinda cool

[@jasonsiebold]

You are one of the best channels I follow. Hands down.

[@KeyloweYT]

Really great video, Nelson! Thank you!

[@thebee0320]

Blockaded pawns are pawns blocked by pieces, especially isolated ones or pawns that are pushed past their support if I'm remembering the terminology. I saw something based on this book before and I'm like 1300 so if it is too complex for my scrub mind or have no brain my apologies

[@cubicinfinity2]

About 13: I think there's an important difference between blocking and watching. Watching doesn't require standing in front of it, just being its warden so that it can't go anywhere. Other pieces used to do this are being wasted more than a knight would be in that activity. Yes, it's two different rules.

[@DM_Curtis]

This is why I love old books.

[@ChristianSoschner]

Helps understanding the endgame. Thanks for sharing

[@robertehrenworth3310]

Good video. Funny have Fine’s endgame book, but never waded thru it & didn’t know it summarized endgame rules at the end!

[@GNU_Linux_for_good]

Holy mackerel - seems to be the book of the books on that topic. Thank you, Nelson.

[@Ratherniche]

LOVED this vid - thanks a lot.

[@jameskerry6666]

Really enjoyed this.

[@joshpytynia8259]

Would like to know more about how to face two knights or two bishops in an end game and if it's good to trade Queens close to the beginning of a game

[@alexela29]

Thanks Nelson! I would love to see a rating climb where you trade down into a winning endgame each game. I think would be instructive! Or just any type of rating climb.

[@alexela29]

I know you have some, but I really like them. I love hearing the thought process behind the moves of a great player.

[@robhill5732]

There is now a 21st century edition of this book in Algebraic Notation. Winner!

[@ashvinim]

Thankyou for sharing important rules.

[@YonyBear]

Great video, solid list that you can remember in the endgame

[@roblodocus2539]

How did you get your blue rook Yony? Ive become a member but my KZbin doesn’t seem to recognise my link to patreon. Did you have a similar problem?

[@YonyBear]

@@roblodocus2539 I am not a patron member, I am member through KZbin. I think that's the key difference. Hope this helped.

[@roblodocus2539]

@@YonyBear ah ok thanks. Did you set that up by clicking “support” and doing it through PayPal?

[@ChessVibesOfficial]

Rob it's on the home page right next to the Subscribe button. It'll say Join

[@roblodocus2539]

@@ChessVibesOfficial I’ve seen people talk about the join button but it’s never shown on my YT app. I’ve just had my partner log in on Google chrome and it’s shown up on hers but when I went to try signing up it said it failed. Might be because I’m already signed up through patreon or might be because we’re away for the weekend in Austria so the currencies or something are different….? Will look again when we fly home tomorrow. I want to be able to fly the chess vibes subscriber flag is all 😊

[@jager0724]

Ngl, the video idea is amazing

[@DrLawIrk]

Rule 1: blockaded means blockaded, not backwards. In this case, black a5 is blockaded because it can't go forward and thus an attack on it will put the black team in a position where they will have to protect it with pieces (and not pawns, BTW). In other words, it will distract black's forces.

[@alex_zetsu]

9:16 I think this rule is wrong. I went over many tables of 4 vs 3 pawn endgames (which I'll define as either king and pawn, or one piece plus king and pawns) with the pawns on one side (as in the side with the 4 pawns have their pawns span 4 files or 5 files) played by 1300+ players in 30 live tournaments and just plugged the endgames into engines. Excluding the rook and the opposite-colored bishop versions, at least 1/4 of the remainder are wins (although the players didn't always reach said win and sometimes the stronger side would do something silly like blunder a bishop). When the 4th pawn is passed, this is a win more than half the time. I think the misconception is that when someone say "all pawns on one side" they tend to think ONLY of 3 vs 2 or 2 vs 1, and in games played by humans, there are a number of endgames with 4 vs 3.

[@theunlearnedmind7374]

Great video. Sure I would like to see more

[@edmilinski1295]

these rules are so good, tell us more from the old book -)

[@dagnabbit]

Excellent! Thank you.

[@nacho__063]

In which color should I put my pawns if the enemy has just one bishop?

[@flashgordon5488]

Generally on the opposite color. You let the bishop run into thin air and it can never challenge your pawns. Sometimes on the same color when you want to support some piece of yours or when you want to restrict the movement of the opponents bishop.

[@themanthattimeforgot2836]

Excellent video, liked and subbed.

[@Chessdrummer83]

holy crap I clicked on this video randomly and noticed the book straight away, I bought it in an old book shop a few weeks ago! I cant read the notation but its still a cool book. I wonder how rare it is

[@Patrick462]

Thanks. good rules to remember, simple.

[@Hyphon]

I think the 15th rule is actually about when you have a passed pawn and a rook, the rook should be supporting it from the back.

[@rizka7945]

It doesn't matter of which color the passed pawn is. You should put your rook behind it nevertheless.

[@Hyphon]

@@rizka7945 thats litteraly what im saying but ok

[@sergiob8501]

It is really very very interesting! Thanks, Nelson

[@JimJWalker]

An excellent book. I owned this book as a teenager, but never read it all the way through.

[@vites7295]

Great endings book, good chess presentation!

[@onnoquinten2944]

Best channel for actually learning chess

[@mathematicsreadinggroup7288]

This book has been reprinted and you can get it on Amazon. It may have gone through some new editions, but it's readily available.

[@shieldphaser]

If you are one pawn ahead, in 99 cases out of a hundred you are going to blunder that pawn and then no longer be ahead.

[@thomasaskew1985]

I've read Fine's book, but seeing it explained by you is informative.

[@Pnoexz]

Blockaded doesn't mean backwards, it means there's a piece in front and the pawn can't legally move

[@ericm1839]

I think the point of pushing that passed pawn is that it draws his king away and lets you use your king to take the rest of his pawns

[@teacherlee3527]

Very interesting. Thanks!

[@robertehrenworth3310]

Would love to see a series of video about rules for different types of endings. King & pawn endings. Rook endings. B v N endings

[@alijebrailzade7439]

Love it your teaching style is awesome man please make more endgame videos

[@Julz--93]

With Rule #3, when it says if you’re 1 or 2 pawns ahead… does it mean literal pawns or pawns in terms of points? E.g. you may have 2 more literal pawns than your opponent but be down 1 pawn because you’ve got one less minor piece. In that scenario would you trade pawns or pieces?

[@japanpanda2179]

It means points. If you have more pieces but fewer pawns, getting rid of the opponent's pieces will give your remaining pieces the opportunity to take a bunch of pawns and gain even more advantage.

[@Yonatan..]

Your channel is insane good. I dont get why u dont have more subs

[@SimeonDenk]

I don't see how a backwards pawn would be a barricaded pawn. I would think a barricaded pawn is one that has an opponents piece one square ahead of it, thereby restricting the pawn's movement.

[@deepskywest3633]

Excellent stuff