How to Win a Knight vs Pawn Endgame in Chess

[@zanti4132]

Many years ago, I played around with positions like the ones shown by Mr. Ashley in this video. Anyone intrigued by the video should find the following two positions quite interesting: #1: White: king on a6, knight on e8, pawn on h2. Black: king on d2, pawn on h5. Unlike the positions presented by Mr. Ashley, in this position the pawns aren't already locked up on h2 and h3. White wins by first pushing the Black pawn to h3. The critical line goes: 1. Ng7! h4 2. Nf5 h3 3. Kb5 Ke2 4. Kc4 Kf2 5. Kd3 Kg2 6. Ke2 Kxh2 7. Kf1! Kh1 8. Kf2 Kh2 9. Ne3 Kh1 10. Nf1 h2 11. Ng3# #2: White: king on a7, pawns on a6, c2, e3. Black: king on c7, knight on b6. Black has only a knight left but mates in 20(!) moves. I'll give one key line: 1...Nc4 2. e4 Nd6 3. e5 Nf7 4. e6 Nd8 5. e7 Nc6+ 6. Ka8 Nxe7 7. Ka7 Nd5 8. Ka8 Nb6+ 9. Ka7 Nd7 10. c3 Nb6 11. c4 Nd7 12. Ka8 Kb6 13. c5+ Kc6! 14. Ka7 Kc7 15. Ka8 Ne5 16. Ka7 Nc6+ 17. Ka8 Kc8 18. a7 Nd8 19. c6 Ne6 20. c7 Nxc7# From the above position, I can create a new position that is a win in 22 moves by adding a White piece to c8. The win is then 1. Nxc8+ Ka8 2. Nb6+ Ka7, reaching the previous position. As far as I know, this is the longest forced win possible for a side left with only a king and a knight.

[@canbe9689]

Wow, just checked with a tablebase and 1.Ng7!! is indeed the only move that forces mate. Part of a 31 move forced mate sequence. Could any human do this? 3.Kd3 loses in 28 moves compared to 26 moves for Ke2 and there are probably a few other suboptimal moves.

[@xdman2956]

10:38 draw after ...h2 Thank you for the great vid btw!

[@ThePartybus25]

Maurice blundered with Kh2 and got confused by it himself 😂

[@Uerdue]

8:55 g1 square can also be coloured :)

[@99477446440]

Excellent presentation. I grasped a lot of knowledge easly.

[@rayzrealm]

*We're appreciative of your return to KZbin nevertheless, you battling others is what most of us came for.*

[@tramp6417]

Great lesson! Thanks a lot from Germany.

[@ThePartybus25]

5:00 I'm guessing it comes from the German word "vernageln" which means "to nail up".

[@Midnightwards666]

12:43 "What are the odds of having a pawn vs bishop endgame where the bishop controls the wrong colour"? Coincidence, I hear you asking that just 3 days after it happened to me in a game! Yes, it does happen. Luckily I had the side with a pawn and won the game... took 2.5 hours. After 68... Kd2 69. Bc4 a2 70. Bxa2 e2, my opponent resigned.

[@citystone1324]

Apparently, "finagle" comes from Old English "fainaigue" which meant "to cheat" especially at cards. But I'm skeptical of its supposed Old English origins because the spelling looks French to me. It looks like the French word "fainéant" which means "idler" or "loafer". In any case, "finagle" came back into common use in the 1920's and has seen several upticks in popularity over the last hundred years.

[@degmar]

What are the steps to learning the game of chess? I know how the pieces move, but don't know strategy or how to see the flow of the board.

[@vincentduhamel7037]

Do puzzles on Lichess, learn endgames on KZbin, play a lot and analyze your games afterwards.

[@remainconfident1]

Stream Brotherman!! DC native and love your commentary. Been waiting for you especially since E. Rosen and STL Get a lot of viewership buT want to see more diversity. Want to see more African Americans

[@Evilseedentertainment2015]

I wish I could believe in myself enough to be able to have those initials...

[@aaronchan1088]

only when your opponent's pawn is a rook pawn is it possible to win. any other pawn and it's a draw at best.

[@productno29]

The Mace Windu of chess

[@bradleyneufeld6127]

Just cuz he's a black person?

[@productno29]

@@bradleyneufeld6127 Because he's a master at what he does and he is reminiscent to the star wars character as many of his videos display a purple theme. Fairly intentional race-baiting there by you buddy.

[@bradleyneufeld6127]

​@@productno29 Certainly intentional. Whether or not it was just is the real issue here. Maybe I misjudged? How can I know?

[@bradleyneufeld6127]

I'm sorry if I did misjudge you after all.