Improve Your Calculation - Solve Pawn Endings

Welcome to an enriching chess lesson where we delve into the intricacies of pawn endings to enhance your calculation skills on the chessboard. In this tutorial, Chess Coach Andras meticulously guides you through complex pawn ending played by fellow chesspunk Maurits, offering invaluable insights and strategies to elevate your game. By unravelling the nuances of king and pawn endings, you'll sharpen your analytical prowess and develop a deeper understanding of chess calculation. Whether you're a novice or a seasoned player, this video is your gateway to mastering calculation and refining your strategic acumen. Join us on this captivating journey of chess education and embark on the path to chess mastery!

[@songbrothers4342]

Yay he fixed the video!

[@isaakvandaalen3899]

Learning basic K+P endgame technique has won me so many games as a lower rated player (1600 online) - and also saved me from so many losses. Having the understanding that "this position with no pieces is winning / lost / drawn" is such a boon for your positional sense, as it contextualises every single trade we make. K+P endgames are no joke, super important for everybody to learn!

[@buddythompson5284]

Using K+P endings to practice calculation is great advice. My friend and sometimes coach GM Melik Khachiyan agrees wholeheartedly with you. I've long looked for a published collection of nothing but K+P ending puzzles (not studies, which are useful in their own right) but can't find any,

[@ChessCoachAndras]

There isnt any on the market as far as I know. MInd you, studies are just as good as practical examples.

[@jimmccann3856]

Please see my reply to Andras above....

[@federicomontalbano6303]

Have a look at the "Pawn Endgames" chapter in Van Perlo's Endgame Tactics

[@buddythompson5284]

@@federicomontalbano6303 Thank you. I actually have that book but have never used it! I'll check it out.

[@kesetokaiba]

Nice exercise. I didn't calculate all the way to the beautiful ...a5! move, but I did correctly calculate and evaluate that Rxf3 was not the way for white. My rejection of this line was 1. Rg5 with the threat of Re5-Re7 penetration mentioned. They key moment for me (not visualizing as deep as ...a5) was realizing that white is a pawn down and is satisfied with a draw result. 1. Rg5 secures this easy to hold draw. In the mainline, I calculated 1. Rxf3 Rxf3+ 2. Kxf3 Kh5 3. Kg3 g5 4. hxg5 Kxg5 and I stopped here with the evaluation that black was winning due to King Opposition and intuitively recognizing that black's king heads towards the queenside sooner with the white king needing to work around their e3 pawn. I may have been able to calculate to ...a5, but this is where I rejected this variation for white and went with 1. Rg5 I knew was a straight-forward draw.

[@Road2ChessMaster]

I have been studying king and pawn endgames in Silmans Complete Endgame guide. I must say this exercise was quite hard still, but fun! The main point is that a lot of players dont really understand opposition, but since the book these lines are much more understandable for me as a club player with a 1700 FIDE rating.

[@richardlee-shanok5578]

I'm very glad that Coach Andras went over the need to go to F2. (7:11 in the video). As a lower ranked player, i did not see what was going on there!

[@cobeferraro3464]

Love endings and calculation videos! Great short video

[@adrianross7615]

Thanks for the video! Prepping for a two day tournament tonight and had to take a break to watch another Andras masterpiece

[@blazevandine5819]

Thanks!

[@NidusFormicarum]

Easy exercise. I came to the same conclusion with the difference that I played ...a5 first (after ...Rxf3 and ...Kh5) instead of last and that also works.

[@lincolnhowarth5357]

Thanks for the great video! What do you recommend as a good resource for practicing king and pawn endgames?

[@robinesperoza]

Dread, I found Kf2 for white and felt it "thus should be a draw", alas I was wrong.

[@jopln9978]

Wow I stopped at Kc2 and didn't consider ...a5!! Great video. Just a question: you've been constantly recommending us to practice calculation by doing some pawn endings (in streams and older videos), but I can't find books that are specifically working on that. I went through Aagard's calculation book as there are some pawn endings there, but not as much as I would've liked. So do you have any resource that you could share with us for pawn ending exercises? Thanks

[@michaelf8221]

There are infinite pawn endgames on lichess. Go to the puzzles and choose the theme of "pawn endgame" to start plowing through some.

[@jimmccann3856]

Oh man!?! Terrible answer to buddythompson. Correct is: Navigate to Lichess, then Puzzles, then Themes, then Pawn endgame. Right?

[@ChessCoachAndras]

Was gonna say that you had a good point here but then I checked them out and the first 10 were all completely useless.

[@SFCSOCIALAGENCY]

Do you have any course for beginners?

[@ChessCoachAndras]

I do but it is not about endgames. you can find it here: www.chessable.com/andras-toths-chess-basics-opening-strategy/course/218506/ also, my first course with Judit Polgar is reasonably beginner friendly. www.chessable.com/master-your-chess-with-judit-polgar-part-1/course/72262/

[@SFCSOCIALAGENCY]

​@@ChessCoachAndras do you have Instagram, I have some questions about the course?

[@Mike-cp1tj]

ok I followed till a5 no prob but still not sure WHY it's winning for black LOL. bxa5 then what.. ability to eval (i cant here) is as important as calc 😥

[@minersarentrealofficial4513]

Has anyone else become addicted to watching every video on 1.5x speed

[@PatVMurphy]

Not me, when Andras makes 10 moves in 3 seconds, I have to jump back 10 seconds. I wish he could allow down a little when moving the pieces. ♟️

[@thenapoleonlover113]

please dont make 8-10 minute videos. you cant learn much from short term content. more examples, better explanations please

[@xKD2]

As much as I enjoy watching long videos, I don't think this is a fair thing to ask necessarily. - He has a concept - Gives an explanation of why - Demonstrates how I think it's just as educational, if not more, for him to give just the right amount of information for you to go out and start learning rather than expecting him to do the learning for you.

[@richardlee-shanok5578]

I also learnt quite a bit from this short video!

[@mcronrn]

Are you paying him? If you pay him, he’ll prolly do what u want…