Pawn Races | Principles of Chess Endgames | GM Naroditsky

In this video, we explore the second fundamental concept that undergirds pawn endgames: pawn races! As we find out, pawn races aren't just about blindly pushing a pawn toward promotion. Winning pawn races involves a great deal of skill, and we outline five crucial rules that will help you make the most of all pawn race situations. Having mastered these rules, you can be sure that you will pull out pawn race victories even in objectively lost positions!
Daniel now has a Patreon! Check it out at www.patreon.com/danielnaroditsky.
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#endgame #grandmaster #chessanalysis

[@jonathansimbomeepo]

The fact that this series is free is already amazing but is besides the point. Regardless of that, this series is shaping up to be the best video endgame content anywhere. Kudos Danya!

[@rakhatthenut3815]

Tired of these comments, honestly, we all understood already that we lucky that the videos are free, stop writing same shit under all videos.

[@darthmegan4237]

Nothing wrong with reiterating appreciation ^^

[@nephandi2316]

@@rakhatthenut3815 We gotta say something for the Algorithm :p

[@Sbigsla]

@@rakhatthenut3815 you have so much hate in your heart, i recommend trying yoga

[@benH215]

Agreed!

[@joelpalkia]

the last position is an absolute beauty, just 4 pawns on each side but it is so rich in depth.

[@ashish612]

Guys the best thing you can do is “like” this video so Danya gets some recognition and well deserved reward for such good quality free content. This level of advice from a GM would have cost you a lot of money only 20-30 years ago. I lied. The best thing you can do is donate to him directly on Twitch. But if not, this is the best thing on KZbin.

[@tonylikesphysics]

Please consider numbering these in the title. Someone unfamiliar with your awesome videos might search for “pawn race” tutorials and then they can immediately see this is part of an invaluable series.

[@jl1992]

Thanks to this channel, over the last 2 months or so, I've gained more points on chesscom then I did in an entire year previously. I can't believe I only recently found Daniel's channel because it is absolutely the greatest free chess resource on the internet.

[@danielotazo1042]

I've seen quite a few chess videos on youtube. In my opinion this is the best series so far. Thanks a lot for these excellently well explained lessons, Daniel.

[@adrianjensen2504]

Although agad is great for entertainment I’ve learned exponentially more from you in the last few months than years of watching his channel. You are my new go to, keep it up!

[@tadkoz]

Cannot wait for the rest of this series! I love your videos Danya!

[@sanju200100]

Danya, can you pls make a video on double pawns and how to use them in the end game to our advantage

[@alexf0101]

amazing stuff, keep going!

[@kimanigichuru1484]

God bless you gm ❤

[@sergiob8501]

Daniel, when comes the next episode of that series?

[@chandrakiran6258]

rule 5....I remember this game in speedrun...if I m not wrong...

[@joshua17111]

Concrete ideas will always supercede general principles

[@mewsermeow8683]

Huh, even in the first position, I would've thought that Ke4 would've given white a chance, as they're now able to capture the pawn further up. But even in the situation of 1. Ke4 Kd6 2. Kf5 Kd5 3. Kg5 Kd4 etc. It looks like black still manages keep pace with white despite white's pawn being further up. I'm guessing this is because black's new pawn is even further up than before?

[@dirkschwartz1689]

I thought to check that, too, and I think your assumption is correct!

[@Erikluzs]

I love how Daniel will thank us for listening when he’s the grandmaster giving us all these free lessons and ideas, I am and I’m sure we all are extremely grateful

[@totalhysteria]

Because he is a down-to-earth gentleman. That's the main reason I liked him from the first time.

[@jacobshirley3457]

It's a win-win situation.

[@ryanoneal8480]

I mean tbf he does benefit from having an audience, not that he wouldn't have a career as a commentator/writer but it is definitely mutually beneficial

[@sherazchannel8ji]

@@ryanoneal8480 there is humility in working for reward but it is also very easy to also get into flattery. But humility in hardwork is respected because when dealing with people, we all appreciate respect. I think he is trying to go with this approach. Every one tries to do the best they can in their ability.

[@groverclinton1081]

I hope this becomes the go-to repository for endgame knowledge, better than the famous endgame books.

[@sarcastaball]

Dude. Why don't you keep your craziness to yourself.

[@alekhinesgun9997]

@@sarcastaball where’s the lie🤔

[@sarcastaball]

@@alekhinesgun9997 what lie

[@alekhinesgun9997]

@@sarcastaball why is he crazy?

[@sarcastaball]

@@alekhinesgun9997 I have no idea. I don't even know the guy. What lie was you talking about earlier?

[@JanischMaximilian]

8:50 Rule 1: Don‘t take unnecessary pawns. 15:15 Rule 2: Don‘t put your king in the checking zone of your opponents passing pawns. 25:05 Rule 3: Simultaneous queen promotion doesn’t always imply a draw. 29:30 Rule 4: Use your king to force the other king into the checking zone of your passing pawns or to prevent the other king from stopping your pawn. 41:45 Rule 5: Prepare for a pawn race by pushing the prospective passer beforehand. 41:55 Bonus rule: You don‘t always have to participate in a pawn race.

[@Julz--93]

Danya, I just want to say please don’t stop making these endgame videos because they have less views. They may not be as popular as opening videos or the speedrun but it does not change the fact that endgame lessons are absolutely necessary. What’s more is that other chess content creators do not tend to go into endgames and when they do, do not go into the same level as depth. You are doing the chess community all over the world a massive service!

[@syauqiachmad]

_"The opening teach you opening, the endgame teach you chess."_ - S. Gerzadowicz

[@piyushgalav6483]

This means so much for people like us who are so passionate about chess but can't afford lessons either due to financial reasons or lacking a confidence in ourselves to invest money in chess. You are greatest Danya!

[@sanju200100]

Agree.. I am so passionate but can’t spend too much money on coaching. Danya, is like the real blessing to my chess career

[@animantus4293]

You deserve 10x more subs.

[@groverclinton1081]

This channel is seriously undersubbed. Hopefully that will change with time.

[@davidmays2660]

Just won a long pawn endgame because of the principles laid out in your last video. Can't wait to keep leveling up!

[@reesem6411]

Danya thanking us for sticking around for the whole video, when its us who should be thanking him. I have no problem with long videos, that just means that its more in depth and overall we the viewers are learning more. Especially since Danya is such a great teacher, really good at explaining things.

[@samglasnovich4682]

So true it's funny!

[@WetWading]

Pawn Race Rules 1. Do not capture unnecessary pawns. 2. Do not step away into the checking zone of your opponent's passer. 3. Simultaneous promotion /= draw. 4. Use your king to force the enemy king into the checking zone or to prevent the enemy king from stopping your pawn. 5. Prepare for pawn races by pushing the prospective passer beforehand. Bonus: You don't always have to participate in a pawn race.

[@jobliar937]

1 8:48

[@jobliar937]

4 29:22

[@jobliar937]

5 42:30

[@PerfectlyWeird]

Thank you!

[@Dudebug2000]

I'm so madly in love with this series to be honest. I may have an obsession. I thought I knew more than I did until now. Thank you Daniel.

[@niccor1506]

These endgame videos are a refreshing change from the millions of opening videos on KZbin. Thank you Danya.

[@John2xl]

Just managed to draw a lost position this afternoon by “deep-freezing” my opponents pawns. A concept I learnt in the previous video. Thanks Sensei ♟

[@bailinhuang]

Looking at the views, this new series is doing really well! Btw, shouldn't Daniel also promote his book Mastering Complex Endgames: Practical Lessons on Critical Ideas & Plans?

[@waltsemrau4260]

52 minutes on pawn races! Daniel, you’re crazy. Thank you so much. Haven’t even watched the video yet but I’m stoked

[@slimjim2549]

From the last video, already gained 50 rating, knew how to simplify to a favorable endgame. Danya is the best teacher. Ascended beyond super gm teacher, now is stockfish level teacher.

[@westonwheeler2311]

Its actually crazy just how well articulated he is with teaching to lower level players like he is

[@ZenMadman]

26:22 - I'm sitting here staring at the board for 10 minutes, thinking each pawn is about to promote on the next move, not able to figure out how black is going to skewer white. I unpause the video and Danya's like, "The pawns are going the opposite direction." And then the exercise is much easier! If only there were numbers and letters on the board that made it easy to tell which way the pawns were going. There are? Oh, right. Maybe I should look at those more often.

[@joeybrown9952]

Dare I say it, these are infinitely more helpful than Kasparov's masterclass, with the benefit of being infinitely cheaper!

[@KingoftheJuice18]

Daniel, when you apologize for going longer in a video, it makes me think of a waiter who apologizes for bringing an extra dessert to the table, or a masseuse who says that she's very sorry, but she must continue working on your back....

[@TigerChess2]

I hope you also make a series on positional ideas. There is no good series on that topic and many players suffer from that

[@NAITANNN]

Not all heroes wear capes, but some have curly hair. -Sun Tzu

[@rbr4784]

I'm so excited for the evolution of this series.

[@serge6730]

This series is the equivilent of Sun Tzu's Art of War.

[@noahhan6592]

I love these videos! I'm hoping to catch them in order like you mentioned but it would be helpful if you were able to number them in the title or the description somewhere in case someone gets behind but wants to study in a linear fashion! Thanks so much!

[@ericzenk4404]

great idea for a series. I am liking all the videos. I have to go to bed but I got 18 minutes in calculating all the positions in my head. (One example I only calculated the losing line for white, which kind of justifies the "don't take unnecesary pawns"). This type of video is one where I know if I put in the work, I will get better.

[@Gretchaninov]

It's hilarious how nervous Daniel is and yet he's one of the best chess teachers out there. This is great material.

[@camperino]

The prophet

[@Opferschach]

Do you also mean to cover complex practical endgames? In one of the earlier videos I heard you saying that you mean to cover every type of endgame, like in Dvoretsky's book. But to be honest, I hardly ever get pure bishop endgames, or knight endgames. I do get pawn/rook/queen endgames sometimes, but the vast majority of my endgames are something like two bishops against a rook and a bishop, or rook and knight against rook and bishop, in other words, not the ones that are covered in standard endgame manuals. I also have a chess friend who studied the book "100 Endgames You Must Know," he complained to me once that not a single time he got any of those in an actual game. I know you have written a book about complex endgames many years ago, so I hope eventually you will also devote some videos to complex practical endgames. Thank you.

[@ZhioN360]

Danya, when people look back on your videos years from now I think you may be looked at as the most influential chess educator of this generation, and one of the best of all time. You've adapted the content to the media of video and online play, and your clarity and depth have improved my rating and understanding of the game (and I'm sure many others) enormously over the year or so I've followed you. Thanks for everything brother!

[@smizzye8546]

I'm probably just crazy but I remember watching this video on 20th of April🤞

[@RandomChessPerson]

These are amazing! I love the systematic format, definitions, rules, etc. I've seen other "teaching" videos about endgames but they seem to be mostly examples or "here's the right move" without giving me a framework for learning the principles. This series, though, resembles that of a professor who is organized and prepared to teach. Great job!

[@sanju200100]

He is by far the best chess teacher on KZbin The content is amazing. Love that he is so humble, and this end game series was much needed. I watched his Passing pawn the other day and already won one game thanks to Danya. I infact had a pawn race situation yesterday (before this video) and I lost it. Now going back to that game I know where I went wrong

[@gannicus9995]

I’ve been watching youtube for god knows how long but this is the first time in my life that I liked a video before actually watching it.

[@hakimbeddiari5375]

screw it im gonna say it , I Love you Bro !

[@E8oL4]

Question to experienced chess players: Is there a trick to these calculations (something equivalent to the box for example)? Or do you actually calculate "I go here, he goes there, I go here..."?

[@mateusmendonca955]

I am not an experienced player (1600 rapid), but I usually just keep changing the position of my eyes and it helps. Like, if I am calculating a pawn race, I would look at the square the enemy pawn is going to, and then to the square my pawn is going to. I don’t know if it would help you, but that is how I do it.

[@perteadsf4914]

@@mateusmendonca955 In these long calculations, often the Black moves and the White moves don't interact. Therefore, you can count the number of moves White has to make to promote, and the number of moves Black has to make. Of course you should always be careful when doing this, as sometimes a player can stop or delay the other and then this works less well.

[@mateusmendonca955]

@@perteadsf4914 yeah, I agree

[@E8oL4]

@@mateusmendonca955 Thats how I do it, too. But It's tedious and sometimes I have a hard time tracking where I am :D During these videos, while following along, I realized it may be easier to just - similar to as Perte adsf noted - count the moves.

[@mateusmendonca955]

@@E8oL4 you can try it! I think that practice is the way to master this way of calculating.

[@massimoseveri3600]

This serie is an instant classic in chess teaching. Amazing!

[@sachinss5854]

❤️

[@iSa_10a6er]

Can you include something to indicate which side it is to move? I like to calculate before watching your thought-process. Thanks!

[@waltsemrau4260]

At the starting position for the puzzle, look in the bottom left square of the board. If it’s a1, then it’s white to move. If it’s h8, then it’s black

[@FM1234]

I already look forward to these videos :) They're very entertaining to me.

[@levinies2187]

At 24:50 I actually found a second winning line. The point is to threaten to stop the black pawn. This forces black's king to go to a square where white's pawn will promote with check. It goes as follows: 1.g4 a5 2.g5 a4 3.Kd4 Kb4 4.Kd3 Kb3 5.g6 a3 6.g7 a2 7.g8=Q+ Kb8 And from here the king is close enough to make the win. (The engine shows mate in 4) EDIT: After watching the video further I've just realized that what I described is rule 4 lol

[@noone-ld7pt]

God this series just continues to amaze! Done with my first watch through, going to go back and take comprehensive notes later! The concept of forcing the oponent king to a certain square with your own king was completely new idea to me! Absolutely amazing subtleties!

[@MatildaHinanawi]

Have to add again, this series is very followable and enjoyable even for a beginner like me, thanks!

[@Viriais]

Haven’t seen the video yet, but I’m loving it. Please Daniel, idk if the numbers are backing this series but don’t stop it! This is so so precious. Thanks for everything!

[@huiticus]

Please keep making these. I understand they take more effort and may get less views but they're exactly the kind of content that makes me feel like supporting you directly

[@ivandimitrov2111]

I already won 1 game using the "deep freeze" technic. Thank you very much!

[@Tocinos]

bruh i literally just commented something nearly identical to this, the coincidence tho

[@blueguitarist]

Disliked (I don’t want my future opponents to see this)

[@joshuanicholson23]

Is there any way we can donate / support you from KZbin Daniel? I don't have a twitch, but really want to support your channel and everything you're doing for us.

[@DanielNaroditskyGM]

Yep! I have a Patreon that I recently started: www.patreon.com/danielnaroditsky. Absolutely no pressure though, just watching and liking is plenty supportive :)

[@guilhermepn9296]

Top notch content. Brilliant examples and very practical rules. I loved Yasser’s Winning Chess Endgames for fundamentals and to me this series is right up there as a next step in my improvement. Thank you, Danya!

[@owenbrown723]

YAY I LOVE THIS SERIES

[@user-xv6wx9wj7w]

Great series

[@Concordborn14]

Loving this series! A great explanation of endgames and I'm already seeing dividend in my games.

[@joeybrown9952]

I'm pulling out a board, pencil, and notebook and am excited to dive in!

[@rgqwerty63]

Would have been nice to keep all the rules on the screen because you kept referring back to earlier rules. Great video though!

[@cupass6179]

THE GREATEST SERIES ON KZbin

[@bughunter1766]

I can see I will need to watch these videos several times each.

[@SLKCHESS]

Very useful this endgame series

[@reda4961]

Just finished the video. Thanks Danya

[@loveonick1]

this is a mindf*ck. I have to study

[@bradharper641]

These topics are not covered on KZbin even in most endgame courses Keep making these videos sir BEST CHESS CHANNEL out there

[@footballn4life1]

Absolutely brilliant series, this helped me significantly! I appreciate the top quality work Danya, thank you! Absolutely crushed the 1,800 computer with these fundamental understandings. Used your lesson to create two outside passers against a knight, A and H pawns. King was running around with against gap tooth trousers 😂🤣

[@illuzn]

Timestamps (My guesstimate of player ELO below) 0:00 Introduction 1:10 What is a pawn race (Beginner

[@Taquilou]

You are a good guy

[@xMartyZz]

Hey Danya, I am incredibly grateful for this series and I think you have taken a great approach towards teaching it. I would just like to make a suggestion - would it be possible to put the PGNs of the positions, at least the ones towards the end of the video, in the description so that we could easily put these positions on an online board to better be able to play around with it?

[@mathurin3398]

Creating the positions by hand is extremely fast and easy with the position editor on lichess

[@FreeAgentChill]

Another Great video Nardorksy

[@lucD-vj8gq]

very instructive videos. thanks.

[@Gralen84]

Please keep making hour long videos. The more content the better quality these videos are becoming. Thanks for all your hardwork Daniel.

[@rainerausdemspring3584]

Do not calculate pawn races as explained by Daniel (2nd example): 1. Kb5 Kg4 2. Kxa5 Kxh4 .... If White's and Black's move do not "collide", there is a much simpler and more reliable method. Count the the moves for both sides. In case of the second example starting around 5:45. A. Count Whites moves to promotion: 1. Kb5 2. Kxa5 3. Kb5 4. a5 5. a6 6. a7 7. a8D B. count Black's moves: 1. Kg4 2. Kxh4 3. Kg3 4. h4 5. h3 6. h2 7. h1D Now you notice that White can capture Black's Queen on move 8. You probably know that the endgame Q against rook pawn on the 7th rank is normally drawn, but here the white queen can move to h1 if Black does not promote the pawn.

[@griffinfamilyguy]

Rule 1: Inhale Rule 2 : Don't inhale Rule 3 : Ok, inhale but gently Rule 4 : Never mind stop inhaling My mind :oydihxihcoit@__@_@#_hfxohx

[@jefferson_caminhoes_2]

The best teacher. The same time he's teaching chess, he's also teaching english for us, foreign language. Flawless

[@edl5731]

I have a question/comment regarding calculation: For end games I get super confused calculating the way you do: white's move, black's move, white's move etc. White queens before before black can queen. My method 1, 2, 3,...8. 1, 2, 3, ...10. It's going to take white 8 moves to queen and going to take black 10. So white can prevent black from queening. (I count white's path then blacks.) Is there anything inherently inferior about my method or is it 2 sides of the same coin?

[@Finnyke]

14:50 I believe that c4 wins, for example: 1. c4 dxc4 2. Kxc4 Kd7 3. Kd3, claiming distant opposition. Now 4. ...Kd6 is met with 5. Kd4 claiming regular opposition with a pretty straightforward win with a pawn race; 4. ...Ke6 is met with 5. Ke4; 4. ...Kc7 is met with 5. Ke4, after which white wins the pawn race unless black plays 5. ...Kd6 stepping into 6. Kd4 once again; and 4. ...Ke7 is met with 5. Ke3, and after that white either claims opposition or just goes the opposite direction of black's king If black doesn't take the pawn, white will get access to c5, for instance: 1. c4 Kd7 2. cxb5 cxb5 3. Kc5 Kc7 At this point white can use shouldering to win black's pawns

[@gmofftarki]

In the Radjabov v. Fedoseev game, I don't understand the purpose between axb5+ after b5 as the second move in the exchange. It feels like it wastes a turn since the same pawn is going to be passed in the same position either way in such a tightly timed encounter. Does this not violate Rule 1 (Don't take pawns unless you have to) because of the check (which doesn't really seem to prevent the king from doing what it would want to do anyway) or is the doubled pawn on the a-file from axb4 significant enough to make up for the seemingly dubiously spent tempo? I'm sure there's a good reason, I just can't quite intuit it.

[@Nuffsed81]

PROBLEMS WITH THIS MANS ADVICE! Now I have so many new concepts to take into account when moving I will inevitably lose in time. So now I play better moves but they take me approx a month before I push. Now I can blame you Dan! ;-)

[@gunnermartineau5837]

The position at 34:15 is interesting from a black to move perspective as well! (I thought it was black to move when solving it haha) 1… Kxh3 2. Kd4 Kxg4 3. c4 Kf4! 4. c5 g4 ect… 8. c8Q g1Q+ 9. Kd5 Qd1+ followed by …Qg4+ Kinda cool that you got a 2 for 1 position there!

[@christopher19894]

Anakin was the best at pod races.

[@C0RY.M]

Dang! You just spoiled the movie for me... Worth it for the instruction.

[@rossmurray6849]

One request for this series, please, Daniel. Can you include something on the initial positions you show to indicate who has the next move. So viewers can attempt to analyse the position before you start to discuss it. I suspect the convention is that the player who has the next (and critical) move is shown at the bottom of the board. But that's not always clear from just looking at the pieces. And some won't realise it's possible to work that out by looking at row numbers. Can you show boards with the to- and from-squares of the last move highlighted in a different colour? Alternatively, can you display "White(or Black) to play" at the bottom of the board? By the way ... I'm loving this series so far. :)

[@dannystoll84]

48:48 I think it's not about time so much as space here. Black would still be winning if his pawn were on a7 -- the problem for white is that black's king is so far forward that white doesn't have enough vertical space to sneak around to the c-file

[@alexwiththeglasses]

After watching the previous video I was thinking about what a waste it’ll be to see GM Danya reviewing basic endgame scenarios (I think they’re called theoretical endgames?) like other videos already do, even though these videos convinced me even as a beginner to make endgame study a high priority. But I was wrong. GM Danya is already bringing so much more to the table here! Given his insightful commentary in hundreds of other videos I should have known better😆🤯🙏

[@gauge421]

Excellent. Thank you. I have a suggestion/idea for this series. You might consider numbering them either in the video thumbnail or the title so that other people who come across them know what order to watch them in. This won’t really affect me, as I’ll be watching for new videos to be released, but if this does end up being 50+ videos, that might be helpful. Thank you for putting the effort into making these. Very helpful.

[@DazDillingerCox]

Honestly you are the GOAT instructor. Will you be doing any more end game principles vids in the future? Thanks Danya.

[@ollivier75]

in the example at 15 minutes i would have gone d4 or d5 thinking i could win the f5 pawn by zug zwang but it's actually loosing to the only move Kg3, if black plays Kg4 he loses. I missed Kg3 and now i'm loosing lol

[@franklinwhitsell2987]

As an 1800 OTB player I think this was quite instructive. I can IF I have enough time on the clock brute force calculate these positions, but understanding there is a short cut in how I think about the position could save many games that end in a time scramble. We've all been there OTB everyone has used up all their time and playing on their increments or close to it. It is difficult to achieve reliable results without having this type of knowledge even if you could calculate it in perfect conditions. Thanks for this.

[@jackson32]

You can actually just count the number of moves to queen separately for each side. The first position is a draw because blacks pawn queens right after whites. i predict this before the position is played.

[@aluminiumknight4038]

Thx for writing the rules

[@junedy5043]

didn’t expect that fast! Thank you so much