Endgames

Learn the box method to checkmate with King and Rook against a lone King — a fundamental endgame skill requiring patience and coordination.

Played as ♙ White

Learn to checkmate with two bishops by creating diagonal barriers, coordinating your pieces, and driving the lone king into a corner.

Played as ♙ White

Learn the Lawnmower checkmate — the simplest mating technique in chess, using two rooks to systematically push the enemy king to the edge.

Played as ♙ White

Master the hardest basic checkmate: coordinate bishop and knight to drive the lone king into the corner matching the bishop's color.

Played as ♙ White

Learn how to identify and use key squares — the critical squares that, once occupied by the king, guarantee pawn promotion regardless of the defender's play.

Played as ♙ White

Learn how a knight can blockade a passed pawn, and why the knight must take the right path to reach the blockade square in time.

Played as ♙ White

Learn the box method to checkmate with King and Queen against a lone King — the most fundamental endgame technique.

Played as ♙ White

Learn the winning technique in Queen vs Rook — use the king march and queen forks to win the rook. One wrong king move throws away the entire win.

Played as ♙ White

Learn the most important rook endgame winning technique — building a bridge with the rook to escort the pawn to promotion.

Played as ♙ White

Learn how to use the direct opposition — facing the enemy king with one square between — to force the opposing king aside and promote a pawn.

Played as ♙ White

Learn how to outflank the opposing king — approaching from the side when direct opposition fails — to win a King and Pawn endgame.

Played as ♙ White

Learn how to break through a pawn barrier by capturing to create two passed pawns that outrun the opposing king.

Played as ♙ White

Learn the most important rook endgame drawing technique — the Philidor defense uses the rook on the 6th rank and perpetual checks from behind.

Played as ♟︎ Black

Learn the winning technique against a center pawn on the 7th rank — combine queen checks with king approach to win the pawn and deliver checkmate.

Played as ♙ White

Learn Tarrasch's rule — the rook belongs behind passed pawns, both your own and your opponent's.

Played as ♙ White

Learn how to use a rook to create an impassable barrier on a file, preventing the opposing king from approaching a passed pawn.

Played as ♙ White

Learn why rook pawns (a- and h-pawns) are special — the defending king in the corner forces stalemate.

Played as ♟︎ Black

Learn the geometric shortcut to instantly determine whether a king can catch a passed pawn.

Played as ♙ White

Learn the shouldering technique where the king physically blocks the opponent's king from reaching the pawn, allowing it to promote.

Played as ♙ White

Learn how the f-pawn (and c-pawn) creates a miraculous stalemate defense against a queen. With correct play, Black forces a draw despite being down a queen for a pawn.

Played as ♟︎ Black

Learn the trebuchet — two blocked pawns, each attacked by the enemy king, where the side that has to move loses its pawn and the game.

Played as ♙ White

Learn how to lose a tempo with your king — three king moves around a triangle hand the move to your opponent and put them in zugzwang.

Played as ♙ White

Learn the Vancura defensive technique — use lateral rook checks to hold a draw against a rook pawn on the 6th rank.

Played as ♟︎ Black

Learn why a bishop and rook pawn cannot win when the bishop doesn't control the promotion square — the defender draws by reaching the corner.

Played as ♙ White

Learn when K+R vs K+B is winning and how to exploit a trapped bishop on the edge of the board.

Played as ♙ White

Learn the back-rank checking technique — hold a draw against a passed pawn by checking the advancing king from behind.

Played as ♟︎ Black

Learn why the bishop dominates the knight in open positions with pawns on both flanks.

Played as ♙ White

Learn when two connected passed pawns can overpower a rook — one of the most important pawn endgame principles.

Played as ♙ White

Learn how to win with two pawns against one: use your outside passed pawn as a decoy to drag the enemy king away, win the last black pawn with your king, then escort your remaining pawn home.

Played as ♙ White

Hold rook and pawn vs rook when Philidor is too late: put your king on the short side of the pawn and your rook on the long side, checking from a distance.

Played as ♟︎ Black

Two pawns down with opposite-coloured bishops — learn to build a light-square blockade with king and bishop that White's dark-squared bishop can never break.

Played as ♟︎ Black

Learn how to promote a pawn against a checking queen — shelter your king beside the pawn, block checks with a protected queen that offers a trade, and push when the checks run out.

Played as ♙ White