Endgame: The King Becomes a Hero

The king wakes up

For the whole opening your king hid behind pawns. In the endgame — when queens and rooks are traded — the king becomes the strongest piece on the board. He marches to the center and captures pawns nobody can defend.

Kings cannot touch

Two kings never stand on next-to-each-other squares. That rule is the secret of every king endgame: an enemy king can be pushed away simply by your king walking toward it. The side whose king arrives first wins the pawns.

Push the pawn you can defend

A lone pawn promotes only if its own king walks in front of it. King in front, pawn behind, marching together — that formation promotes. A pawn running alone gets caught.

Know the square

Advanced players know “the square of the pawn”: the box a running pawn draws in front of it. If the enemy king can step into that box, he catches the pawn. If he cannot, the pawn promotes. Learn to draw the box in your head and you will never need to calculate.