The Endgame

The line between middlegame and enddgame is often not clear, and may occur gradually or with the quick exchange of a few pairs of pieces. The endgame, however, tends to have different characteristics from the middlegame, and the players have correspondingly different strategic concerns. In particular,  pawns  become more important; endgames often revolve around attempting to promote  a pawn by advancing it to the eighth rank . The king, which has to be protected in the middlegame owing to the threat of checkmate, becomes a strong piece in the endgame. It can be brought to the center of the board and be a useful attacking piece.

Usually in the endgame, the stronger side should try to exchange knights, bishops, rooks and queens, while avoiding the exchange of pawns. This generally makes it easier for him to convert his advantage into a won game. The defending side should strive for the opposite.

 

Alburt and Krogius give three characteristics of an endgame:

1. Endgames favor an aggressive king
   
2. Passed pawns  increase greatly in importance
   
3. Zugzwang  is often a factor in endgames and rarely in other stages of the game.
   

 

Max Euwe and Walter Meiden give these five generalizations:

1. In king and pawn endings, an extra pawn is decisive in more than 90 percent of the cases
2. In endgames with pieces and pawns, an extra pawn is a winning advantage in 50 to 60 percent of the cases. It becomes more decisive if the stronger side has a positional advantage
3. the king plays an important role in the endgame
4. Initiative is more important in the endgame than in other phases of the game. In rook endgames the initiative is usually worth at least a pawn
5. Two connected passed pawns are very strong. If they reach their sixth rank they are generally as powerful as a rook.