King and Two Pawns Versus King | Chess Endgames

Описание: King and two Pawns is almost always an easy win, but some positions require the knowledge of opposition and the rule of the square.

For an introduction to King and Pawn endgames, watch the video on opposition:    • Opposition | Chess Endgames  

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There are two main things you have to remember about king and two pawns vs king endgames. Firstly, they are winning unless you have doubled pawns and your opponent’s king is much closer to them than yours, and can capture them both.

Secondly, one principle simplifies understanding them significantly – the rule of the common square. That rule states that if the common square of the two pawns (drawn by using the two pawns as corners) includes the queening rank, the pawns don’t need the support of the king to win. If the square does include the eight/first rank, the pawns can just move up the board and one of them will inevitably queen.

If, however, their common square does not comprise the queening rank, their king is going to have to come to their aid for them to promote. One thing has to be emphasized here – the opponent’s king cannot capture them even if your king is far away regardless of how many squares apart they are! The best it can do is wait for your king to come up the board and herd the pawns.

Doubled pawns require some finesse. You will be applying the rule of opposition, the rule of the square and the principle of critical squares to win. The difference from King and pawn vs King endings is that you are always going to be able to get the extra tempo you need to gain opposition because you can always move the front pawn to make room for the bottom one to move!

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