The 50 exercises are divided into 4 sections, which will provide a step-by-step guide on how to learn the fundamentals in this endgame.
Step 1: the king is already trapped in the corner (exercises 1-20). Here we learn how to:
- Change front
- Release the Reserve Knight and deliver mate.
Step 2: the king is almost trapped in the corner (exercises 21-38).
Step 3: the king is 2-3 steps away from the corner, but the pawn is less advanced (exercises 39-44).
Step 4: the king is 2-3 steps away from the corner, but White needs to come up with an additional strategy to succeed (exercises 45-50).
Step 1 was introduced in the Weekly Endgame Column #2, and I recommend you to study it before you move on to the exercises. The Weekly Endgame Columns #6 and #7 were also focused on these 20 first exercises.
The steps 2-4 was introduced in the Weekly Endgame Column #13, where all the remaining 30 exercises (nos. 21-50) were presented.
The solutions to step 2 – exercises 21-38 – were presented in the Weekly Endgame Column #14.
The solutions to step 3 & 4 – exercises 39-50 – were presented in the Weekly Endgame Column #15.
Step 1: the exercises 1-20.
In all exercises, the Black king is already trapped in a corner. You will have to release the reserve knight to launch a direct kingside attack at some point, but I won’t reveal if a change of front is needed or not – you will have to work that out for yourself. To begin with, these 20 exercises are excellent to make you familiar with the basics of this endgame.
In the first 8 exercises, the Black king is in the upper part of the board. In the remaining 12 exercises, the Black king is in the lower part. The latter is more complicated, as the black pawn can at times be annoying as it moves down the board, disturbing White’s coordination.
Please also note that some of the exercises are positions already treated by me on the blog, but reversed or mirrored to make it more challenging. Having read about the position is not the same as solving it over the board. When solving the exercises, you can either try to calculate your way through to the solution, or you can set up the position and play it out against a chess engine.
8 exercises with the Black king in the upper part of the board.
12 exercises with the Black king in the lower part of the board.
Solutions to all 20 exercises can be found here.
As an extra task, you can try to find the win for White if Black moves first. This goes for all exercises.
Step 2: exercises 21-38.
In these 18 exercises, the Black king is almost trapped in the corner.
Solutions to these 18 exercises can be found here.
Step 3: exercises 39-44.
In these 6 exercises, the Black king is 2-3 steps away from the corner, but the pawn is less advanced.
Step 4: exercises 45-50.
In these 6 exercises, the Black king is 2-3 steps away from the corner, but White needs to come up with an additional strategy to succeed.
The solutions to the remaining 12 exercises (39-50) can be found here.
Enjoy!
The Weekly Endgame Column #12 deals with the Troitzky Line, and you can study this as well for a greater understanding of the endgame.