Endgame Studies

Endgame studies are Beasts! It is totally frustrating to see those constructed positions with just a handful pawns and pieces and forsee that you will never be able to solve it and probably not able to understand most of the solution.

It was a pleasant surprise to almost solve a study that popped up during my morning Tactics Trainer drills at www.chess.com:

The problem above appears to be a study and it is both instructive and solvable. Is 2012 the Year of the Endgame?

Pogo-dancing in the mindfield

Endgames can be a silly dance on the knife's edge. Here is a snapshot from a recent training game (see below). Maybe Mr Fritz is in a joking mode or there are a lot of blunders to be made in the position.

Maybe Mr Purdy has some clever rule to help us survive similar endgames. I did not find the proper move but I did not get the proper(?) punishment for making the naturally looking loosing move (Kd5).

A great chess teacher Valeri Lilov pointed out the fact that this can be viewed as an example of Corresponding Square.There is a little more to be learned.