A player who is not well equipped with basic endgame knowledge is liable to lose the fruit of even a well-played game.
Pal Benko
And I have experienced this myself in my most recent match against a dedicated master.
I defended the middlegame against his passed pawn and came up a pawn myself! However, I didn’t see the final move when he won the base of my pawn chain.
The resulting position was drawn, but the initial shock led me to believe my position was undefendable. There existed a draw with …Ra8, which I missed due to a lack of using the heavy pieces in the end.
I relied on tricks and strategy but mechanical knowledge of conversion was lacking. I failed to defend the resulting late middlegame with the heavy pieces and lost.
Thereafter I dedicated myself to Basic Chess Endings to cover any gaps in this area. This in turn made me a more solid, confident and formidable player to face both online and over-the-board.
Rebellious to Learning Typical Procedures
But I wasn’t always like this. I absconded this tasteless phase of the game because of the lack of aforementioned tricks possible. I could no longer rely on my opponents’ mental error; the positions are cut and dry, there is less danger of checkmate and almost no sense of danger from immediate loss involved.
As such I would learn quick wins and opening traps. This shot my rating up and I rose the ranks from beginner to intermediate, winning trophies every place along the state.
However, I couldn’t convert wins where my opponents survived the middlegame, despite a strong positional advantage. In some cases I even lost because I refused to accept this phase of the game had passed onto the next.
I remained at a stagnant intermediate strength. I won enough games to feel good, but didn’t lose enough to understand a change was required.
It was not until my most recent performance at a major national tournament when I led the score with a performance of 3/3. In the fourth round I managed an incredible comeback, hanging my queen in a magnificent tactic. My opponent was forced to give up his initiative and accept a losing position.
I converted the position to a knight and bishop endgame. As it was the last match, many spectators both players and supporters gathered to watch me convert the point.
I only knew at the time this was theoretically won, but did not know the steps to win.
In the most embarrassing fashion, I failed to employ the common W-maneuver. At one point my opponent claimed that I repeated the position three times.
I believed I only repeated twice, but as it was already twenty minutes past the scheduled start time for the next round, I accepted a draw. I knew I couldn’t make further progress.
I couldn’t recover and proceeded to lose the last round.
I remained frustrated for a week, but thanks to the help of my coaches and teammates, I was able to understand it after a few days of training.
From then on I appreciated the endgame more and knew I had to read Basic Chess Endings, but remained unconvinced of its importance – until I lost to the master in the event I described at the beginning of this text.
A Change of Heart
Now I am reading the book. I considered refusing to play in a tournament until I finish it.
It is painful to play magical middlegames where I obtain won positions and fail to convert.
However tournament play remains important to experience the strength of the masters and remind yourself they are not undefeatable.
From now on the technique shall not be neglected.
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