The importance of endgame training

by Jonathan Speelman
2/17/2019 – This week, JON SPEELMAN takes a gander at two games played by Niels Engelen, a 37-year-old Dutch software developer from The Hague (pictured), who is enjoying chess more than ever. Niels says he has been playing more often after having found a couple of chess buddies at his town's club, but he has also started to focus on training endgames, an activity that has already borne fruit. | Photo: Wikimedia Commons / CC BY-SA 4.0
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Speelman's Agony #93

This week's pair of games are by Dutchman Niels Engelen, who writes:

I was born in The Hague in Holland, on June 6th 1981. When I was 12, I sometimes played chess with my father on the computer, and when I was 19 I became a member of the chess club Discendo Discimus.

While studying, I became a bit obsessed with chess, collecting and printing a lot of games from Chessbase 8.0  (it was a long time ago...). I also subscribed to New in Chess and even met Dirk Jan ten Geuzendam (chief editor of the magazine) some years ago in the tram in The Hague.

Although I did all this work, my chess skills didn't seem to improve. I didn't get any tips from others on how to improve, until this changed some years ago, when I started doing a lot of exercises and began to study pawn and rook endgames.

My personal path to improvement has involved reading Silman's complete endgame course, 101 Chess Endgame Tips, Chess Endgame Training and Dvoretsky's Endgame Manual.

I also think it's important to do lots of exercises. I have worked through examples from these books: The Complete Chess Workout, Practical Chess Exercises and all of Jacob Aagaard's books (on calculation, strategic play and positional play).

At my own chess club I see a lot of chess players who have been playing for years with no improvement. However, I believe that with good study material you can improve your chess skills no matter how old you are. But of course you have to put some energy in it.

Playing through games from magazines and studying isn't enough. [...] You also need to play and at the age of 37  I'm enjoying chess more than when I was a student — I play regularly in the Netherlands, winning more often against 1900 and 2000 players  than previously. I have also written some chess endgame manuals for my chess club. It is in Dutch.

I'd like to mention  two very good friends from the chess club — Rein de Ruiter and Jaco Arkesteijn, whom I play against regularly at the club and in cafes.

By profession, I am a software developer, mostly web based. But sometimes I also build some desktop applications. I am working with .NET, Angular, MSSQL and PHP.

Also, sometimes I ride race bikes. Two years ago I cycled every week with the racing bike team "lola Cycling" from The Hague.

The two games Niels sent me are first lukewarm and then ecstatic. His endgame skills were very much to the fore in the first. He provided lots of notes which I've left fairly untouched, while adding my own comments as JS. 

 
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MoveNResultEloPlayers
1.e41,166,62354%2421---
1.d4947,29855%2434---
1.Nf3281,60256%2441---
1.c4182,10256%2442---
1.g319,70256%2427---
1.b314,26554%2427---
1.f45,89748%2377---
1.Nc33,80151%2384---
1.b41,75648%2380---
1.a31,20654%2404---
1.e31,06848%2408---
1.d395450%2378---
1.g466446%2360---
1.h444653%2374---
1.c343351%2426---
1.h328056%2418---
1.a411060%2466---
1.f39246%2436---
1.Nh38966%2508---
1.Na34262%2482---
I played this game for our club championship at DD in The Hague. I was a little bit nervous because my opponent Pim Ghijsen has a KNSB rating of 2124, while I have a KNSB rating of 1613. And the second reason I was a little bit nervous was because I had Black! However, the opening went okay for me, but in the middlegame White got the upper hand, and in fact could have gotten an advantage. But I am especially proud of how I played the endgame. That saved the game! 1.Nf3 d5 2.c4 c6 JS Niels also gave 2...d4 3.b4 3.g3 3...f6 which is a very sharp line contested at times by top players. 3.d4 Nf6 4.e3 Bf5 5.Nc3 e6 6.Bd3 Bg6 7.0-0 Be7 8.b3 0-0 9.Bb2 Nbd7
10.Re1 10.Nh4 Then I of course exchanged the bishops. JS Yes, Nh4 would just lose time. 10...Re8 10...Bxd3 This was my first intention, because this is more solid. After I played Re8 I realised that exchanging the bishops was better. 11.Qxd3 Qc7 12.e4 dxc4 JS I'd be much more inclinded to play dxe4, though it may also be a tad better for White. 12...dxe4 13.Nxe4 Nxe4 14.Qxe4 Rad8 JS This is in fact okay, though you'd need to be sure that d5 isn't strong and that's far from obvious to me without some thought: 15.d5 15.Rad1 Rfe8 15...Bf6 16.dxe6 Bxb2 17.e7 Bxa1 18.Rxa1 Rfe8 19.exd8Q Qxd8 20.Qc2 JS Here if anynody is more conmfortable it is Black, though of course it should be a draw with decent play. 13.Qxc4 Nb6 14.Qe2 Knight to b6 was the plan. But now White is I think a little better, with the two central pawns. JS Yes, I agree. White would be very happy to get this, given where he started. This would be also an option: 10...Ne4 11.Qc2 Nxc3 12.Bxc3 Bxd3 13.Qxd3 Nf6= 11.Bxg6 hxg6 12.Ne5 This is rather dull. This is what I expected: 12.e4! dxe4 13.Nxe4 Nxe4 14.Rxe4 Nf6 15.Re2 12...Nxe5 13.dxe5 Nd7 14.cxd5 exd5 JS 14...cxd5 15.e4 d4! is also perfectly okay. 15.e4!
This is how you have to play it! Of course, I didn't really consider this move 15...dxe4?! 15...d4! 16.Qxd4 Bc5 is much better because Black is able to regain the pawn with tempo and White's pieces are much more passive. 17.Qd2 and only then: 17.Qc4 JS is the move I'd like to make work, trying to put a spanner in the works, but simply b5 18.Qe2 Nxe5 is already rather nice for Black, since the obvious 19.Rad1 runs into Qh4! 20.h3 g5 with a serious attack. 17...Nxe5 18.Qxd8 Raxd8 19.Na4 Bd6 20.Rad1 b5 21.Nc3 Bb4 22.Rxd8 Rxd8 23.Rd1 Rd3 24.Rxd3 24.Kf1 Bxc3 25.Rxd3 Nxd3 26.Bxc3 Nc1 27.Bd2 27.b4 Nxa2 28.Bd2 f6 29.f3 27...Nd3 24...Nxd3 25.Nd1 16.e6 This is waht you want to play, slightly exposing the enemy king and messing up his pawns. 16.Nxe4 Nc5 17.Qg4 Nd3 17...Qc8 18.Qxc8 Raxc8 18.Rad1 Qd5 19.Nc3 16...Nf6 16...Nc5 was also possible but complicated. I generated this line with an engine, which ends up pretty equal, but you'd be nervous with either side... 17.exf7+ Kxf7 18.Qe2 Qd3 19.Qg4 Qd2 20.Nxe4 Nxe4 21.Re2 Qd5 22.Rxe4 Bf6 17.exf7+ Kxf7 18.Qe2 Qd3 19.Nxe4
19...Qxe2? Better is to first exchange the knights. JS Absolutely. Leaving the knights on makes it much more difficulkt for Black. 19...Qxe4 20.Qxe4 Nxe4 21.Rxe4 Bf6 22.Rxe8 Rxe8 23.Bxf6 gxf6 24.Rd1 Re2 24...Re5 25.Kf1 Rb5 JS This looks like a more interesting way to play for Black. 25.Kf1 Rxa2 26.Rd7+ Ke6 27.Rxb7 should end up as a pretty dead draw. 20.Ng5+ Kg8 21.Rxe2 Bb4 Simply to prevent rook to e1. 22.Kf1 Rxe2 23.Kxe2 Re8+ 24.Kf1 I was thinking about Kf3, but the text move is better. Ne4 Knight to d2. 25.Nxe4 Rxe4 26.Rd1 Re7 Maybe not the best move, but I wanted to prevent the check. 27.f3 Bc5 Just to prevent king to f2. 28.Bc3 To prepare the pawn push b4, but anyway the dark-squared bishop has to come to f6 in some way. Kf7 29.Rd3 29.b4 Bb6 30.a4 a6 So this would be the other option: 29.h4 29...g5! This move prevents h4 and gives a shelter for the king. JS However, the g5 pawn is weak and White could have tried to exploit this immedaitely... 30.b4 Bb6 31.a4 31.Bd2 Kf6 32.Rd6+ Ke5 32...Kf5 33.Bc3 is also uncomfortable for Black. 33.Rg6 Kd5 34.Bxg5 Rd7 31...a6 31...Bc7! 32.Bd2 Kg6
33.b5?! JS This way White aims for a stable advantage without risk. Instead, the move Niels was worried about, Rd6+, may be better in theory but would have entailed some risk in practice, since the black king will get into White's queenside. I was worried about 33.Rd6+ Kf5 so this was my move. But then anyway I will lose a pawn. And I think also the game. 33...Kh5?? 34.b5 34.g4+ Kh4 35.Rg6 Kh3 36.Rxg5 Kxh2 37.Bf4+ Kh1 38.Rh5# 34...axb5 35.axb5 Bc7 34.g4+ Ke5 35.Rg6 Bc7 35...Kd5 36.Rxg5+ Kc4 37.h4 Bd4 38.a5 Rf7 39.Ke2 Re7+ 40.Kf1 Rf7 JS and Black seems to be sufficiently active. 36.Rxg5+ Kd4 37.h4± 33...Bc7 And fortunately I didn't take the pawn, which was my first intention. 33...axb5 34.axb5 JS and then Bc7 was much safer. Bc7 34...cxb5?? 35.Rd6+ 34.bxc6 bxc6 35.Rc3 Re6 36.Rc5 Bd8 37.Bc3 37.g4 Be7 38.Ra5? JS which was my first though fails spectacularly to c5 when Black is winning! 37...Bb6 37...Bf6 37...Be7 This is better, because the bishop can more easily go to f6 from this square. 38.Re5 makes live easier for Black, because he wants to exchange rooks. 38.Rc4 Just preventing the exchange of rooks. JS Yes, White is a bit better here. 38...Rxe5 39.Bxe5 Bd8 40.Ke2 Bf6 At least Black can play bishop to f6. 41.Bxf6
I am most proud of Black's next move: 41...Kxf6‼ 41...gxf6?? And this would be a big mistake! The funny thing is that I got a similar position against Dominique at the Noteboom tournament, where I played gxf6 and eventually lost that game. So I didn't calculate this variation very deeply. Instead, it was more pattern recognition and intuition! 42.Ke3 Kf5 43.a5 Ke5 44.g3 Kf5 45.h3 Ke5 46.h4 gxh4 47.gxh4 f5 And now it becomes clear why gxf6 is worse for Black. Because black doesn' t have a passed pawn! 42.Kd3 Ke5 And here I thought I was lost, but apparently the position is a dead draw. 43.Kc4 Kd6 44.g3 c5 45.h3 Kc6 46.a5 g6 47.h4 gxh4 48.gxh4 Kd6 49.f4 Kc6
50.f5 50.h5?? gxh5 51.f5 h4 52.f6 Kd6 53.f7 Ke7 and Black wins. 50...gxf5 And this is a pawn ending right out of the book.The white king can't be hunting on both pawns to prevent promotion, because the pawns are seperated by two files. If the pawns where seperated just by one file, Black was busted. You can read more about pawn endings in the pawn endgame tutorials on the website. 51.h5 f4 52.Kd3 52.h6 f3 53.h7? f2 54.h8Q f1Q+ 55.Kb3 Qb1+ 56.Ka3 Qb4+ 57.Ka2 Qxa5+ and Black wins 52...Kd5 53.h6 c4+ 54.Kc3 54.Kc2 Transition of the position: 54.Ke2 c3 55.h7 f3+ 56.Kxf3 c2 57.h8Q c1Q 54...f3 55.h7 f2 56.h8Q f1Q 57.Qd4+ Kc6 58.Qxc4+ and here Ghijsen offered a draw. 58.Qb6+ It is all the same. Kd5 58...Qxc4+ 59.Kxc4 Kd6
JS A complicated battle in which Niels more or less equalised in the opening but then came under pressure after the inaccurate 19...Qxe2?!. He defended himself very sensibly and when given the choice of recapture at the start of the pawn ending understood that the crucial thing was to avoid White creating a passed h.pawn. Well done! ½–½
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WhiteEloWBlackEloBResYearECOEventRnd
Ghijsen,P2124Engelen,N1613½–½2018D12Club Championship4
Mooij,d1904Engelen,N15410–12018B02LSG_Open3

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If you want to become a strong player you have to study the endgame. That's just the way it is. Andrew Martin's DVD 'First Steps in Endgames' offers a superb introduction for players rated below 1600.

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Jonathan Speelman, born in 1956, studied mathematics but became a professional chess player in 1977. He was a member of the English Olympic team from 1980–2006 and three times British Champion. He played twice in Candidates Tournaments, reaching the semi-final in 1989. He twice seconded a World Championship challenger: Nigel Short and then Viswanathan Anand against Garry Kasparov in London 1993 and New York 1995.

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