5 chess endgames every beginner actually needs

6 min read

Beginners study openings for 40 hours and endgames for zero. Then they reach a king-and-pawn ending up a piece, shuffle around, and draw. Or lose. I've watched it happen a hundred times, including in my own games.

You don't need all 40 endgames on this site. You need 5, and you need them cold, so that when the pieces come off you already know the answer instead of guessing. Here they are.

1. The opposition (this is the whole game)

Learn the opposition first. King and pawn versus lone king. Whoever "has the opposition" (kings facing off with one square between them and the other side to move) controls whether the pawn queens. Master this single idea and you'll win endings you used to draw and draw endings you used to lose.

If you take one thing off this list, take this. It comes up constantly.

2. The Lucena position (the winning rook ending)

The Lucena position is how you convert rook-and-pawn versus rook when your pawn is one step from queening. The trick is called "building a bridge." It looks like magic until you've done it twice, then it's automatic.

Rook endings are the most common endings in chess. This is the one you have to know.

3. The Philidor position (the drawing one)

Its evil twin: the Philidor position. This is how you hold the draw a pawn down. Park your rook on the third rank until the enemy pawn advances, then drop behind it and check forever. Half the "lost" rook endings people resign are dead draws if you know this.

4 and 5. The two mates you must never miss

King and queen versus king (the basic queen mate) and king and rook versus king (the basic rook mate). These decide more beginner games than any opening. You'll be up a queen with 30 seconds left and stalemate the guy. I've done it. It's the worst feeling in chess.

Drill both until you can do them in under 10 moves without thinking. Walk the enemy king to the edge, keep a square for him so it isn't stalemate, deliver.

Bonus: stop getting back-rank mated

Not strictly an endgame, but the back-rank mate ends more games than everything above combined. Your king sits on g1 behind three pawns that never moved, a rook drops to the back rank, done. Give your king an escape square early (push h2-h3), not after you're already mated.

How to actually learn these

Reading about an endgame does almost nothing. You have to play it. Every position I linked is playable against the Guru: you take the winning or drawing side, it fights back, and it calls out your mistakes in plain English as you go. Ten minutes each and they stick.

Start with the opposition, or open the full endgame library and pick your weakness.