Endgames

More endgames coming soon

Free chess endgame trainer

Each endgame has three parts. Learn walks you through the idea one position at a time. Practice gives you positions to win or hold against perfect defence, with hints when you need them. Challenge puts every position in a row against the clock. Every checkmate and the first endgame of each theme are free; the rest come with Coach.

Moves are checked with an endgame tablebase, which knows the exact result of every position with up to seven pieces. If a move turns a win into a draw, you see it straight away, along with a move that keeps the win.

Checkmates

Two Rooks Mate: Checkmate with two rooks.
Queen Mate: Checkmate with king and queen.
Rook Mate: Checkmate with king and rook.
Two Bishops Mate: Checkmate with king and two bishops.
Bishop and Knight Mate: Checkmate with king, bishop and knight.
Queen vs Rook: Beat a rook with your queen.

Pawn

Winning King and Pawn: Promote the pawn against a lone king.
Drawn King and Pawn: Hold the draw against king and pawn.
The Square of the Pawn: Catch a passed pawn with your king.
Triangulation: Lose a move to win the opposition.
Outside Passed Pawn: Pull the enemy king away from its pawns.
Pawn Breakthrough: Give up a pawn so another one promotes.

Minor Piece

Wrong-Coloured Bishop: Draw a pawn down in the corner.
Opposite-Coloured Bishops: Hold the draw two pawns down.

Rook

Winning Rook Endgames: The Lucena position: build a bridge.
Drawn Rook Endgames: The Philidor position: hold the third rank.
Rook vs Pawn: Stop the pawn and win it.
Short-Side Defence: King to the short side, checks from the long side.
Back-Rank and Frontal Defence: Hold with the rook on the back rank, or from in front.
Vančura Position: Hold against a rook pawn with the rook beside it.

Queen

Queen vs Pawn: Stop a pawn on the seventh and win it.
Queen vs Pawn Draws: Save a rook or bishop pawn with stalemate.
Defending Queen Endings: Hold queen against queen and pawn.

Imbalances

Rook vs Bishop: Hold the draw in the safe corner.
Rook and Bishop vs Rook: Hold the draw a bishop down.
Queen vs Rook and Pawn: Build a fortress the queen cannot break.