Chess Endgame Fundamentals: Safe Squares

Practice these positions and other important rook endings on Chessable!

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68 Comments

  1. John, I really like your videos and everything you do for the chess audience. This is pretty basic stuff for me (including philador and lucena position) and there are lots of video about those positions. It will be great if you can do some more advanced videos.

  2. Again a great and informative lesson! I hope we soon will start to see some chess books from you too.

  3. John Bartholomew, Chessnetwork, Ginger GM and Blitzstream are four must see channels with some of the most talented players that stream/do YouTube tutorials.

  4. I won so many drawn games because my opponents weren't aware of this little trick. This kind of position actually occurs a hell lot more than one would expect, so this is really useful to anyone trying to get better at chess πŸ™‚

    A minor detail about rook+pawn vs rook endings I would add. If you ever get into a difficult position and you mess it up, instead of saccing your rook for the pawn, go for the enemy rook and let your opponent promote. K+R vs a lone king is easy, even a beginner will mate you, but K+Q vs K+R is a very difficult endgame that requires really good technique from your opponent to convert if you pay attention to obvious double-attacks and threats. Even high rated players mess that one up.

  5. hi john, bishop vs knight endgame plzβ˜ΊπŸ‘

  6. That chess set is sexy as fuck. Anyone got the name of that particular set?

  7. really like how you explain every possibility john!

  8. Please tell me, what size is that board and pieces/?

  9. "We have to aprreciate what black is threatening here" hahaahahahahh, btw, nice quotes

  10. What kind of board and chess set are you using?

  11. Thanks a million!!! You explain superbly well! Endgame is something beginner and even intermediate amateur chess players neglect to study in depth and thus often end up getting in trouble when it matters the most, even losing the otherwise winning situations!

  12. this happened to me for the first time yesterday, and I lost. Great tutorial!

  13. Finally, someone using a real chessboard! I love it.

  14. John I love your videos you have helped me a ton. Where do you get that chess board?

  15. JustSkidding around - i dont know what skids are says:

    I had a game with a similar position. Only difference is I had my own passed pawn. I ended up losing because I was too focused on pushing my pawn and ended up getting checked and allowing black’s pawn to promote.

    Should I have just ignored my pawn and let it get captured? And then did this? (Black King was attacking my pawn if I moved away he would have taken it)

  16. Thank you so much John, I learned a lot .. make more ending position lesson πŸ‘πŸ‘

  17. Masterful instructor you are! Quick, simple and to the point!

  18. "that skewer is going to come back to bite you"
    Me: wait but I thought humans ate skewers, that why we make them

  19. The king is social distancing in this position

  20. Super clear, detailed description of all moves. Endgame is my weakest facet. You are VERY well spoken. πŸ‘ subbed!

  21. 5:12

    You said the king could be as close as c2 with white to move to allow white to head towards blacks pawn. But that's wrong, it could be as far as d2 and white can still play 1. Kc2 Rh1 2.Rxa2 Rh2+ 3. Kb3 and white's king is guarding his rook on a2 so he still succeeds in achieving the draw.

    I find it very annoying and disrespectful to me as a viewer when when people upload hastily made videos filled little with mistakes like these and it erodes your credibility. If you were wrong about that how can I believe anything you say? Please consider correcting your mistakes and reuploading. Thanks.

  22. Tx a lot Mr John for this nice helpful video. Ive fallen for this trap many many times.

  23. Bro, I remember seeing part of this series and not appreciating just how important these end game concepts are. I'm rated several hundreds points higher than when I first saw some of these videos and its only now that I'm specifically studying end games that I appreciate the worth of your end game videos. Thanks!!

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