How to Win by Using Your King
When your king stops hanging out being lazy and watching TV, it's usually around the endgame. Most of the scary pieces are off the board, and he can meander out of his castle to survey the land. In this example, you will see how powerful the king can really be! By, Mrs Jessica E Prescott (aka BoundingOwl).How do you win an endgame? By promoting a pawn. (And then doing the Queen Dance.) How are any of these pawns going to get promoted if they are all frozen??
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White has a brilliant idea! Since the king can't break through anywhere at all, he uses his rook!
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Awesome! And how should White escort the pawn to promotion? Force Black to sac his rook for your new queen!
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The material is equal again, but not for long! White is winning because he will next go for the e-pawn. Look how far your king has advanced! Black has just played Ke7.
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And now White has the option of eating the rest of Black's pawns or promoting his e-pawn (with the powerful king's help!). The king totally dominated this game!!
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Remember, kings like to:
1. Castle in the opening.
2. Hang out and read mystery novels and eat popcorn safely in the middlegame.
3. Destroy pawns in the endgame and escort their own pawns to promotion!
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RELATED STUDY MATERIAL
- Read IM Bryan Smith's strategies about using your king to win when you only have one pawn left;
- FalseNarhwal goes more in-depth on when to bring your king to life and when to tuck him away;
- PinkHamster's super fun video shows a real-life ChessKid game where king activity was the most important idea.