how to play chess endgames book

282 How TO PLAY CHESS ENDGAMES
4) The fewer pieces there are remaining on
the board, the more important is the position of
the king.
5) The more pieces there are remaining on
the board, the more insecure is an exposed king.
6) Not all routes of the king to a certain
goal are equivalent. Don't forget the ideas of
the bodycheck and the Reti manoeuvre.
7) Rook endings occur in practice with
great frequency. Study them precisely.
8) Fight for the initiative.
9) If you make material or structural concessions
in the fight for the initiative, then make
sure that your initiative is lasting and sustainable.
IO) Opposite-coloured bishops favour the
side with the initiative.
11) In endgames with knights, the initiative
and control often play very important roles.
12) If your advantages are of a dynamic nature
and threaten to disappear in the near future,
then you should play actively and concretely and
not flinch from sacrificing material, ifnecessary.
Naturally this applies in the middlegarne even
more strongly than in the endgame.
13) A weakness is a pawn or a square that
can no longer be protected by a friendly pawn.
Often a weakness does not occur in isolation
but as part of a whole weak colour-complex.
14) A weakness is only real if it can be exploited.
15) The enemy pieces guarding a weakness
must be exchanged.
16) The principle of the second weakness is
of great importance.
17) When attacking, always look for possibilities
to open a second front or to create an additional
weakness.
18) If you have many static weaknesses in
your own camp, you should generally not play
purely passively but should instead strive for the
initiative, to keep the opponent occupied, so that
he can't calmly lay siege to your weaknesses.
19) In the endgame, a wrong exchange is often
impossible to put right.
20) With exchanges, what matters is what
stays on the board and not what disappears.
21) With an exchange into a pawn ending,
the pawn ending must be calculated to the end.
22) The queen is particularly strong if it has
many targets to attack and if the enemy king is
insecure. Static positions in which everything is
protected do not suit the queen.
23) The most important criterion for the exchange
of queens is generally the situation of
the kings.
24) If you are promoting a pawn into a
queen, be especially alert. The promotion of a
pawn is often a critical moment at which mistakes
occur.
25) If both sides queen simultaneously,
then the side that can give the first check often
wins.
26) Don't play on the wing where the opponent
is stronger.
27) If your opponent is in a static position
without counterplay, then strengthen your position
as much as possible before striking the decisive
blow.
28) If you have enough time, take advantage
of every possibility of improving your position,
even if you cannot yet work out any concrete
benefits from doing so.
29) Think schematically and consider how
to achieve your target positions and dream positions.
30) With a repetition of moves you can show
who is boss.
31) Pawns cannot move backwards. Think
carefully about each pawn move.
32) Passed pawns must be pushed.
33) In a race between passed pawns, what
counts is not the quantity but the quality of the
passed pawns.
34) Connected passed pawns are very powerful.
If they have reached the sixth rank, a rook
alone cannot stop them.
35) If the king can support a passed pawn,
this is generally an advantage.
36) A queenside pawn-majority is favourable
for creating an outside passed pawn. A
kingside pawn-majority is an advantage in the
attack on the king.
37) The more pawns there are remaining
on the board, the more potential breakthrough
ideas there are too.
38) Knight endings are like pawn endings
(Botvinnik's rule).