Queen endgames usually follow pawn endgames, in which one or both payers have queened a pawn. However, it is rare for the queen to remain the only piece in the game after all other pieces have been handled. When one player has a queen and the other has not, the side with the queen typically wins quite easily.
Players avoid learning Endgames for three Basic Reason
- Studying the endgame is not important because the games are decided in the opening/middle-game phase;
- Results take time to manifest. One of the main similarities between mastering an opening and an ending is that the former allows for quick outcomes. But before you can truly test your endgame expertise, it can take a few games.
- The content. There aren’t many excellent books on this topic. With the invention of computers, some of the earlier texts became old.
Queen VS Queen
When one side has only a queen and pawns, endgames can be difficult to win since the opponent can frequently stop creation with a lengthy series of checks. To reduce the opportunities the opposition queen has, it is often crucial to centralize your queen and take over as many squares as you can. Additionally, you need to protect your king from annoying checks.
In the queen endgame, passed pawns are especially important since the queen is strong enough to remove any barriers the opponent may have built up on her own and free the pawn’s path. This is an example of it in execution:
In this case, black has blockaded the passed pawn, yet the queen may break the barrier with just one hand, unlike the rook:
- Qc6
Observe how the pawn and queen assist one another. Black is unable to switch queens since the black king is too far away to be able to capture the pawn on his own. - Qb8
The pawn can advance because the black queen is forced to retire.
- b6 Kf8 /b7 Ke7
The pawn gets stuck once more, but White may unlock it with the same move:
- Qc8
The white pawn will make the next move whether the black moves the queen or switches queens at this point.
It’s not always easy to prevent the opponent from just pushing a passed piece all the way across. Eternal check is the primary defense in a queen endgame. The defender should try to give an unending stream of checks to the opposing king rather than wasting energy trying to stop the passed pawn. Even though there is little likelihood of a checkmate—unless the opposing king is in a very awful position—he can be pushed to submit the game as a draw if he is unable to advance or find a haven from the checks.
White’s passed pawn in this position is almost a queen, and black can hardly hope to stop it. In addition, he may defend with a regular check:
- Qd1+ 2. Kg2 Qf3+ 3. Kf1 Qd1+ 4. Kg2 Qf3+ 5. Kh3 Qg4+ 6. Kg2 Qf3+
The game ends in a draw when the white king refuses to get out of the checks.
A way to make your job easier is to attempt and exchange the queens when you have an advantage, such as a passed pawn, but your king is exposed to opponent checks. In a situation like this, your opponent would likely attempt to avoid queen exchanges, but using your queen to fork an opposing king and queen is an excellent strategy to force the exchange of queens.
While Black might give an endless check with Qf2+ and White’s king exposed, White still has a passed pawn on the a-file that could win the game. White may stop this by forcing the queens to be exchanged.
- Qf4+
The black king and queen were hooked.
1…. Qxf4 2. gxf4
We have arrived in an endgame with a king and pawn, and black’s king is too far forward to impede the passed a-pawn.
Queen vs Pawn
A strong pawn supported by a king can sometimes be enough to force a draw in positions where the powerful queen and the meek pawn would seem to be a terrible mismatch of strength. Let’s examine a few examples.
In such cases, where the queen’s king is far away and the pawn made it to the 7th rank with support from its king, the queen can win if the pawn is a b, d, e, or g-pawn, but not if it is an a, c, f, or h pawn. We’ll examine the elements that lead to certain pawns losing and some draw. initially, the winning move in the case of a b, d, e, or g-pawn:
- Qd5+ 2. Kc8 Qe6+ 3. Kd8 Qd6+ 4. Ke8
To protect the pawn, the white king is forced to move in front of it as the queen approaches dangerously near it. This allows the black king to steal a step and get closer:
4… Kg3 5. Kf7
In a move to push the pawn to the queen, the white king rises once more.
5… Qd7
Black pins the pawn to end this.
- Kf8 Qf5+ 7. Kg7 Qe6 8. Kf8 Qf6+ 9. Ke8
The black king has another chance to advance when the white king has to move in front of the pawn once more.
9… Kf4
The process is carried out again until the black king is near enough to aid in pawn capture:
- Kd7 Qf7 11. Kd8 Qd5+ 12. Kc8 Qe6+ 13. Kd8 Qd6+ 14. Ke8 Ke5 15. Kf7 Qf6+ 16. Ke8 Kd6 17. Kd8 Qxe7+ 18. Kc8 Qc7#
How then does the pawn draw in opposition to this move? In the case of a rook pawn, a stalemate protective exists:
1… Qb5+ 2. Kc8 Qa6+ 3. Kb8 Qb6+ 4. Ka8
The white queen has been forced in front of the pawn by the black using the same strategy, but there is one variation:
4… Ke4
It’s a stalemate right now. This implies that black cannot force a win since the black king can never get close to the pawn.
There is also a clever stalemate angry with a c or f-pawn.
1… Qd5+ 2. Ke7 Qc6 3. Kd8 Qd6+ 4. Kc8 Kf4
You may be asking how White will draw this as everything is going well for Black thus far. This is it:
- Kb7 Qd7 6. Kb8 Qb5+ 7. Ka8 Qc6+ 8. Kb8 Qb6+ 9. Ka8!
This is the key move that led White to win the game. White may queen the pawn, therefore black is unable to advance the king at this point. However, if black captures the piece:
9… Qxc7
Again, there is a stalemate.
In summary
We hope that this post has been enjoyable for our readers and that they get new insights to use in their games when they face scenarios similar to the ones pictured above. we appreciate your reading, and we welcome your comments.