The lazy person's guide to the lazy person's guide to the endgame.

As you probably can gather at this stage I’m quite interested in endgame play. I’m always on the lookout for instructional articles on this sphere of the game. While looking through the net I came across reference to GM Ian Rogers articles “The lazy person’s guide to the Endgame” (1) (2). Well that sounded just right for me, I'm a fan of GM Rogers actually!

The articles are quite interesting however GM Rogers title had more than a little pun in it! I’m afraid on reading the comments attached to the articles the author had been a little lazy himself. I will present just a couple of examples the first is only a small slip.

In the following position:

GM Rogers has this to say: "Diagram 2 shows the only type of trap into which White can fall—Black has perpetual check because of the stalemate trick 1. Kh6 Rh7+! 2. Kg6 Rg7+ 3. Kf6 Rg6+!." 

Simpler is 1. Kh6 Rh7+! 2. Kg6 Rh6+!!

The next example:

"With rooks instead of queens, White would probably not be able to win but with queens on the board White’s life could not be much easier—White pushes the a- pawn and then moves the queen out of the way and creates a new queen. Black can try to whip up counterplay but against White’s perfect kingside pawn structure he has no hope, e.g. 1. a4 f6 2. a5 g5 3. hxg5 fxg5 4. a6 h4 5. Qb7+ Kg6 6. a7 h3+ 7. Kxh3 Qxf2 8. a8=Q and Black has no more than some checks."

The following position is reached:

There is a mate: 8... g4+! 9.Kxg4 Qf5+ (same after 9.Kh4 Qf6+ 10.Kxg4 Qf5+) 10. Kh4 Qh5++. This doesn't change the assessment of the endgame as totally won for White, and easily preventable by playing 8.Qe4+ first, and only then 9.a8=Q. The Rules 1 and 2 are still correct, but it can be added (Axiom A?), that even in easy endgames a chess player still shall be careful...

The title of the article could stand if your opponent is also a lazy  person of course! Joking aside the corrections have proved very instructional. I have updated my own copy of the articles and they could provide good study material in the future.

Hope you enjoyed!