There’s no hindsight in chess like endgame hindsight.
Point out a slick finesse in a rook-and-pawn ending or that clever triangulation idea that gains the opposition over the enemy king to hold a draw, and the typical player will nod in admiration and appreciation.
But trying to find such brilliant endgame ideas in the heat of battle is another thing entirely, especially if you happen to be struggling to figure things out after six hours of concentration-draining play.
Somehow, with just a few pieces and pawns to track and much of the board an arid wasteland of squares, even the best players can falter. Seventy-plus-move games can be decided by a single tempo, passed pawn races can be maddeningly difficult to handicap, and the character of the play can radically change depending on whether you are facing a rook-, queen- or knight-ending. Perhaps even more traumatizing are those cases where you reach one of those “theoretically won” positions, but can’t retrieve from your memory banks exactly how to win it.
Endgame woes have already played a major role in the 12-game FIDE Women’s World Chess Championship match that kicked off last week between Chinese women’s world champion GM Xu Wenjun and former champ and compatriot GM Tan Zhongyi in Shanghai.
After a draw in the first game, Tan broke on top over her longtime rival with a difficult rook-and-pawn ending in Game 2, taking the point in 62 moves after Xu failed to find the right drawing plan in the ending.
But Xu struck right back in Game 3 to tie the match, nursing an extra pawn to victory in a tough rook-and-opposite-colored-bishop ending that took 87 moves. Monday’s Game 4, yet another grinding rook-and-ending, ended in a draw after 80 arduous moves.
In Game 2, Ju as Black adroitly handled White’s bid for an advantage in this Four Knights English, only to falter in an even rook-and-pawn ending just before time control: 37. Kd2 Rf3 38. Ke2 (White’s more advanced king and the vulnerable Black b-pawn leave the champ fighting for the draw, but Xu unwisely opts for passive defense rather than keeping her rook active) Rf5? (in hindsight — of course — 38…Rb3! 39. d5 Ra3! 40. Rxb5 Ke7 41. Rb7+ Kf6 should be just enough to hold the pawn-down ending) 39. Ke3 h5 40. f4, and now Black had to find 40…b4! 41. Rxb4 Ra5 42. Ke4 Ke7, jettisoning the pawn at just the right moment to keep from suffocating.
Tan instead wins the b-pawn while keeping Black largely bottled up, and then shows some fine technique of her own to secure the point: 52. Rh7 h3 53. Kd6! (the only winning move; 53. Kc6?? Rc2+ 54. Kd6 h2 55. Ke6 Kd8 56. Kxf6 Ke8 57. d6 Rd2 58. Kg5 Rf2 59. f6 Rg2+ 60. Kf5 Rf2+ 61. Ke5 Re2+ 62. Kd5 Rd2+, with a draw) Kb8 (Rd2 55. Rxh3 Rxd5+ 56. Ke6 and wins) 55. d6 Kb6 56. Kd8! (staying away from dangerous tempo-winning checks) Rh1 57. d2 h2 59. Rb3+ Ka7 60. Rb2! (neatly taking away all Black’s options) Ka6 61. Re2 Kb7 62. Ke7 — Tan’s king finally gets out of the way of her passed pawn and Black resigns. It’s over on 62…Rd1 63. Rxh2 Re1+ 64. Kxf6.
—-
Perhaps because of the extra pressure and scrutiny they generate, world championship matches have regularly produced some suspect and shaky endgame play. Bobby Fischer notoriously took that poisoned h-pawn in Game 1 of his epic 1972 match with Boris Spassky, turning a dead-drawn position into a loss. More recently, Chinese GM Ding Liren effectively gifted his crown to Indian challenger GM Dommaraju Gukesh with an egregious miscalculation in a basic rook-and-bishop ending in the final, decisive game of their title match in December.
Another famous example came in Game 9 of the 1993 London title match between Russian champ Garry Kasparov and English challenger GM Nigel Short. Kasparov was at the height of his powers and Short unwisely tried to match his opponent toe to toe with aggressive, risk-taking play. The result: The Russian built up a 4-point lead in the first eight games and was cruising to a fifth victory in the ninth game, having emerged with a two-pawn edge after a complicated Nimzo-Indian battle.
But the endgame gremlins caught up with both players as White was no doubt already composing his post-game victory remarks: 45. Ra1 Ke5 (see diagram; although it seems any White move will win, there was a remarkable drop of rook-and-pawn poison that neither player detected) 46. e4??.
Kasparov’s move was natural — and disastrously premature (easily winning was 46. Ke2 Ke4 47. Kd2 Kd5 48. Kd3 Ke5, and only now 49. e4 Kd6 50. Kd4, and White’s progress cannot be halted), as now Short had the amazing drawing resource 46…Rc5!!, which unexpectedly wins a pawn by force while (just) keeping White from getting a new queen; e.g. 47. a5 (Ke3 Rc4 48. a5 Rxe4+ 49. Kd3 Kd5 50. a6 Re8 51. a7 Ra8 also draws) Rc3+ 48. Ke2 Kxe4 49. a6 Rc8 50. a7 Ra8 51. Ra5 Kd4 52. Kd2 Kc4 53. Kc2 Kb4 54. Ra6 Kb5 55. Ra1 Kb6, and the last pawn falls.
But a demoralized Short fails to notice the gift, and with 46…Ke6?? 47. Ke3  Kd6 48. Kd4, White has reclaimed his winning advantage. Black resigned four moves later and Kasparov went on to take the match by a lopsided 12½-7½ margin.
(Click on the image above for a larger view of the chessboard.)
Tan-Xu, Game 2, FIDE Women’s World Championship Match, Shanghai, April 2025
1. c4 Nf6 2. Nc3 e5 3. Nf3 Nc6 4. g3 d5 5. cxd5 Nxd5 6. Bg2 Bc5 7. O-O O-O 8. d3 h6 9. Nxd5 Qxd5 10. Bd2 Qd6 11. Bc3 Qe7 12. Nd2 Nd4 13. e3 Nb5 14. a4 Nxc3 15. bxc3 c6 16. a5 Bd7 17. Qb3 Rab8 18. Ne4 Bd6 19. Nxd6 Qxd6 20. d4 b6 21. axb6 axb6 22. Ra7 Be6 23. Qa4 Rfc8 24. Rb1 Bd5 25. dxe5 Qxe5 26. Qd4 Qxd4 27. exd4 Bxg2 28. Kxg2 b5 29. Re1 Ra8 30. Ree7 Rxa7 31. Rxa7 c5 32. Kf3 cxd4 33. cxd4 Kf8 34. Rb7 Rc3+ 35. Ke4 Rc2 36. Ke3 Rc3+ 37. Kd2 Rf3 38. Ke2 Rf5 39. Ke3 h5 40. f4 Ke8 41. Ke4 Rf6 42. Rxb5 g6 43. d5 Ra6 44. Ke5 f6+ 45. Kd4 Ra2 46. Kc5 Rxh2 47. Rb8+ Kd7 48. Rb7+ Kc8 49. Rg7 g5 50. f5 h4 51. gxh4 gxh4 52. Rh7 h3 53. Kd6 Kb8 54. Kd7 Kb7 55. d6 Kb6 56. Kd8 Rh1 57. d7 h2 58. Rh3 Kb7 59. Rb3+ Ka7 60. Rb2 Ka6 61. Re2 Kb7 62. Ke7 Black resigns.
Kasparov-Short, Game 9, PCA World Championship Match, London, September 1993
1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. Qc2 d5 5. cxd5 exd5 6. Bg5 h6 7. Bh4 c5 8. dxc5 g5 9. Bg3 Ne4 10. e3 Qa5 11. Nge2 Bf5 12. Be5 O-O 13. Nd4 Bg6 14. Nb3 Nxc3 15. Bxc3 Bxc2 16. Nxa5 Bxc3+ 17. bxc3 b6 18. Kd2 bxa5 19. Kxc2 Rc8 20. h4 Nd7 21. hxg5 Nxc5 22. gxh6 Ne4 23. c4 Nxf2 24. Rh4 f5 25. Rd4 dxc4 26. Bxc4+ Kh7 27. Rf1 Ng4 28. Kd2 Rab8 29. Rxf5 Rb2+ 30. Kd3 Rxg2 31. Be6 Rc7 32. Rxa5 Nf2+ 33. Ke2 Rh2 34. Kf3 Nh1 35. Rd7+ Rxd7 36. Bxd7 Kxh6 37. Rxa7 Kg5 38. Ra5+ Kf6 39. Bc6 Rc2 40. Rf5+ Ke7 41. Bd5 Kd6 42. Rh5 Rd2 43. Rxh1 Rxd5 44. a4 Ra5 45. Ra1 Ke5 46. e4 Ke6 47. Ke3 Kd6 48. Kd4 Kd7 49. Kc4 Kc6 50. Kb4 Re5 51. Rc1+ Kb6 52. Rc4 Black resigns.
Please read our comment policy before commenting.