King and pawn endgame: lead with the king, not the pawn

King and pawn against king is the ending every other pawn ending turns into, and the most common way to throw away the win is to push the pawn too early. The rule: your king goes in front of the pawn first, and the pawn follows.

The method, played out

White to move. Step through to the new queen.

King first

1.Kc4. The king heads up the board and the pawn stays on d2 for now: a pawn pushed ahead of its king can simply be blocked. 1.Kc3 and 1.Ke3 also keep the win, but 1.Kc2? and 1.Ke2? let Black's king reach d6 or e6 in time, and it's a draw.

Face the king, with your opponent to move

2.Kd4. The kings stand face to face with one square between them, and it's Black to move. That's called the opposition: Black has to step aside, and your king gets past. Here Black goes to c6, and 3.Ke5 goes round.

Keep the king ahead of the pawn

White's king marches all the way up to c7, and only then does the pawn start moving, with the king guarding the squares in front of it: 8.d4, then 9.Kc6 first, so the king covers d5, and only then 10.d5. Pushing d5 a move too soon would just lose the pawn.

The finish

11.Kd6 takes the opposition again, Black has to give way, and the pawn walks through: 13.d6+, 14.d7+, 15.d8=Q+.

The idea to remember

Lead with the king, not the pawn. Get your king in front of the pawn, ideally two squares ahead of it; when the kings face each other, make sure it's your opponent who has to move.

Train it

This is one of the endgame techniques OptiChess teaches as a walkthrough: the moves play themselves until a moment that matters, then you find the move, checked against the tablebase. The defending side of the same ending is the opposition. More endings are in the chess endgame trainer.

Try it. Real positions, set at your level, every answer checked against the board. No account needed to start.

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