Knight vs pawn endgame: get in front of the pawn

A knight is an awkward piece for stopping a pawn: it can't attack along a line, and it needs time to get anywhere. It holds best from in front of the pawn, on the squares the pawn has to cross. Here only one move gets it there in time.

The draw, played out

You have White. Black's a-pawn is two steps from queening, and your king is far away.

Get in front

1.Nd1! The knight heads for c3, in front of the pawn. Every other knight move is too slow or walks into Black's king: 1.Nd3? a2 and the pawn queens, 1.Ne4? Kxe4.

2.Nc3 covers a2 and b1, so the pawn can't get past. After 2...a2, 3.Nxa2 takes it, and it's a draw.

The idea to remember

Stop a pawn with a knight from in front of it. Count the moves the knight needs to reach a square the pawn has to cross, and head for it before chasing anything else.

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. More endings are in the chess endgame trainer.

More endgame techniques

• How to checkmate with a queen
• How to checkmate with a rook
• King and pawn endgame
• The opposition in chess
• The rook's pawn
• The outside passed pawn
• Triangulation in chess
• The Réti manoeuvre
• Queen vs pawn on the seventh
• Rook vs pawn endgame
• The wrong bishop
• The Lucena position
• The Philidor position
• Short side, long side
• The Vancura position
• Bishop and knight checkmate
• Rook vs bishop endgame
• Rook vs knight endgame

Ways to train

• Chess tactics trainer
• Chess blunder trainer
• Chess pawn structures
• Chess endgame trainer
• Positional chess training
• Analyse your chess games