When the pieces come off and the evaluation settles on equality, most players reach for the draw. Anatoly Karpov spent a career doing the opposite. He treated "equal" as a starting position rather than a verdict, tightening his grip until an ending that could not be lost was quietly lost anyway.
That instinct sits at the heart of one of the most common mistakes in chess: the assumption that an equal endgame must end in a draw. Nothing could be further from the truth. Equal endgames — precisely because both sides relax once the position looks balanced — are where the heaviest errors are made, and where a patient player finds wins that were never supposed to exist.
Sequence: Practical Endgames »
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6h 21m PGN Download Memory Booster Interactive Tests
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There is a paradox at the heart of knight endgames. Two knights cannot force mate against a lone king — one of the first facts every player is taught. Yet add a single pawn to the defending side, and the mate can suddenly appear. The pawn that should have saved him is the very thing that dooms him.
That reversal is the whole subject in miniature. Of all the endings, knight endgames sit closest to pure pawn play, and they inherit its unforgiving arithmetic: a single extra pawn is often enough to win, especially with several pawns still on the board, and one imprecise move can erase an advantage built over hours. Where an extra pawn can be meaningless in opposite-colored bishop endgames or even in rook endgames, here it tends to decide.
Sequence: Endgames with Minor Pieces »
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There comes a point in almost every endgame where the variations run dry. The pieces are few, the position is quiet, and no forcing sequence promises anything at all. For an inexperienced player this is where the trouble starts — the reflex is to keep calculating, to burn energy searching for a line that simply isn't there. For players like Capablanca or Petrosian, this is precisely where the game was decided.
That reversal sits at the heart of Schematic Thinking in the Endgame by IM Boroljub Zlatanovic. When a position offers nothing to calculate, the decisive skill becomes something quieter and harder to teach: building a long-term plan the opponent cannot prevent, and finding the ideal square for every piece — the king included — in the unhurried manner Capablanca made his own.
Sequence: Practical Endgames »
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2h 34m PGN Download Interactive Tests
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The saying goes: "opposite-colored bishops draw." Yet GM Felix Blohberger recently won a tournament game from two pawns down in precisely this type of ending. His opponent knew the general rule but missed the specific condition—fortress construction requires exact piece coordination, not just material count. This gap between theoretical knowledge and practical application inspired Blohberger and GM Pier Luigi Basso to create a course built around positional precision rather than abstract principles.
Sequence: Endgames with Minor Pieces »
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9 Steps to Endgame Mastery addresses this reality with systematic clarity. Created by two experienced Macedonian International Masters—Nikola Nikolovski and Filip Pancevski—the course recognizes that endgame competence isn't built through memorizing theoretical positions alone. It requires understanding the principles that include piece activity, recognizing when king safety matters and when the king must be active, and developing the technical precision to convert advantages that less experienced players let slip away.
Sequence: Practical Endgames »
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There is a principle in same-colored bishop endgames so deceptively simple that it often goes unspoken in theoretical texts: fix your opponent's pawns on the color of their bishop, and place your own on the opposite color. It sounds almost too general to be useful. And yet, game after game at the highest level, the player who internalizes this asymmetry — not merely knows it, but feels it — is the one who converts or survives when the clock pressure mounts. This is the starting point of Bishop Endgames – Essential Knowledge for the Practical Player, a new course by GM Felix Blohberger and GM Pier Luigi Basso.
Sequence: Endgames with Minor Pieces »
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2h 31m PGN Download Interactive Tests
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The conventional wisdom in chess instruction maintains a clear separation: opening theory belongs to one category, endgame technique to another. Yet some of the most practical chess knowledge exists precisely at their intersection—positions where queens leave the board early, where theoretical preparation gives way to structural understanding, and where endgame skill becomes immediately relevant. GM Ioannis Papaioannou's latest course examines this neglected territory, presenting opening systems specifically chosen for their tendency to transition directly into endgames.
Sequence: From the Opening to the Endgame »
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Rook endgames are not merely the most frequent endgames in tournament chess—they are often the positions where games are decided. GM Felix Blohberger approaches this reality with remarkable honesty: before creating this course, he revisited the subject himself, studied existing material including Dreev University's rook endgame courses, and then set out to present the topic through the lens of someone who has defended critical positions at the World Cup. The result is Rook Endgames - Essential Knowledge for the Practical Player, a course built not around abstract theory, but around the positions that actually appear when the clock is ticking and the result hangs in the balance.
Sequence: Rook Endgames »
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2h 22m PGN Download Memory Booster Interactive Tests
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The 2025 Chess World Cup delivered exceptional opening novelties and tactical brilliance—but as always, it was endgame technique that separated the contenders from the champions. GM Dejan Bojkov has distilled the tournament's most instructive conclusions into a comprehensive course, capturing the precise calculations, subtle maneuvers, and critical principles that decided games at the highest level. This isn't a collection of theoretical curiosities; it's a practical masterclass drawn directly from elite competition, where every inaccuracy carries consequences and technique becomes the deciding factor.
Sequence: Practical Endgames »
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Every chess player knows the frustration: you've studied theoretical endgames, memorized key positions, understand the principles—yet over the board, critical half-points slip away. The gap between endgame knowledge and endgame performance remains one of chess's persistent challenges. GM Ioannis Papaioannou addresses this directly in Typical Mistakes in Practical Endgames, a course born from observation of what strong players actually do wrong when the position simplifies, not just what textbooks say they should do right.
Sequence: Practical Endgames »
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6h PGN Download Interactive Tests
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