Learning Chess Endings

Knowing what to do in the endgame stage is an essential skill of the chess player. As few pieces are left on the table, you must use each one effectively to maximize the results. The king becomes active and pawns become crucial.

World Cup

World Cup

The skill of “dribbling” in soccer is perhaps the game’s most fundamental skill. Dribbling is running or moving with the ball under the control of your feet. Beginners learn how to dribble and World Cup players demonstrate excellent dribbling in their games. Likewise, as a beginning or intermediate chess player, you learn the endgame checkmates. The king and queen versus king and rook win should be in the top of the endgame fundamentals that you learn and practice. More 🡢
National Master Elliott Neff

Learn a basic endgame checkmate from Elliott Neff

When facing a lone king, you should know how to checkmate if you have king, a knight, and bishop. Most videos only show the checkmate when the king is already on the edge of the board. But it is important to learn what to do when the defending king starts in the center. NM Elliott Neff shows how to drive the defender’s king from the center to the edge of the board and then follow it up with checkmate. More 🡢
John Bartholomew

Prizes for your questions for chess celebrity John Bartholomew

Want to win a three-month PRO membership to Chessable or a one-year SparkChess Premium Live membership? In the comments to this article, ask International Master John Bartholomew a question. On April 22, I will select the five best questions from the comments. Those “five best” will each win a one-year Premium Live membership to SparkChess. Then John will choose the very best question from my top five. The person who asked that “best question” will receive both a one-year Premium Live membership to SparkChess and a three-month PRO membership to Chessable. John will answer all five questions in my next article for Spark Chess. Read on to win (and to learn the Lucena position). More 🡢
Chess photo

Final Four of College Chess 2018 – The Winner is…

In my first article for SparkChess, I asked readers to predict the finish order of the teams playing in the 2018 Final Four of College Chess (formally known as the President’s Cup). The President Cup’s award ceremony was on April 1. The winner was The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley (UTRGV), with seven-and-a-half (7.5) points out of a possible 12 points. Second place was Webster University (WU) with seven (7) points, third place was Texas Tech University (TTU) with five (5) points, and Saint Louis University (SLU) was in last place with four-and-a-half (4.5) points. More 🡢