Endgame — Chess Puzzles

Solve free «Endgame» chess puzzles from the lichess database, from beginner to master. No account needed.

The endgame begins when so few pieces are left that the king stops hiding and becomes an attacker. Play changes character completely: a single pawn can decide the result, exact calculation replaces general plans, and knowing a handful of theoretical positions is worth more than any amount of intuition.

How to spot it

• The queens are off, or so little material remains that the king can walk into the centre safely.
• Passed pawns, and whether they can be stopped, decide the evaluation.
• The opposition and the exact placement of the kings matter more than anything else on the board.
• One tempo changes the result — which is why zugzwang belongs to this phase.

A worked example

White: king f4, pawns g4 and h4. Black: king d5, pawns g6 and h7. White to move.

1. Not one capture and not one pawn move: three king moves decide the game.
2. Kg5 and then Kh6 walk the king to the one square that attacks both black pawns at once.
3. The black king is on the wrong side of the board and cannot get back — Ke4 is already too slow.

The idea This is what changes in an endgame. The king stops hiding and becomes the strongest attacker on the board, and whoever activates it first usually wins.