Project approval after AI review on November 2, 2026. Human proofreading is still pending.
Lesson 23
The king becomes active
- What you will learn
- You bring your king forward early in the endgame and take space away from the opponent’s king.
- What you should already know
- How to bring a piece to the middle
- Lesson 22: Improve your worst piece
Time: about 5 minutes
Thinking questions in this lesson
You can ask yourself these thinking questions in any position. They help you find a good move.
- Which piece could be better placed?
Step 1 of 6
Look first
An endgame: only kings and pawns are left. First ask, as in lesson 21: what does your opponent want?
Imagine it were Black’s move: to which central square would their king go?
Arrow keys move the focus across the squares. Enter or Space marks a square or removes the mark.
Choose a square from a list
Position as a list
White
- King e1
- Pawn a2
- Pawn b2
- Pawn f2
- Pawn g2
- Pawn h2
Black
- King e6
- Pawn a7
- Pawn b7
- Pawn f7
- Pawn g7
- Pawn h7
Step 2 of 6
Decide
In lesson 22 you had time. In the endgame every move counts.
All the pieces have been exchanged; only kings and pawns are left. What is your plan now?
Arrow keys move the focus across the squares. Enter or Space selects a piece and moves it to a highlighted square. Escape cancels the selection.
Position as a list
White
- King e1
- Pawn a2
- Pawn b2
- Pawn f2
- Pawn g2
- Pawn h2
Black
- King e6
- Pawn a7
- Pawn b7
- Pawn f7
- Pawn g7
- Pawn h7
Step 3 of 6
Try it
Bring your king into play before the black king comes into your half of the board.
Arrow keys move the focus across the squares. Enter or Space selects a piece and moves it to a highlighted square. Escape cancels the selection.
Choose a move from a list
Position as a list
White
- King e1
- Pawn a2
- Pawn b2
- Pawn f2
- Pawn g2
- Pawn h2
Black
- King e6
- Pawn a7
- Pawn b7
- Pawn f7
- Pawn g7
- Pawn h7
Step 4 of 6
Why does it work?
In the endgame there are hardly any pieces left that could attack your king. That is why it becomes a fighter itself.
It moves only one square per move. That is why it pays to set off early: after a pawn move the black king comes via d5 into your half of the board before your king reaches d3 or e3.
Nimzowitsch paints a funny picture of this: the king strolls to the middle, even has breakfast there twice, and only then chooses on which side to fight.
Key idea
In the endgame, bring your king towards the middle early.
When does this apply?
This applies when hardly any pieces are left that could attack it. Check first whether your opponent is threatening something, such as a check. If queens are still on the board, mostly keep your king behind its pawns.
Step 5 of 6
New position, same idea
A new position: your king is already out in front.
Your king is already in the middle. Which king move keeps the black king away from e6 and d6?
Arrow keys move the focus across the squares. Enter or Space selects a piece and moves it to a highlighted square. Escape cancels the selection.
Choose a move from a list
Position as a list
White
- King e4
- Pawn a2
- Pawn b2
- Pawn f2
- Pawn g2
- Pawn h2
Black
- King g8
- Pawn a7
- Pawn b7
- Pawn f6
- Pawn g7
- Pawn h7
Step 6 of 6
Nimzowitsch and today
Source
Nimzowitsch writes, in substance: in the middlegame the king is a mere extra, in the endgame one of the main actors. When the endgame begins, it sets off and heads for the middle, because from there it can swing to the right or to the left; besides, it should take space away from the opponent’s king. In the example Rubinstein – Nimzowitsch (Karlsbad 1907) he also shows that you have to check first: the immediate 33.Kf1 would have failed to Bc4+ and Bd5. The texts follow the web transcription and are newly written for the course; the positions are the course’s own teaching positions.
- My System, chapter 6: The elements of endgame strategy (original text not yet published)
- My System, 6.1 Centralization (in German) (original text not yet published)
Today’s view (editorial note)
Today too, “make your king active” counts as one of the most important endgame rules. In pawn endgames it is often decisive whose king gets to the front first and takes squares away from the other.