Win within 20 moves · You play white
ProIn the endgame the king becomes a fighting piece. Rush it to the centre and towards the enemy weaknesses; the side whose king arrives first wins pawns and the game.
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Material is level, six pawns each. The difference is the kings: White's stands on e3 and Black's is tucked away on h8, where it belonged in the middlegame. In the ending that is a losing difference. Twenty moves to show why.
Look at the b6 pawn. Nothing defends it, and the black king on h8 needs five moves just to reach c7. Your king can be on c6 in three moves through e4 and d5, and on b6 in a fourth. That is the whole game in one count. Centralise first, because a king on d5 also keeps the black king out of the centre, and only then attack. Once b6 falls, a5 is next, and the queen side is yours.
By then the black king will have come out and may hit back at your king-side pawns; count again before you react. Where it goes wrong: pawn moves. Every tempo spent on g4 or h4 is a move the black king uses to come back. The second mistake is attacking before centralising, say with Kd3 and Kc3 heading for b4: b4 and d4 are both covered by black pawns, so that road is closed before it starts.
Play White. Your first three moves are king moves, and you should know their squares before you touch the board. Then collect the queen-side pawns and only afterwards think about your own. The drill scores the win inside twenty moves when the position is clearly decided or a pawn promotes.
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