Week 12: Must-know endgames
12-week course · lesson plan for a 60-minute live group class · for the coach
Lesson plan · Worksheet · Large print · Answer key · 12-week syllabus
Learning objective
Students can checkmate with king and queen and with king and rook against a lone king, and avoid stalemate.
Before class (under 10 minutes)
Prerequisites: Weeks 3–4 and 10 (checkmate patterns).
- Open "Week 12 demonstration".
- Have "Week 12 practice" ready in the Puzzles list.
Class plan, minute by minute
| Time | What happens |
|---|---|
| 0–5 min | Warm-up Ask: “What is stalemate?” Then one mate in 1 with king and queen. |
| 5–20 min | Shared board: the box Load "Week 12 demonstration": king and queen against king (make the box smaller, bring the king), king and rook against king, the king-and-pawn walk, and the square of the pawn. |
| 20–35 min | Puzzles on their own boards Puzzles → "Week 12 practice": mates in 1, some with a stalemate trap. Mixed-level group: "Week 12 all levels". |
| 35–52 min | Play each other Pair students and start, or set up king and queen against king on the shared board and let pairs take turns. |
| 52–60 min | Review Review questions below. Celebrate the 12 weeks; the course starts again with week 1 for new students. |
Shared-board demonstration
In the lesson app: Lesson library → Week 12 demonstration: Must-know endgames.
King and queen against king: push the king to the edge and checkmate it. Watch out for stalemate!
Make a box with the queen a knight’s jump from the king, shrink it, then bring your king.
King and rook against king: make the box smaller with the rook, bring your king, then mate on the edge.
The rook cuts the board; the king helps; mate comes on the edge.
King and pawn: with the king in front of its pawn on the 6th row, White wins. (Coach plays it out: Kd6 or Kf6.)
The king leads, the pawn follows.
The square of the pawn: draw a square from the a-pawn to the first row. If the white king can step into it, it catches the pawn.
Here Ke2 steps into the square (a5–e5–e1–a1) and the king catches the pawn: Ke2 a4 Kd3 a3 Kc2 a2 Kb2.
Puzzles on every student’s own board
In class: Puzzles → choose the set → Start puzzles. Each student solves on their own board while you watch every board live. A wrong move gets a reason or a hint (for example “look for a check”), and any checkmate counts as solved.
- Everyone: Week 12 practice: Must-know endgames (6 puzzles). The worksheet uses the same puzzles.
- Mixed-level group: Week 12 all levels: Must-know endgames (11 puzzles): the 3 easier ones first, then the practice set, then 2 harder ones. Each student goes at their own pace, so beginners stay with the easier puzzles while stronger students reach the harder ones.
- A whole group that needs more support: Week 12 easier: Must-know endgames. A whole group ready for more: Week 12 harder: Must-know endgames.
Check for understanding
- What is stalemate? Answer: The side to move has no legal move but is not in check: the game is a draw.
- Where does a lone king get checkmated? Answer: On the edge of the board.
- Why does the winning king have to help? Answer: A queen or rook alone can’t cover all the squares next to the enemy king.
Help for beginners
Use the shared board for king and queen against king, one student moving the queen, another the black king. Stop before each queen move and ask: “Is it stalemate?”
For stronger students
"Week 12 harder": the stalemate trap for Black, then play king and queen against king against the coach.
Every position, answer and hint on this page is checked move by move with chess.js before it is published. Real-game puzzles come from the Lichess puzzle database (CC0).