One Way King — Pawn Endgame Basics | onewayking.com
Take the opposition, outflank, escort the pawn — in that order, and know when to stop.
Step one, take the opposition. Place your king so that the kings face each other on a file or rank with one square between them and the defender is the side that has to move. Everything downstream depends on this first placement.
Step two, outflank. The defender must yield a square; step to the side the defender has abandoned and keep your king in front of the pawn. Outflanking without the opposition in hand is the commonest way to give the position back.
Step three, escort the pawn. Advance the pawn only while your king still stands in front of it, and bring it to the promotion rank under the king's cover. The fifty-move rule allows a draw claim when 50 moves pass without a pawn move or a capture, so the escort must not stall.
On narrow screens, swipe or scroll the plate sideways.
Drawn exception one: a rook pawn on the a- or h-file. The defending king cannot be forced out of the corner in front of it, and no ordering of the three steps changes that.
Drawn exception two: the defending king has reached the square directly in front of the pawn. The position is usually drawn, and playing on only risks a fifty-move claim against you.
Typical failures: releasing the opposition with an aimless king move; chasing the defender sideways instead of forward; treating a rook pawn as an ordinary pawn; winning the opposition and then not using it; dragging the sequence past the 50-move claim.
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