An excellent video! Very instructive to players like me

i was very proud of myself for finding Kg2 instinctively, and automatically,
based only on the principles of opposition and some short-term calculations.
this is a very good demonstration of the strength of opposition. i enjoyed the video.

Very good, macnolds. It's more than the opposition at play, though that's definitely part of it; having a space advantage may be even more significant. It's remarkable that any time Black's king gets to e4, it's simply over.

Far be it from me to disagree with a master but... 1.Kg2 winning the opposition (e.g if Kf5 then Kf3) Kf6 2.Kg3 Ke6 (here black can repeat the position with Kg6 and perhaps he would be happy with a draw) 3.Kf3 Kd5 4. Ke3 and so on. White should have at least a draw. Perhaps my analysis is faulty, please drop me a line (chawil@chess.com) and let me know. Thanks

Chawil:

You may recall that 1.Kf3? loses to 1...Kf5 - see the details in the program. Well, after 1.Kg2 Kf6 2.Kg3 Ke6 3.Kf3? Black doesn't have to continue to d5; instead, 3...Kf5 tranposes to 1.Kf3 Kf5, and Black wins.

Wonderful stuff here, I love these endgame videos. ~E

5 stars. I'm brushing up on my endgames at the moment, and vids like this are a great help. It just goes to show that a material advantage isn't enough by itself to win a game. Space, activity, position, flexibility, are all contributing factors worth way more than a pawn. Funny. In the middle game I'd be happy to give up a pawn for the initiative - even in the opening. But when it comes to the end game and there's so little on the board, the thought of being a pawn down is horrific. I wouldn't dream of a win there.

Thanks again!