The hardest game to win is the won one
By Chess Goat · Updated
You convert a winning position in chess by trading pieces instead of pawns, taking away your opponent’s counterplay, and checking their checks, captures and threats every move until the ending is simple. You’re up a piece and the game should be over. Ten moves later you’re mated, flagged, or staring at a draw. Converting is a skill of its own, and it’s rarely practiced on purpose.
“From a practically won position Black finds himself with a lost game, and it has only taken three moves.”
Capablanca wrote that about a rook ending, and added that even a simple-looking ending has to be played with care.
Why do players lose winning positions?
Players lose winning positions for two reasons, mostly. First, they relax: the hard part feels done, so they speed up and stop checking. Second, they keep attacking when the position is asking them to consolidate. Flip it around. When you’re ahead, your opponent’s only hope is a trick, so every move they make is a question: what did that attack? Dan Heisman’s name for skipping that question is hope chess (his article), and it costs the most exactly when you’re winning. In one sample blitz report, Player A reached +5 in 1,220 games and still lost 382 of them. The blunder check in Stop blundering is the fix.
How do you convert a winning position in chess?
Converting a winning position comes down to five habits, in this order. The first two change what you aim for; the last three change how you play each move.
- Trade pieces, not pawns. Every piece trade makes your extra material count for more and gives them fewer tricks. Keep pawns: they’re what you’ll promote.
- Stop counterplay first. Before you go for the win, ask what they want to do, and take it away. That’s Nimzowitsch’s prophylaxis (Prophylaxis (chess)), and he gave it a three-step shape:
“First restrain, next blockade, lastly destroy.”
- Keep asking for their checks, captures and threats, every move. Especially checks on your back rank and queen checks on your king.
- Head for a simple endgame. When it’s simple, it’s fast, and fast is how you avoid flagging.
- Don’t hurry. A won position is still won in ten moves. Take the extra seconds on moves that change the position.
“If a player succeeds in winning a Pawn he can win the game if he is able to exchange all pieces so that only the Pawns are left.”
How often do players lose won games?
How often a player loses a won game depends heavily on level. Hikaru Nakamura reached +5 (an engine edge of five pawns) in 1,586 of his latest 2,000 blitz games and lost 10 of them, 0.6%. Player A, from our sample blitz report, lost 31.3% of the games they reached +5 in. Each row below is one player’s latest blitz games on chess.com, checked with Stockfish. Five players, not a study: the gap is the point, not the exact figures.
| Player | Blitz rating | Reached +5 | Then lost | Then drew | Lost from +5 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| GM Hikaru Nakamura | 3,440 | 1,586 | 10 | 18 | 0.6% |
| GM Magnus Carlsen | 3,394 | 1,364 | 52 | 30 | 3.8% |
| IM Levy Rozman | 2,893 | 1,084 | 72 | 46 | 6.6% |
| WFM Alexandra Botez | 2,504 | 976 | 186 | 61 | 19.1% |
| Player A (sample report) | 800–1,080 | 1,220 | 382 | 40 | 31.3% |
How do you win a rook endgame?
Rook endgames come up all the time, and they punish vague play. Winning one starts with two textbook positions: the Lucena position, where you build a bridge to promote, and the Philidor position, the drawing setup you must stop the defender from reaching. One rule from Tarrasch covers a lot of the rest:
“The rooks belong behind passed pawns, behind their own in order to support their advance, behind the enemy’s in order to impede their advance.”
The free Lichess practice studies below drill both positions, and the Lucena and Philidor lesson walks through them move by move.
- Lichess Practice: Basic Rook Endgames. Lucena- and Philidor-style basics, interactive.
- Lichess Practice: Intermediate Rook Endings. The next step once the basics are automatic.
- Jeremy Silman: Complete Endgame Course. Organized by rating, so you read only your section.
- Lichess Practice: Key Squares. Tells you whether a pawn ending is won before you trade into it.
How do you practice converting won positions?
The best way to practice converting is playing won positions against an engine until you win them every time. Take a position from one of your games where you were clearly winning, set it up on the Lichess analysis board, and play it out against the computer. If you can’t win it three times in a row, you’ve found the thing to study. A free game review finds those positions in your own games. The converting lesson trains the trade-pieces habit, and the defending lesson shows the tricks your opponent will try.
- Lichess puzzles: Defensive Move. Find the move that stops their threat. Killing counterplay is half of converting.
- Lichess puzzles: Quiet Move. For stronger players: the best move is a quiet one, not a capture. Won positions are full of them.
“We have to always look ahead enough moves to be well prepared, even for victory!”
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How do your games end?
Honest note: the free Goat Card can’t see evaluations, so it can’t count won games you lost. It does show how you win and lose on time and how you finish games, which is often where conversion goes wrong.
The Goat Report counts the games you lost from +5 and shows each one on a board, so you can see your own pattern. The Goat Report is $5, paid once. See a blitz sample and a rapid sample first.
Keep going
- Time managementFlagger or speed-blunderer? A clock budget for each.
- Stop blunderingA 10-second blunder check: checks, captures, threats, and loose pieces.
- TiltA stop-loss rule, and what to do instead of pressing New Game.
- 1200 to 1500Stop asking only “what do I want?” and start asking “what do they want?”
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