The King

King has the most important role the endgame. One can not play endgames well without using the king properly. It also means the king loses a tempo the most often to set up a zugzwang. In most of the endgame the king sooner or later has to come to the center.
Whenever we discover the zugzwang and we have problem
giving up the right to move, the first thing we should check is the triangulation. It happens often that the king has to arrive to a place on time. When the king approaches to a square it has to waste a tempo on the way. It turns out to be a triangulation as well. The difference is that the king still has to keep an eye
on the target and must keep a certain direction. The king can be a target as well. If the king is prevented to move, one has to destroy his or her position because of the obligation of moving. In pawn endings the king is the only pieces, there is no other type of endgame where zugzwang has such a big role like that kind of ending. 


Tibor Károlyi