In chess

Chess

Chess is a two-player board game played on a chessboard, a square-checkered board with 64 squares arranged in an eight-by-eight grid. It is one of the world's most popular games, played by millions of people worldwide at home, in clubs, online, by correspondence, and in tournaments.Each player...

, opposition (or direct opposition) is the situation occurring when two kings

King (chess)

In chess, the king is the most important piece. The object of the game is to trap the opponent's king so that its escape is not possible . If a player's king is threatened with capture, it is said to be in check, and the player must remove the threat of capture on the next move. If this cannot be...

 face each other on a rank or file, with only one square in between them. In such a situation, the player not having to move is said to "have the opposition" . It is a special type of zugzwang

Zugzwang

Zugzwang is a term usually used in chess which also applies to various other games. The term finds its formal definition in combinatorial game theory, and it describes a situation where one player is put at a disadvantage because he has to make a move when he would prefer to pass and make no move...

 and most often occurs in endgames with only kings and pawns

Pawn (chess)

The pawn is the most numerous and weakest piece in the game of chess, historically representing infantry, or more particularly armed peasants or pikemen. Each player begins the game with eight pawns, one on each square of the rank immediately in front of the other pieces...

 . The side with the move may have to move the king away, potentially allowing the opposing king access to important squares. Taking the opposition is a means to an end (normally forcing the opponent's king to move to a weaker position) and is not always the best thing to do.

There are extensions of direct opposition, such as diagonal opposition and distant opposition, which can be conducive to reaching direct opposition. All three types may be referred to simply as opposition if the type is unambiguous in context.

Direct opposition

Direct opposition is when the two kings face each other along a rank or file with only one square in between. When the term opposition is used, it normally refers to direct opposition.

In this diagram, the player whose turn it is not to move has the opposition. If it is Black's turn to move, White has the opposition and wins . (See King and pawn versus king endgame.) If it were White's turn to move, Black would have the opposition and the position would be a draw

Draw (chess)

In chess, a draw is when a game ends in a tie. It is one of the possible outcomes of a game, along with a win for White and a win for Black . Usually, in tournaments a draw is worth a half point to each player, while a win is worth one point to the victor and none to the loser.For the most part,...

.

Example

In the 1959 game between Svetozar Gligorić

Svetozar Gligoric

Svetozar Gligorić is a Serbian chess grandmaster. He won the championship of Yugoslavia a record twelve times, and is considered the best player ever from Serbia...

 and Bobby Fischer

Bobby Fischer

Robert James "Bobby" Fischer was an American chess Grandmaster and the 11th World Chess Champion. He is widely considered one of the greatest chess players of all time. Fischer was also a best-selling chess author...

, Black can draw by keeping the white king from getting to any of the key squares (marked by dots). This is accomplished by not allowing White to get the opposition, and seizing the opposition if the white king advances.

57... Kb8!

This waiting move is the only move to draw. (In the actual game the players agreed to a draw

Draw by agreement

In chess, a draw by agreement is the outcome of a game due to the agreement of both players to a draw. A player may offer a draw to his opponent at any stage of a game; if the opponent accepts, the game is a draw. The relevant portion of the FIDE laws of chess is article 9.1...

 at this point.) Other moves allow White to get the opposition and then get to a key square. If the white king gets to a key square, White wins. For example 1... Kb7? 2. Kb5, then the black king moves and the white king gets to a key square and then wins by forcing promotion

Promotion (chess)

Promotion is a chess rule describing the transformation of a pawn that reaches its eighth rank into the player's choice of a queen, knight, rook, or bishop of the same color . The new piece replaces the pawn on the same square and is part of the move. Promotion is not limited to pieces that have...

 of the pawn.

58. Kc5 Kc7

59. Kb5 Kb7

60. Ka5 Ka7 and Black draws. All of these moves by Black are the only one that holds the draw , .

Diagonal opposition

Opposition along a diagonal (instead of a rank or file) is called diagonal opposition. Sometimes diagonal opposition is used to achieve direct opposition. An example is the position in the diagram on the left, with Black to move. White has the direct opposition in this position, but it does him no good because his king cannot attack the black pawn after the black king moves away. White needs to achieve direct opposition closer to the pawn.

1. ... Kf8

2. Kd6 and White has the diagonal opposition (diagram on the right).

2. ... Ke8

3. Ke6 White now has direct opposition on a useful square, and White wins:

3. ... Kf8

4. Kd7 Kg8

5. Ke7 Kh8

6. f6 gxf6

7. Kf7 or 7. Kxf6 win for White .

Distant opposition

Distant opposition is when the kings face off over a longer distance. If there are an odd number of squares between the kings, the player not having the move has the (distant) opposition. As with diagonal opposition, it is often converted to direct opposition, as in the diagram on the right :

1. Ke2 (White takes the distant opposition) ... Ke7
2. Ke3 Ke6
3. Ke4 (takes the direct opposition, and now Black must step aside) Kd6 (... Kf6 allows the corresponding Kf4!)
4. Kd4! (Kf5 would lead to both pawns queening) Kc6 (... Ke6 5. Kc5 and is way ahead in the queening race)
5. Ke5 (and White has a choice of which pawn he wins, and then use this as the outside passed pawn unless he can promote it directly)

Black can be tricky and try

1. ... Kf8 and if
2. Ke3 then Ke7 and now Black has the distant opposition and draws. Similarly 2. Kf3 Kf7.

White instead should remember that the aim of the opposition is to penetrate, so step sideways and forward with

1. ... Kf8
2. Kd3! Ke7 (otherwise White penetrates with Kc5, and will win a queening race)
3. Ke3! (White again has the distant opposition and transposes into the main line)

Teaching tool

This position is very similar to the previous position. White is to checkmate, moving the rook only once in the process. The main line is:

1. Kg2 (taking the distant opposition) Kg7
2. Kg3 Kg6
3. Kg4 Kh6 (and since the black king has been forced to step aside to the h-file, White can now penetrate on the f file)
4. Kf5! Kg7 (... Kh5 5.Rh1#)
5. Kg5 Kh7
6. Kf6 Kg8 (... Kh8 7. Kf7 Kh7 Rh1#)
7. Kg6 Kh8
8. Rf8#

Again, if Black is tricky, he can try

1. ... Kh8 (again, white penetrates)
2. Kf3! (Kg3 Kg7; Kh3 Kh7 give Black the distant opposition) Kg7 (Kh7 3. Kf4!)
3. Kg3.

Purpose

Yuri Averbakh

Yuri Averbakh

Yuri Lvovich Averbakh is a Soviet and Russian chess player and author. He is currently the oldest living chess grandmaster.-Life and career:...

 pointed out that the opposition is a means to an end; the end is penetration to a key square . This can be a square in front of a pawn, so the king can lead it to the queening square

Promotion (chess)

Promotion is a chess rule describing the transformation of a pawn that reaches its eighth rank into the player's choice of a queen, knight, rook, or bishop of the same color . The new piece replaces the pawn on the same square and is part of the move. Promotion is not limited to pieces that have...

, or into a critical zone to win an enemy blocked pawn. In the diagram on the right, White should play 1. Kc5; taking the opposition by 1. Ke4 draws

Draw (chess)

In chess, a draw is when a game ends in a tie. It is one of the possible outcomes of a game, along with a win for White and a win for Black . Usually, in tournaments a draw is worth a half point to each player, while a win is worth one point to the victor and none to the loser.For the most part,...

.

The second position shows a simpler example. If White takes the opposition with 1. Ke6 he makes no progress. The winning move is 1. Kc7 (see king and pawn versus king endgame).

See also

• Chess endgame
• Chess terminology
  Chess terminology
  This page explains commonly used terms in chess in alphabetical order. Some of these have their own pages, like fork and pin. For a list of unorthodox chess pieces, see fairy chess piece; for a list of terms specific to chess problems, see chess problem terminology; for a list of chess related...
  
  
• Corresponding squares
  Corresponding squares
  Corresponding squares in chess occur in some chess endgames, usually ones that are mostly blocked. If squares x and y are corresponding squares, it means that if one player moves to x then the other player must move to y in order to hold his position...
  
  
• Key square
  Key square
  In chess, particularly in endgames, a key square is a square such that if a player's king can occupy it, he can force some gain such as the promotion of a pawn or the capture of an opponent's pawn. Key squares are useful mostly in endgames involving only kings and pawns...
  
  
• King and pawn versus king endgame
• Triangulation
  Triangulation (chess)
  Triangulation is a tactic used in chess to put one's opponent in zugzwang. That is, it gets to the same position with the other player to move, when it is a disadvantage for that player to move, e.g. he has to give up a blockade and let the other player penetrate his position...
  
  
• Zugzwang
  Zugzwang
  Zugzwang is a term usually used in chess which also applies to various other games. The term finds its formal definition in combinatorial game theory, and it describes a situation where one player is put at a disadvantage because he has to make a move when he would prefer to pass and make no move...