A queen and king can force mate against a lone king – that is as fundamental as it gets. Almost all regular players know that to be true, and they also know how to execute it. But players are regularly confronted by the distinction between ‘knowing that’, and ‘knowing how’.
Many know that king, bishop and knight can force mate against a lone king. But I would bet with confidence that only a minority of those who know that fact could actually demonstrate it. The technique is somewhat abstruse and, since the endgame arises so rarely, it is easily forgotten.
Imagine – you spent an hour practising this endgame… but that was five years ago. Now you’ve actually got it on the board, but it is, so to speak, a cold, rainy night in Stoke. After several hours of play, only a few minutes are left, and hunger, fatigue and the call of nature are all jostling for attention.
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