Triangulation Practice: Lose a Tempo

Watch the method: press play to see the winning idea run, or step through it move by move.

Triangulation sounds exotic and is actually the plainest idea in endgame play: some positions are lost for whoever must move, so arrange to arrive there when it's not your turn.

Mutual zugzwang. In blocked pawn positions there are square-pairs where the kings glare at each other and any move loses ground. If reaching the stand-off with the OPPONENT to move wins, your task is pure tempo arithmetic.

The triangle. A king can return to its square in three moves via two neighbors; a defending king confined to two squares (its post and one retreat) can only return in two. Three versus two: after your triangle the position repeats with the move passed to the defender, who must now give way.

Where it appears. Blocked central pawns, queen endings, even the Lucena's cousin positions. The prerequisite is always the same: know WHICH square-pair is the zugzwang, then dance.

Against a defense that never cracks approximate play achieves nothing here: only Kf4 keeps the win, and the king march that follows has to be exact. This is the drill that turns 'I know the idea' into technique.