Opposition question?

I just started studying the endgame and have a question about opposition mainly concerning how to advance when the kings are disconnected. Also how would you evaluate opposition when the kings are on different coloured squares?

4. Kg2 and white has distant opposition (same column and odd number of squares between kings)

As a volunteer coach at a chess school for children, I have found that students who have been given a cursory explanation of opposition have sometimes developed the mistaken idea that opposition is a goal in itself rather than a means to an end. Given a simple king and pawn position, they will seize any chance to take the opposition, sometimes making bad moves as a result.

I think a question about opposition needs to be addressed in the context of an actual game position. In your starting position, a game would obviously be drawn and opposition is not an issue. To provide some context, suppose there is also a white pawn at c3. Then White to play is winning, but the only winning moves are Kc2 and Kb2. The player who chooses Kd2 because it takes the opposition will have thrown the win away.

There are many cases where gaining the opposition is the key to winning, but there are also cases where a win is possible only if the opposition is avoided. I suggest you put some more pieces on the board and work on deciding whether opposition matters in the resulting position.

I think this exercise, without pawns, is designed to explain exactly how opposition is a mean and not a goal in itself.

In this case, you can see how black king is unable to pass to the white side of the board (ranks 1 to 4), while white king, thanks to having the opposition can pass to the black side (losing the opposition in the process).

Ancares, are you claiming that White can cross the center line, and prevent Black from crossing the center line in reply? I don't think so, but maybe you can prove me wrong. After 1.Kd2 Kg7, what's next?

No, I was saying that white, with the opposition, can choose between crossing the line or avoiding the black king to cross.

Thats why the opposition is only a tool, not a goal in itself. When you are the strong side and want to invade the enemy camp with your king to win the game, you need the opposition. And when you are the weak side, you use the opposition to avoid the enemy king to invade your camp and force a draw.

It´s also worth noting that when you have the opposition and use it to pass to the other side, you usually lose the opposition in the process.

As an example, the next diagram. White moves e4 and has the opposition. Now it depends on what white wants to do, he can choose:

If he wants, he can avoid the black king to move to the 5º rank (mantaining the opposition).

If he wants, he can pass to the other side, for example:

1. Ke4 Kd6 2. Kf5 and black can gain the opposition with either Kd5 or diagonally with Kd7 but can not avoid white king to penetrate his camp.

Suppose White has chosen to prevent Black from crossing the center line. After 1.Kd2 Kg7 2.Ke3 Kh6, how will White proceed?

Well, I think we are talking about different positions here. Let´s see if I can explain myself better.

There are different types of opposition. You can have the opposition in the same column (that was the one I was refering to in my examples, after white moves Kg2 in reply to black Kg8). In this case, its easy to see that white can avoid black to pass to the 5th rank.

But you can also have the lateral opposition (eg white king in d5 and black in f5). In this case, the one with the opposition can avoid the other to move to columns in "his side".

You can also have the opposition diagonally, or a combination of distant opposition.

In each case, you can avoid the other king to pass to certain areas of the board.

The example that I was taught is with the kings in a1 and h8. White moves to b2 getting a distant oppostion and eventually he can reach one of these squares f8,g8 or h8, but black is unable to reach the opposite (a1, b1 or c1).

In the case you ask:

1 Kd2 Kd7 2. Ke3 Kh6 3. Kf4

And here we have diagonal opposition, meaning that we can keep black king away from the 4th rank or the d column (one of those, not both), depending on what he moves:

If 3.... Kh5 then 4. Kf5 with lateral opposition and black king will not be able to leave the h column.

If 3.... Kg6 then Kg4 and and black will not be able to pass to the 5th rank.

I don't think we're talking about different positions.  I'm talking about the position in Comment #1. It's the position about which you said, in Comment #4, "In this case, you can see how black king is unable to pass to the white side of the board (ranks 1 to 4)". That's the statement I disagree with. I believe the black king cannot be prevented from reaching h4. I also disagree with your statement in Comment #6 that White can choose between crossing the center line or preventing Black from crossing the center line.

Yes, we are talking about different positions.

You are refering to the initial position, with kings in c1 and f8.

But the OP is asking for the position after the movements:

1. ... Kg8 2. Ke2 Kh8 3. Kf2 Kg8

And now he ask for the movement for white that gets the opposition. In post #2 I answer that 4. Kg2 is the movement, and is in this position where I claim that white can avoid black to cross to the 4th rank.

4. ... Kg7 5 Kg3 Kg6 6. Kg4 and now white will always move in front of the black king.

Or 4. ... Kf7 5. Kf3 etc ....

Once you arrive to a position like those (black king in the 6th rank and white in the same column in the 4th rank) white can choose between avoiding black to cross (moving always in front of the black king) or pass, moving to the other side:

4. ... Kg7 5 Kg3 Kg6 6. Kg4 Kf6 7. Kh5 and white can pass to the other side.

In Comment #4, when you mentioned "this exercise, without pawns", I thought by "this exercise" you were referring to the position in the diagram. My mistake.

Here is a suggestion for Jeremy15KO. If you work diligently to solve the study below on your own, you will give yourself a good lesson in using and counteracting the opposition. If you think you have solved it, tell me your first move for White and I'll let you know if you're on the right track.

White to play and win.