Logic at last

 I have read quite some endgame books. I learned a few techniques along the way, yet I always felt dissatisfied. 

The main cause seems to be that most books start with calculus where I need 2x3. They start with technique while I need to know what we are actually trying to achieve. They tell a story but start in the middle. Leaving you guessing about the beginning.

But now we know how skill is acquired. It starts with logic! The logic of system 2 is where system 1 gets its education from. So where does logic begin? Logic starts at the end! Because at the end you can find the purpose on which you can build your logic.

Where does the endgame start? It starts at the end. And the end is queening a pawn. That is the purpose of all that endgame stuff. That is where the logic starts. How do you queen a pawn? You must create a passer first.

Now everything starts to fall in the right place. Between the passer and the promotion squares we have a special set of squares. And I will give these squares a special name: the Path to Promotion (PtP). I don't know yet whether I actually need a special name, but to avoid confusion with the PoPLoAFun system I will try to avoid terms as LoA and Target for PtP and promotion square. The obligation to prevent the pawn from queening is a new form of Function. This immobilizes the defenders, thus becoming the third duck.

Between the passer and the promotion square, the battle is fought with pieces. Hence there will emerge specific tactics and patterns that belong to the battle of promotion. Now the purpose becomes clear and the role of the pieces becomes clear. The battle of the PtP exists of freeing the path for the attacker, and blockading the path for the defender.

And upfront we even start to think about the techniques that belong to the PtP battle, we must first ask: how do you create a passer?

Now I have formulated the logical base of endgames, it seems to be so obvious and evident that it feels a bit embarrassing that I didn't noticed it before. But hey, when a former world champion starts an endgame book with K+B+N vs K you can't blame me!