The tempo reserve

The key idea

Count how many pawn moves you have left and how many they have. Whoever ends up with the last one wins. And if you have a pawn still on its starting square, advance it ONE step at a time: the double step throws half a tempo in the trash.

Example 1 · One extra tempo, and the right order

Blocked pawns and kings face to face: the game is decided on the kingside, with a pawn that can still take two steps against one that can only take one.

1. h3 One step, not two. Count on your fingers before moving: your h2 pawn can take two steps (h3 and then h4), theirs on h6 only one (h5). You're winning the tempo count 2 to 1 — and with h3 you keep it that way. With h4 you'd throw it away: you'd spend both your tempi at once and you'd be the one left with no pawn moves.
2. h5 Black spends its only tempo. Not out of choice: if the king moves, it lets go of the barrier and your king comes in through the gap. It's tied to b6 as long as there's an alternative.
3. h4 And that's the end of the pawn moves on the board. Look at the position calmly: all four pawns are frozen, the kings are face to face… and it's Black's move. That's everything one spare tempo has bought us.
4. Kc7 Forced to give up the opposition. Doesn't matter which square it picks: any king move opens a door, because there's nothing else left to move.
5. Kc5 Your king walks through that door. Now it attacks d5, and the black king can't defend it and hold you off at the same time.
6. Kd8 It steps aside as best it can. Going back to d6 or d7 doesn't help: your king on c5 covers both squares from which it would defend the pawn.
7. Kxd5 Pawn collected. And look at what's left: your d4 pawn becomes a passed pawn with the king in front of it — the won position you already know from 'king and pawn'. The h-pawns are blocked and don't matter.
8. Kd7 The black king rushes to get in front, which is the only thing left to try.
9. Ke5 And your king stays ahead of the pawn, gaining ground. Trace back where all this came from: not a brilliant move, but counting two pawns against one and advancing one step at a time. Pawn endings are won like that, with arithmetic.

Example 2 · No pawns left to move: the king's triangle

Here there's not a single pawn move left. If you need to pass the move to your rival, the tempo has to be lost by your king — taking the long way round.

1. Kc3 Count first: e4 collides with e5 and g5 collides with g6. Zero pawn moves for either side. With no reserve to spend, the tempo has to be lost by the king — and that's what the triangle is for: covering three squares to come back to the same one with the rival to move. Start with c3.
2. Kd6 The black king hugs its e5 pawn, which is what it has to defend. Watch its problem: f6 is taken away by your g5 pawn, so its useful squares are very few.
3. Kb4 Second vertex of the triangle. You're not getting closer or further away: you're spending a tempo it can't spend without breaking something.
4. Kc6 It also makes time, but with a king far more tied down than yours.
5. Kc4 Triangle closed: c3, b4, c4. You're back in the area you started from, having lost exactly one tempo — and now it's their move.
6. Kd6 Back to standing guard. It's the best it has, but it no longer covers everything.
7. Kb5 And here's the fruit of the triangle: the detour on the queenside, one tempo up. Your king heads for c5 and d5, and Black can't cover both entries.
8. Kc7 Retreats to try to shut the door on the c-file.
9. Kc5 Your king steps onto the fifth rank. Every square you gain is one less square left for it to defend e5.
10. Kd7 It stands opposite for the last time.
11. Kd5 Detour completed: your king attacks e5 from d5 and Black no longer gets there to defend it. The pawn falls and the g6 pawn falls behind it. All of it came from three king moves that looked like they were doing nothing — remember that feeling, because it's exactly what good moves feel like in pawn endings.

Practice

Your move, with White. The d-pawns are blocked and the kings are staring each other down: the game is decided on the kingside. Count each side's tempi before touching anything and spend yours in the right order.

1. That's it: one at a time. Your pawn keeps a second tempo (h3-h4) in reserve and theirs has just run out. Your h2 pawn can take two steps; theirs on h6, only one. Advance yours one square to keep the reserve — the double step gives away half a tempo.
2. Last pawn move on the board, and you're the one playing it. From here on they can only move the king, and moving the king opens the door for you. Spend your second tempo now: push the h3 pawn one more square and leave Black with no pawn moves.
3. King inside. It already attacks d5, and their king can't defend it and block you at the same time. They've given up the opposition. Bring your king in through the gap, toward the d5 pawn.
4. Pawn collected, and with it the game: you're left with a passed pawn with your king in front. All from knowing how to count to two. Their king no longer defends d5. Take the pawn.

The tempo reserve, used the way it should be: counting before moving and spending one step at a time. Next time you reach a blocked pawn ending, before moving your king, count how many pawn moves you have left and how many they have. Plenty of games are decided right there, in a pawn move nobody's looking at.