50-Day Endgame Challenge by GM Valeriy Aveskulov + pgn Jun 20, 2025

Build a New Daily Habit
and Level Up Your Endgame Skills

Studying endgames is important. We all know this, and yet we often don’t follow through. After all, other activities like solving tactics are usually more fun and also give a sense of progress.

But what if you could train endgames in a way that feels like solving puzzles, while also internalizing key concepts and typical tactical motifs?

Now you can in this course!

In fact, this is more than just a course: it’s a challenge that comes with a clear training plan where each day is mapped out for you.

Your challenge starts with easy pawn endgames and then gradually grows in difficulty. Here’s an example from day one:

Day 1 is all about the concept of opposition. White to move!

Can you solve 7 puzzles a day for 50 days?

Each day, you will complete one chapter, consisting of seven endgame puzzles. Your first few days will focus on pawn endgames, with each chapter dedicated to different sub-themes (opposition, Réti’s idea, breakthroughs, etc.). After that, you will progress to other types of endgames, encountering increasingly challenging scenarios that reflect real game situations.

All types of endgames will be covered sequentially:

♙ Pawn Endgames
♗ Bishop Endgames
♘ Knight Endgames
♖ Rook Endgames
♕ Queen Endgames
+ Multi-Piece Endings

Let’s see some more examples. Here’s a bishop endgame from day 19. White to move:

In many positions, you’ll be faced with enemy pawns dangerously
close to promotion and will need to find a way to save yourself with a draw.
Here, this can be achieved with the indicated maneuver.

Among the 350 exercises, you’ll find a fine selection of top-level games by elite players and valuable endgame studies by famous composers.

See, for example, this beautiful knight endgame composition by Alexey Troitsky, 1906:

Did you know you can mate with just one knight? That is, if an enemy pawn helps you with it!

If you’re not completely new to endgames, you know that rook endgames are by far the most important ones. This is reflected in the course as well: 15 out of the 50 training days will be spent solving rook endgames like this one:

From the game Carlsen – Caruana, Moscow 2013. How can Black win this?

In real games, classic theoretical endgames as we know them from books, do occur. But more often you’ll probably encounter positions that are slightly different and more complex.

This course exposes you to a wide range of scenarios and encourages you to think for yourself. Check this one, for example:

Exercises like these will not only sharpen your endgame tactics, but also your general calculation.

The author of this course is GM Valeriy Aveskulov, a grandmaster with a peak rating of 2545, a Ukrainian champion, and a chess coach since 2009.

His concept of the “50-day challenge” has proven highly effective in previous courses on middlegame positions, with hundreds of users reporting great results. Now he uses the same approach to cover his favorite topic: endgames.

Training endgame tactics is often overlooked, even though it not only improves your performance in similar situations during actual games, but also sharpens your overall calculation and tactical skills.

Let’s recap what you’ll gain from this course:

✅ Structured endgame training covering all endgame types
✅ Deeper understanding of fundamental endgame concepts
✅ Sharpened tactical vision and general calculation skills
✅ Incentive to study daily for consistent improvement
✅ >17 hours of video instruction where every puzzle is explained

This course will be helpful for club players of any level. GM Aveskulov even proposes a way to determine your endgame strength according to how many puzzles you get right:

1/7: ~ 1400–1550 FIDE
2/7: ~ 1550–1700 FIDE
3/7: ~ 1700–1800 FIDE
4/7: ~ 1800–1950 FIDE
5/7: ~ 1950–2100 FIDE
6/7: ~ 2100–2200 FIDE
7/7: ~ 2200+ FIDE