Return to Answer

The answer depends not only on your own playing strength and endgame experience/skill, but also the type of "winning" endgame. There are endgames that are numerically overwhelming according to the computer that would be very difficult for a human to win. Then there are endgames with a small (yet ultimately decisive) advantage that a human might find trivial to play correctly. Here is one such position.

[FEN "1n1k4/6Q1/5KP1/8/7b/1r6/8/8 w - - 0 1"]

This a "forced mate", but requires 549 precise moves, i.e. a mistake would result in a draw. Most of it would be utterly impossible for any human to understand strategically.

However, the opposite is possible as well. Stockfish evaluates the below position to be +0.3, which is about the same advantage as White gets at the beginning, yet it is fairly straightforward for an experienced player to win against any strength of opposition.

[FEN "5bk1/3p2p1/8/3p4/5p2/3KpP2/P1N3PP/8 w - - 0 1"]

1. a4 Bc5 2. a5 Kf7 3. a6 Ke7 4. Na3 Kd8 5. Nb5 Kc8 6. g3 g5 7. gxf4 gxf4 8. h4 Kb8 9. h5 Bf8 10. Nc3 Bh6 11. Nxd5 Ka7 12. Ne7 Kxa6 13. Nf5 Bg5 14. h6 Bf6 15. h7 Kb5 16. Nd6+ Kc6 17. Nf7 Kd5 18. h8=Q Bxh8 19. Nxh8 Ke6 20. Ng6 Kf5 21. Nh4+ Ke5 22. Ng2 d6 23. Ne1 Kd5 24. Nc2 e2 25. Kxe2 Kc4 26. Ne1 Kd5 27. Nd3 Ke6 28. Nxf4+ Kf5 29. Nd3 Ke6 30. Ke3 Kd5 31. f4 Kc6 32. Ke4 Kb7 33. Kd5 Kc7 34. Ke6 Kd8 35. Kxd6 Ke8 36. Ke6 Kf8 37. f5 Kg7 38. f6+ Kg6 39. Ne5+ Kg5 40. f7 Kf4 41. f8=Q+ Ke3 42. Qf3+ Kd4 43. Qd3+ Kc5 44. Qc4+ Kb6 45. Nd7+ Kb7 46. Kd6 Ka7 47. Qb5 Ka8 48. Qb8#

The answer depends not only on your own playing strength and endgame experience/skill, but also the type of "winning" endgame. There are endgames that are numerically overwhelming according to the computer that would be very difficult for a human to win. Here is one such example.

[FEN "1n1k4/6Q1/5KP1/8/7b/1r6/8/8 w - - 0 1"]

This a "forced mate", but requires 549 precise moves, i.e. a mistake would result in a draw. Most of it would be utterly impossible for any human to understand strategically.

However, there also exist endgames with a small (yet ultimately decisive) advantage that a human might find trivial to play correctly. Stockfish evaluates the below position to be +0.3, which is about the same advantage as White gets at the beginning, yet it is fairly straightforward for an experienced player to win against any strength of opposition.

[FEN "5bk1/3p2p1/8/3p4/5p2/3KpP2/P1N3PP/8 w - - 0 1"]

1. a4 Bc5 2. a5 Kf7 3. a6 Ke7 4. Na3 Kd8 5. Nb5 Kc8 6. g3 g5 7. gxf4 gxf4 8. h4 Kb8 9. h5 Bf8 10. Nc3 Bh6 11. Nxd5 Ka7 12. Ne7 Kxa6 13. Nf5 Bg5 14. h6 Bf6 15. h7 Kb5 16. Nd6+ Kc6 17. Nf7 Kd5 18. h8=Q Bxh8 19. Nxh8 Ke6 20. Ng6 Kf5 21. Nh4+ Ke5 22. Ng2 d6 23. Ne1 Kd5 24. Nc2 e2 25. Kxe2 Kc4 26. Ne1 Kd5 27. Nd3 Ke6 28. Nxf4+ Kf5 29. Nd3 Ke6 30. Ke3 Kd5 31. f4 Kc6 32. Ke4 Kb7 33. Kd5 Kc7 34. Ke6 Kd8 35. Kxd6 Ke8 36. Ke6 Kf8 37. f5 Kg7 38. f6+ Kg6 39. Ne5+ Kg5 40. f7 Kf4 41. f8=Q+ Ke3 42. Qf3+ Kd4 43. Qd3+ Kc5 44. Qc4+ Kb6 45. Nd7+ Kb7 46. Kd6 Ka7 47. Qb5 Ka8 48. Qb8#

The answer depends not only on your own playing strength and endgame experience/skill, but also the type of "winning" endgame. There are endgames that are numerically overwhelming according to the computer that would be very difficult for a human to win. Then there are endgames with a small (yet ultimately decisive) advantage that a human might find trivial to play correctly. Here is one such position.

[FEN "1n1k4/6Q1/5KP1/8/7b/1r6/8/8 w - - 0 1"]

This a "forced mate", but requires 549 precise moves, i.e. a mistake would result in a draw. Most of it would be utterly impossible for any human to understand strategically.

However, these kinds of positions are possible as well.

[FEN "5bk1/3p2p1/8/3p4/5p2/3KpP2/P1N3PP/8 w - - 0 1"]

It evaluates to about the same advantage as White gets at the beginning of the game (+0.3), yet it is fairly straightforward for an experienced player to win against any strength of opposition.

The answer depends not only on your own playing strength and endgame experience/skill, but also the type of "winning" endgame. There are endgames that are numerically overwhelming according to the computer that would be very difficult for a human to win. Then there are endgames with a small (yet ultimately decisive) advantage that a human might find trivial to play correctly. Here is one such position.

[FEN "1n1k4/6Q1/5KP1/8/7b/1r6/8/8 w - - 0 1"]

This a "forced mate", but requires 549 precise moves, i.e. a mistake would result in a draw. Most of it would be utterly impossible for any human to understand strategically.

However, the opposite is possible as well. Stockfish evaluates the below position to be +0.3, which is about the same advantage as White gets at the beginning, yet it is fairly straightforward for an experienced player to win against any strength of opposition.

[FEN "5bk1/3p2p1/8/3p4/5p2/3KpP2/P1N3PP/8 w - - 0 1"] 

1. a4 Bc5 2. a5 Kf7 3. a6 Ke7 4. Na3 Kd8 5. Nb5 Kc8 6. g3 g5 7. gxf4 gxf4 8. h4 Kb8 9. h5 Bf8 10. Nc3 Bh6 11. Nxd5 Ka7 12. Ne7 Kxa6 13. Nf5 Bg5 14. h6 Bf6 15. h7 Kb5 16. Nd6+ Kc6 17. Nf7 Kd5 18. h8=Q Bxh8 19. Nxh8 Ke6 20. Ng6 Kf5 21. Nh4+ Ke5 22. Ng2 d6 23. Ne1 Kd5 24. Nc2 e2 25. Kxe2 Kc4 26. Ne1 Kd5 27. Nd3 Ke6 28. Nxf4+ Kf5 29. Nd3 Ke6 30. Ke3 Kd5 31. f4 Kc6 32. Ke4 Kb7 33. Kd5 Kc7 34. Ke6 Kd8 35. Kxd6 Ke8 36. Ke6 Kf8 37. f5 Kg7 38. f6+ Kg6 39. Ne5+ Kg5 40. f7 Kf4 41. f8=Q+ Ke3 42. Qf3+ Kd4 43. Qd3+ Kc5 44. Qc4+ Kb6 45. Nd7+ Kb7 46. Kd6 Ka7 47. Qb5 Ka8 48. Qb8#

The answer depends not only on your own playing strength and endgame experience/skill, but also the type of "winning" endgame. There are endgames that are numerically overwhelming according to the computer that would be very difficult for a human to win and there are endgames with a small (yet ultimately decisive) advantage that a human might find trivial to play correctly. For instance:

Is a "forced mate", but requires over 500 precise moves (i.e., a mistake would result in a draw), most of which would be utterly impossible for any human to understand strategically.

However,

Evaluates to about the same advantage as White gets at the beginning of the game (+0.3), yet is fairly straightforward for an experienced player to win against any strength of opposition:

The answer depends not only on your own playing strength and endgame experience/skill, but also the type of "winning" endgame. There are endgames that are numerically overwhelming according to the computer that would be very difficult for a human to win. Then there are endgames with a small (yet ultimately decisive) advantage that a human might find trivial to play correctly. Here is one such position.

[FEN "1n1k4/6Q1/5KP1/8/7b/1r6/8/8 w - - 0 1"]

This a "forced mate", but requires 549 precise moves, i.e. a mistake would result in a draw. Most of it would be utterly impossible for any human to understand strategically.

However, these kinds of positions are possible as well.

[FEN "5bk1/3p2p1/8/3p4/5p2/3KpP2/P1N3PP/8 w - - 0 1"]

It evaluates to about the same advantage as White gets at the beginning of the game (+0.3), yet it is fairly straightforward for an experienced player to win against any strength of opposition.