Knight endgames are like king and pawn endgames. This rule of thumb was given by former world champion Mikhail Botvinnik, who observed that if a king and pawn endgame was winning, the evaluation would be the same with knights on the board. We can infer that protected or outside passed pawns can be a huge asset in knight endgames, because the stronger side can always offer to trade knights, and the defending side will need to retreat in order to avoid the trade.
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[Event "rated untimed match"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "????.??.??"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Unknown"]
[Black "Unknown116"]
[Result "0-1"]
[Annotator "David Hayes"]
[BlackElo "0"]
[FEN "r3r1k1/1p3pBp/p5p1/3p2P1/4nP2/2PQ1N2/qP4P1/2KR3R b - - 0 1"]
[SetUp "1"]
[TimeControl "0"]
[WhiteElo "0"]
1... Nc5 ( { Black can try: } 1... Nf2 2. Qd4 Nxd1 3. Bh8 Qxb2+ 4. Kxd1 Qb1+ 5. Kd2 Qb2+ 6. Kd1 Qb1+ 7. Kd2 Qb2+ { Draw by repetition of position. } ) ( { Black dare not try: } 1... Kxg7 2. Qd4+ Kg8 3. Rxh7 Kxh7 4. Rh1+ Kg8 5. Qh8# ) 2. Qxd5 ( { White can try: } 2. Qc2 Nb3+ 3. Qxb3 Qxb3 { Black wins with a
large material advantage. } ) ( { White can try: } 2. Qb1 Nb3+ 3. Kc2 Re2+ 4. Rd2 Qxb1+ 5. Rxb1 Nxd2 6. Nxd2 Kxg7 { Black wins with a large material advantage. } ) 2... Nb3+ 3. Kc2 Re2+ 4. Kd3 ( { White can try: } 4. Rd2 Rxd2+ 5. Nxd2 Na1+ 6. Rxa1 Qxd5 7. Be5 { Black wins with a large material advantage. } ) ( { White can also
try: } 4. Nd2 Na1+ 5. Rxa1 Qxd5 { Black wins with a large material advantage. } ) 4... Qxb2 5. Nd4 ( { White can try: } 5. Rhf1 Qc2+ 6. Kc4 Kxg7 7. Rd3 Rc8+ 8. Kb4 Qb2 9. Qxb3 a5+ 10. Ka4 b5+ 11. Qxb5 Qa2# ) 5... Nxd4 6. Kxd4 ( { White can try: } 6. Bxd4 Qc2+ 7. Kc4 Qa4+ 8. Kc5 Qb5+ 9. Kd6 Rd8+ 10. Kc7 Re7+ 11. Kxd8 Qe8# ) 6... Rc8 7. Rh3 ( { White can try: } 7. Qa5 Re4+ 8. Kxe4 Qe2+ 9. Kd5 Qc4+ 10. Ke5 Re8+ 11. Kd6 Qc6# ) 7... Qc2 8. Rdd3 Qa4+ 9. Qc4 Qxc4# 0-1