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 "Unknown444"]
[Result "0-1"]
[Annotator "David Hayes"]
[BlackElo "0"]
[ECO "A00"]
[FEN "2r5/2R2pkp/1Q3p2/8/4p3/5qP1/PP3P1P/6K1 b - - 0 1"]
[SetUp "1"]
[TimeControl "0"]
[WhiteElo "0"]
1... e3 { A classic demolition of pawn structure protecting the king. } 2. fxe3 ( { White dare not try: } 2. Rxc8 Qxf2+ 3. Kh1 Qf1# ) 2... Qd1+ 3. Kg2 ( { White
can try: } 3. Kf2 Rd8 4. g4 Rd2+ 5. Kg3 Qe1+ 6. Kf4 Qf2+ 7. Ke4 Qg2+ 8. Kf4 Rf2# ) 3... Rd8 4. Qb5 Rd2+ 5. Kh3 Qf3 6. Rc4 h5 7. Qc5 Qg2+ 8. Kh4 Qxh2# 0-1