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The Practical Endgame Bible – Guidelines for the Fundamentals of the Endgame

From the Publisher:

“There are many books devoted to basic endgames, even from the Middle Ages. Principles of typical endgames (such as keeping the rook behind a passed pawn, not setting pawns on the same colored squares as your bishop’s, distant pawns being more dangerous than central ones etc.) are well known too. But what about “complex endgames”? I have in mind endgames with at least two pieces on each side; well I don’t find them often nor sufficiently well-explained in the past! It is exactly this fact (together with my passion and great endgame experience) that has motivated me to write this book (many friends simply call me “Endgame Wizard” ).

Over two decades of working as a coach has confirmed my opinion that endgames are the biggest problem for young players. Today, in the computer era with a lot of information easily provided, youngsters all over the world rather play blitz, or solve some tactical puzzles in a manner that is “the faster the better” (or even spend time on some other chess disciplines). All of this neglects the basis of chess – the importance of endgames! It is not uncommon that everyday you can be witness to some strange endgame misunderstanding, even at the top level.

This is why I consider some of my favorite endgame books based on logic as the best I’ve ever read – I learned the endgame from some of the best endgame players and authors. And this is why I want to fill that gap in chess literature and to share my devotion, ideas, principles, opinions with you! I hope you will enjoy this material and I am pretty sure you will broaden your endgame horizons.”

About the author:

FM Boroljub Zlatanovic

  • Born in Cuprija, Serbia, 05 August 1977
  • Started chess at four years old watching father and his brother playing
  • Entered first chess club “Radnicki” Cuprija at seven
  • Fide Master in 1994
  • Serbian youth champion in 1995
  • Champion of the Belgrade University in 2001 and 2002
  • Won countless times the Serbian team championship (in youth competition as well)
  • IM since 2014
  • FIDE TRAINER since 2015
  • Winner of many open, blitz, rapid and internet events
  • Professional coach for more than 15 years
  • Author and contributor for American Chess Magazine since 2019
  • This is his 4th book for Thinkers Publishing.

From the back cover:

IM Zlatanovic will bring something new to your chess library. In our computer era, focus is usually on openings. Watching recent broadcasts, the new generation would rather choose games of a certain opening and look for an interesting idea or even a brilliant novelty. I offer, and recommend, a different concept altogether, based on the famous Soviet school of chess. The focus should be on understanding strategical concepts, principles and underlying logic. Fashionable opening lines will be forgotten (or re-evaluated) sooner or later, but understanding cannot be lost, and can only be upgraded. It is sad to see some players that are well equipped with opening lines, who are unable to realise a big positional advantage in an endgame. So, our advice is con concentrate on Strategy and Logic.

This new series of books are highly recommended for club players, advanced players and masters, although even higher rated players may also find it useful! There is no doubt that lower rated players will learn a lot about thinking processes and decision making, while some logical principles can be put to use by more advanced players too.

 

What is an endgame? Engines tend to tell you you’re in the endgame when neither player has more than two major/minor pieces on the board. You might, of course, consider BNN v BNN to be more like an ending than QR v QR. Me, I have no very strong views on the subject. Zlatanovic seems to take a very broad view of what constitutes an ending.

This, then, is a practical, rather than a theoretical book. If you want to know how to play KRB v KR, for example, you’ll need to look elsewhere. We have 188 positions, all of which start with at least two major/minor pieces, many with three, and some with almost the whole complement of pieces. Most of the positions come without queens. So what we have here is something much more than just an endgame manual. You could see it as a guide to positional play in the late middlegame, or even, in some cases, the opening.

The range of sources is impressively wide: from Steinitz in 1883 through to Zlatanovic himself in 2021.  From grandmasters to amateurs. From world championship matches to online blitz games. While there are a few very familiar examples (although they’ll always be new to somebody) there will be a lot which you almost certainly won’t have seen before. Here, then, is an author, unlike many who only use a small number of sources for their books, who clearly has an exceptional knowledge of chess and its literature.

He explains in the preface that he has divided the material into 15 chapters, starting with the most important principles and gradually moving on to the most specific principles.

We have:

  1. The Center
  2. The Active King
  3. Open Files
  4. The Bishop Pair
  5. Activity & Harmony
  6. Space Advantage
  7. Key Squares
  8. Pawn Majority
  9. Pawn Weaknesses
  10. Two Weaknesses & Playing on Both Sides
  11. Opposite-Colored Bishops
  12. Exchange Problems
  13. Do Not Rush
  14. Schematic Thinking
  15. Restriction & Prophylaxis

These chapters represent an increasingly important aspect of chess. Even relatively low rated amateurs these days can play the opening well and avoid tactical oversights in relatively simple positions. Incremental time limits mean that games are more likely to be decided by positional factors in the ending than in the days of mad time scrambles or, when I was learning the game, by the adjudicator.

I’d suggest, then, that this could be a very valuable book for anyone of average club standard or above wanting to improve their game. Let’s take a look inside.

Each chapter starts with a brief introduction. Here, as a fairly random example, is that for Chapter 8 (Pawn Majority).

Of course the natural goal of pawn play is the creation of a passed pawn and its promotion! However, this does not happen often!

The logical prerequisite to creating a passed pawn is to have a majority. Of course, with balanced material there would be majorities for both players, on different wings. Which majority is better? Well generally, it is clear that a 2:1 majority is “the best one”. Not only because it can easily create a passer, but even more importantly, it is because of the fact that the passer will be a distant one – it should deflect the opponent’s army (and king!) which would lead to progress and to gaining material on the opposite flank!

You may have already seen this approach a multitude of times. However what about other majorities? Is a 3:2 always better than a 4:3 majority? What about doubled pawns? What about exchanging pieces? Is it better to have more or fewer pieces kept on the board in a situation with mutual majorities? All these answers can be found in this chapter. And a lot of others besides!

I’ll quickly show you a few of Zlatanovic’s examples.

This is Botvinnik – Rabinovich (Leningrad 1934).

Let’s start this chapter with a relatively simple example. White has the better majority – 3:2, which is usually better than 4:3. However the point is that Black has separated a- and c-pawns and it looks like the majority will soon transform to an even better version for White: 2:1.

Later in the chapter: Smyslov – Szabo (Hastings 1955).

White is dominant although it may look as if Black is okay. White’s queenside majority is the key positional factor here, especially after fixing the b7-pawn. Black cannot easily advance it to b6 because of c6, and even exchanging it would create the a-passer. With his next move White opens up the key diagonal and attacks b7.

For my final example, we’re still in the opening, with most of the pieces still on the board. White has to decide on his 12th move in Erenburg – Murariu (Las Palmas 2003).

Here is a more complex example. White has many advantages: better development, more space and a better majority. However the advantage is not large. Black hasn’t made a single bad move – he is ready to place his king on e7 and finish development soon. In such situations active play is extremely important.

Is this position really an ending? Probably not. Does it matter? Again, probably not. If you want to see what happened next in these games, along with Zlatanovic’s explanations you’ll have to buy the book.

You might think the title is slightly misleading, and I might well agree with you, although I’m not sure I could come up with anything better. In some respects this is a modern book on a modern subject but in other respects it might be seem as slightly old-fashioned, and perhaps none the worse for that. The annotations throughout are based on practical considerations rather than computer analysis. Whereas other publishers promote active learning by offering puzzles at the start of each chapter or stopping to ask questions after every few moves, there’s nothing of that nature here.

You could just read the book, or, if you prefer, cover up the moves and try to guess the continuation. You could also set up the positions and play them out against a training partner, your chess coach or a computer.

The production standards are high, although, as you might have realised from the brief quotes above, the English is not always as idiomatic as one might like. There’s also some inconsistency in naming conventions – sometimes using just the player’s initial, sometimes the first name, sometimes also the middle initial and sometimes the full name. It probably won’t bother you but I find that sort of thing slightly annoying. The book also, inevitably, fails the Yates test (he was Fred Dewhirst, not Frederick Dewhurst). We have an index of games at the end,  but an index of players might also have been useful.

In spite of these minor reservations I really enjoyed this book and think that, if you’re an above average club standard player, it will add an extra dimension to your play. Even stronger players will, I suspect, find much of value as well. I’d also consider it an invaluable resource for chess coaches working at this level: it’s evident from the book that the author must be an outstanding teacher.

Zlatanovic has clearly put an enormous amount of thought into how the book should be structured and done a lot of research into finding the most suitable examples to include, and should be congratulated on having produced an excellent book. If you agree with him (as I do) that, at least at club level, understanding is much more important than memory, I’d recommend you to take a look.

You can read some sample pages here.

 

Richard James, Twickenham 10th September 2024

Richard James

    . Richard James

Book Details:

  • Softcover : 496 pages
  • Publisher: Thinkers Publishing; 1st edition (2 May 2023)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 9464201746
  • ISBN-13: 978-9464201741
  • Product Dimensions: 15.88 x 3.18 x 22.86 cm

Official web site of Thinkers Publishing

The Practical Endgame Bible – Guidelines for the Fundamentals of the Endgame, Boroljub Zlatanovic, Thinker's Publishing, ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-9464201741
The Practical Endgame Bible – Guidelines for the Fundamentals of the Endgame, Boroljub Zlatanovic, Thinker’s Publishing, ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-9464201741

 

Rock Solid Chess: Tiviakov’s Unbeatable Strategies: Pawn Structures

From the back cover:

Sergei Tiviakov was unbeaten for a consecutive 110 professional chess games as a grandmaster, a record that has only been broken by World Champion Magnus Carlsen. Who better to teach you rock-solid chess strategy than Tiviakov. He was born in Russia and trained in the famous Russian chess school. In his first book, he explains everything he knows about the fundament of chess strategy: pawn structures.

If chess players trust that their knowledge of opening theory and tactics is enough to survive in tournament play, they are mistaken. Once you settle down for your game and the first moves have been played, you will need a deeper understanding of the middlegame. And one of the most challenging questions is: how to navigate different pawn structures?

Sergei Tiviakov gives you all the answers in this first volume of his highly instructive series on chess strategy. ‘Tivi’ is famous for his deep chess knowledge and rock-solid positional play. He has gathered a rich collection of strategic lessons he has been teaching worldwide, drawing mainly from his personal experience. The examples and exercises will improve your chess significantly and are suitable for any reader from club player to grandmaster level.”

About the Author:

“Sergei Tiviakov is a grandmaster, winner of an Olympic Gold Medal, three times Dutch Champion, and European Champion. Yulia Gökbulut is a Women’s FIDE Master, chess author and sports writer from Turkey.”

GM Sergei Tiviakov drawn by Rupert van der Linden in 1995
GM Sergei Tiviakov drawn by Rupert van der Linden in 1995

Before we start, you might liked to inspect sample pages

 

This book has its origins in a recent series of lectures given by Tiviakov. His co-author was responsible for shaping the material into a book.

We start with a long introduction about the difference  between human and computer chess, which is interesting in itself, but not directly relevant to the subject of the remainder of the book.

What you don’t get is a complete guide to pawn structures: if you want that you’ll need to look elsewhere. Instead, you get something very much based on Tiviakov’s own repertoire. In general you’d expect positional players to prefer queen’s pawn openings, just as Tivi’s hero Tigran Petrosian did, while tactical players will be more likely to choose king’s pawn openings. Tiviakov, though, has been almost exclusively a 1. e4 player throughout his career. With White he makes little attempt to secure an advantage, just aiming to reach a pawn formation he understands better than his opponent.

In the first chapter we look at positions with a pawn majority on one flank. Something like this formation, which Tiviakov often reaches after 1. e4 c5 2. c3, or 1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nd2 c5 4. exd5 Qxd5.

He comments that he’s unaware of any book dealing specifically with this sort of position, and neither am I. If you’re likely to reach this sort of pawn formation in your games you’ll find this material very helpful and instructive.

In this position, from a game Tiviakov – Romanov (White to play), he discusses the idea of deciding, even this early in the game, which pieces you want to trade off for the ending. His conclusion is that ideally you should retain the dark squared bishops, so that you can attack Black’s queenside pawns, and try to trade everything else off. He managed to realise his plan successfully in this game, where he compared his style to that of Petrosian, Karpov and Carlsen.

I’ve thought for many years that perhaps the topic which, more than anything else, needed a book was that of doubled pawns. Naturally, I was delighted to see that Tiviakov devotes two chapters to this. Some of the examples were an eye-opener for me.

Here, he uses his game against Igor Efimov (Imperia 1993: it’s not in MegaBase) to demonstrate how he plays against the Trompowsky.

At first glance you might think that Black’s bishop on e6 looks like a rather useless Big Pawn, but Tiviakov explains that it’s actually more useful than its white counterpart.

But it’s important to understand that in chess a piece is labelled ‘bad’ or ‘good’ not by how it stands, whether it is blocked by pawns or not, but on its role in the actions that its army will carry out. 

He explains that Black plans to swing his knight to e4, followed by b6 and c5, and, if White does nothing, by c4, b5, b4, Qd6 and Rb8.

A very instructive game, he claims, but you’ll have to buy the book to find out why.

It’s grandmasterly insights such as this, sprinkled liberally throughout, which make this book worthwhile.

Here’s another example. Tiviakov used to favour the Scotch against 1… e5, but dropped it after a loss against Mamedyarov in 2006.

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. d4 exd4 4. Nxd4 Bc5 5. Nxc6 Qf6 6. Qd2 dxc6 7. Nc2 Bd4 (obligatory to prevent Qf4 according to Tivi) 8. Bc4 Be6! 9. Bxe6 fxe6

Black has gone in for a deterioration of his pawn structure. From the viewpoint of classical chess strategy, he should stand worse, because of the doubled pawns, the isolated pawn on e6 and in general the three ‘islands’ against two for White. But in concrete dynamic play, Black is not worse. This is something you should understand.

We now move on to positions with semi-open files in the centre.

This sort of pawn formation can arise from very many openings, for example the Caro-Kann or Tiviakov’s favourite Scandinavian.

Here’s another instructive example, with White to play in the 2006 game Godena – Tiviakov. A Qd6 Scandi has resulted in an equal position. Now White chose the apparently natural (to me anyway) 22. c4.

It is possible to place the pawns side by side on c4 and d4, if White has definite dynamic prospects or if the opponent cannot organize an attack on them. In this concrete example, I can prevent the pawn  advancing to d5 and organize an attack on it.

After White’s 32nd move this position was reached. Objectively it’s completely equal, but in practice it’s Black who’s pressing.

Tiviakov again:

After the exchange of rooks, the queen and knight are stronger than the queen and bishop team, because Black has certain secure squares available to him. For example, the queen can come to d4 and then manoeuvre such that he can switch the attack between the white king, the queenside pawns and the pawn on f2.

White’s position is very unpleasant.

Another insight into how a strong grandmaster will perceive a position which a club player like me would think of as just being equal.

The next chapter is about positions with seven pawns each and an open d or e-file.

In this position from a Tiviakov – Kasimdzhanov game, we can deduce from a piece comparison that White stands slightly better. His dark squared bishop is clearly superior, especially after a future f3 and Bf2. It’s perhaps less immediately obvious that his light squared bishop is also better than its opposite number as it’s looking at Black’s slightly vulnerable queenside, while the bishop on b7, once White’s played f3, will be ineffective. Furthermore, White has a potential square on d5, while Black doesn’t have an equivalent square on d4.

Moving on again, we have, logically enough, Two Open Files in the Centre.

Here’s a position from Tiviakov – Ibrahim (2015), with White to play.

If I had a position like this I’d be thinking about offering a draw and heading to the bar, but in fact White is much better here. Black already has a weakness on d5, and by playing Bg4+ now (as it happens Stockfish thinks the immediate Re1 is preferable) and provoking f5, he creates additional weaknesses on e5 and e6.

The final chapter is rather different, looking at the way Tiviakov defends against flank openings, using a double fianchetto system. Again, interesting, but it doesn’t quite fit in.

Summing up, we have four chapters, 1, 4, 5 and 6, which fit together logically, and three chapters, 2, 3 and 7, which, although equally instructive and interesting, don’t really fit in, as well as a long introductory chapter of only tangential relevance. Although it might not make a coherent whole, the quality of the material is very high.

However, contrary to Tiviakov’s claim in his preface that the book is aimed at players of all strengths, from beginner to Grandmaster, it really isn’t.  At lower levels games are usually decided by tactical oversights rather than subtle positional advantages of the type we see in this book. I’d say it was suitable for players of, say, 1750 upwards. Again, if you favour kingside attacks, sharp tactics or heavy opening theory this might not be the book for you. But if you’re a strong player with a preference for positional chess, and especially if you share some of his opening choices, this is a book you really don’t want to miss. A second volume has now been published, which I look forward to reading in due course.

Production values are well up to this publisher’s usual high standards, even though a final read through by a native English speaker might have helped. As usual with books for New in Chess, active learning is encouraged: the reader is asked questions every few moves.

Perhaps this isn’t a book for everyone, but the content is excellent throughout, and, if you’re strong enough to appreciate grandmaster level positional concepts, the book can be highly recommended.

 

Richard James, Twickenham 12th August 2024

Richard James
. Richard James

Book Details:

  • Softcover: 264 pages
  • Publisher: New In Chess; 1st edition (31 Jan. 2023)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10:9493257851
  • ISBN-13:978-9493257856
  • Product Dimensions: 17.22 x 1.65 x 23.01 cm

Official web site of New in Chess.

Rock Solid Chess, Sergei Tiviakov, New In Chess; 1st edition (31 Jan. 2023), ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-9493257856
Rock Solid Chess, Sergei Tiviakov, New In Chess; 1st edition (31 Jan. 2023), ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-9493257856

The How to Study Chess on Your Own Workbook: Exercises and Training for Club Players (1800 – 2100 Elo)

From the back cover:

“The astounding success of How To Study Chess on Your Own made clear that there are thousands of chess players who want to improve their game – and do (part of) their training on their own. The bestselling book by GM Kuljasevic offered a structured approach and provided the training plans. Kuljasevic now presents a Workbook with the accompanying exercises and training tools a chess student can use to immediately start his training.

Kuljasevic wanted his exercises to mimic the decision-making process of a real game. His focus is on training methods that encourage analytical thinking. Most workbooks offer puzzles and puzzles only. But with this book, you will be challenged by tasks like:

  • Solve positional play exercises
  • Find the best move and find the mini-plan
  • Play out a typical middlegame structure against a friend or an engine
  • Simulation – study and replay a strategic model game
  • Analyze – try to understand a given middlegame position

The Workbook is designed for self-study, but is also useful for chess coaches and teachers and can be applied in one-on-one lessons, as well as in study groups in chess clubs, schools or online classes. This first volume is optimized for chess players with an Elo rating between 1800 and 2100 but is very accessible and useful for any ambitious chess player.”

About the Author:

“Davorin Kuljasevic is an International Grandmaster born in Croatia. He graduated from Texas Tech University and is an experienced coach. His bestselling books Beyond Material: Ignore the Face Value of Your Pieces and How To Study Chess on Your Own were both finalists for the Boleslavsky-Averbakh Award, the best book prize of FIDE, the International Chess Federation.”

GM Davorin Kuljasevic
GM Davorin Kuljasevic

Before we continue you might like to inspect this preview from the publisher’s website (product page here), which will give you an idea of the layout and show you some of the exercises. If you prefer, you can see sample pages from the Kindle edition here.

A quick word first. I have a large backlog of books to review and little time in which to review them, so, in an attempt to catch up, I will be writing much shorter critiques on the titles in my in-tray than I have done in the past.

I reviewed the author’s previous volume with some enthusiasm here, so was eager to see this workbook, especially given that, in terms of rating, but not interest in improving my game, I’m within the book’s target range.

The main body of the book comprises fifteen sets of eight puzzles. We start with five sets on tactics, gradually increasing in difficulty, each set including six ‘find the hidden tactic’ exercises, followed by two ‘tactical analysis’ exercises.

This seems excellent to me. My impression has always been that, at my level, games are much more often decided by spotting or missing exactly this sort of tactical point than by brilliant combinations and sacrifices. The Hidden Tactic exercises present a position and a three-move sequence, in which you have to find the tactical opportunity that was sometimes missed over the board. The analysis questions invite you to analyse several different lines and decide which is best.

Then we have five sets on Middlegame Training. Here we have six positions where you have to find the correct mini-plan, followed by two simulation exercises where you play through part of a game and are awarded points, in the style of Daniel King’s How Good is Your Chess feature in CHESS, for finding good moves.

Finally, there are five sets on Endgame Training to test you on this most important phase of the game. Here, each set gives you four endgame analysis questions where you have to analyse several lines. Then you have two endgame simulation exercises, followed by two positions for you to play out against a training partner, coach or engine. I’m very much in favour of this and believe that playing out endgame positions should be an important part of every player’s training.

In my day, 50-60 years ago, reading books was, for most of us, just about the only option for chess improvement. Now, of course, there are many more options. As was clear from his previous book, Kuljasevic has put a lot of thought into the most efficient training methods, and into what works best within the framework of a book, and has done an excellent job in selecting material appropriate for his target market.

If you think this book might appeal to you, again I’d refer you to the previews linked to above.

As is usual from this publisher, production values are high. The layout could have been more generous and easier to follow, but this would have necessitated more pages and cost you more money.

If you’re rated between 1800 and 2100, ambitious to improve your rating, are prepared to take time out for serious study and enjoy reading books, I can strongly recommend adding this to your library. Further volumes for lower and higher rated players are promised: I look forward to reading these in due course.

 

 

Richard James, Twickenham 26th July 2024

Richard James
. Richard James

Book Details:

  • Softcover: 224 pages
  • Publisher: New in Chess; Workbook edition (31 Jan. 2023)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10:949325755X
  • ISBN-13:978-9493257559
  • Product Dimensions: 17.15 x 1.5 x 23.01 cm

Official web site of New in Chess.

How to Study Chess on Your Own, Davorin Kuljasevic, New in Chess, Jan 2023, ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-9493257559
How to Study Chess on Your Own, Davorin Kuljasevic, New in Chess, Jan 2023, ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-9493257559

What Chess Coaches Don’t Tell You

Here is the publishers blurb from the rear cover:

“Are you a parent of a junior chess player who feels that because you don’t know how to play chess, you can’t help your child? Or are you an adult or junior chess player who has taken private chess lessons for years, but feels you haven’t been progressing? In both cases, there can be a lot of reliance on a chess coach who has been given free rein with lesson content and direction. They probably have some sort of plan but it is likely to be a plan used for all their students. This is not ideal.

More important is a well-thought out, individualized plan, that focuses on a specific player’s unique strengths and weaknesses. Formulating such a plan is crucial for making improvements. Victoria Doknjas and her son John Doknjas are an ideal writing partnership to tackle this topic. John is a FIDE Master who has already established himself as an excellent and highly-respected author who understands the improvement process very well. Victoria has over a decade of experience navigating the competitive chess arena with her three master-level sons, including also running her own chess academy. Together they offer a unique and informative insight to those wanting to get more out of their chess studies, as well as presenting practical advice in areas including:

* Identifying important goals and how to work towards them.

* Understanding how to objectively analyse your games.

*Maximising the efficiency of software and engines for learning.

Reading this book can broaden your horizons in the essential areas of chess study, and ideally let you better evaluate what your chess coach is teaching you. And if you don’t have a chess coach, this book will provide you with an excellent foundation for serious chess study.”

and about the authors:

John Doknjas is a FIDE Master who has won several strong tournaments in British Columbia, Canada, including the Grand Pacific Open. John is a chess teacher with over eight years of experience and is a highly respected author. Victoria Doknjas has over a decade of experience navigating the competitive chess arena, including also running her own chess academy.

As with every recent Everyman Chess publication high quality paper is used and the printing is clear. Each diagram is clear as is the instructional text. Figurine algebraic notation is used throughout and the diagrams are placed adjacent to the relevant text.

Before we begin, here is a sample

 

A rather provocative title, I think. Here are two chess coaches telling you what chess coaches (presumably apart from them) don’t tell you. You can read their introduction in the sample linked to above.

As I have a rather large pile of books still to review and much else to do I hope you’ll excuse me being rather less detailed than in the past.

Of course there’s a big difference between coaching players with, say, ratings of 0, 500, 1000, 1500, 2000 and 2500. Or between coaching players aged, say, 5, 10, 15, 20 or 25, not to mention 50 or 95. Or between coaching players who have, say, 5 hours a day, 1 hour a day or 1 hour a week to devote to chess.

I can summarise the chapters fairly quickly.

Chapter 1 (3 pages): Working Hard with a Set Purpose. Or, if you like, Deliberate Practice.

Chapter 2 (5 pages): Defining Goals and Developing a Plan to Achieve Them.  All great in principle, but the problem is that, for most of us, life (work, studies, family or whatever) usually tends to get in the way.

Now we move on to the meat of the book.

Chapter 3 (57 pages): Analyzing Your Games.

The authors recommend that when you’ve played a game you enter it into your database (without having an engine on), annotate it with specific reference to the critical moments, write down what you learnt from the game, and only then look at it using an engine and/or show it to your coach.

You’re provided with three exercises: one game by each of the authors and a grandmaster game, each of which is presented five times: without annotations, with the possible critical moments highlighted, with some variations at the critical moments, with further explanations at the critical moments, and finally with engine-based analysis.

With jumbo sized diagrams used liberally, this takes up a lot of space for a lot of repetition.

Here’s the GM game: you might want to see how you get on. Click on any move for a pop-up window.

Analysing a Karpov game would, I’m sure, be a good exercise for a 2000+ player, but it would be pretty hard for a 1500 player and futile for a 1000 player. We’re perhaps looking at this point at a book for very strong and ambitious players, along with their parents and coaches.

This level seems to be continued in Chapter 4: Creating an Opening Database (30 pages). Using as an example the closed Italian Game (with c3 and d3) for White, the authors show you how you might go about this using ChessBase.

When we’re trying to find moves for our opponent to use in our opening repertoire, we should try to find the most popular moves (since these are what we’re most likely to face in a game). However, when we’re trying to find a move to play ourselves, often it’s useful to choose a rare move over a popular move (as long as the engine is fine with it). 

Again, this sounds like excellent advice for, say a 2000 player.

Moving on, then.

Chapter 5 clocks in at a chunky 85 pages on Will to Win: Essential Endgames. All reputable chess coaches will agree that Essential Endgames are, well, essential.

But here we’re taught how to play baby positions like this…

.. which is one of the first lessons I give beginners, followed by pages on RP v R (Philidor, Lucena) and Q v P on the 7th rank, again material more suited to 1000 players than 2000 players.

This all left me rather confused as to the purpose and target market of the book.

We’re still in endgame territory in Chapter 6, Tactics and Studies (32 pages). As well as solving tactics puzzles online the authors recommend, like most chess coaches these days, solving endgame studies. They present five rather difficult studies here, much more suited to 2000 rather than 1000 strength players.

This one, unlike some of their other choices, has a short solution.

White to play and draw (Jan Timman 1981)

The main line runs 1. Nd2 Bf7 2. Kg5 Ng2 3. Nf3 Kf8 4. Ne5 Kg7 5. Nxg6 Bxg6 with stalemate.

Chapter 7 is Slowing Down (another 32 pages). Good advice for novices, yes, but do you need to tell experienced players to slow down? We seem to be back with advice for 1000 players now, telling you to play more slowly and consider basic principles (control the centre squares, develop your pieces etc). We then have a few exercises where you have to use basic principles to find the best plan in some GM games.

The final long chapter, Chapter 8 (88 pages), is on Training Games. I was very pleased to see this chapter as I consider training games to be an invaluable method of improving your chess which is often ignored. We’re first advised to play training games against stronger players if we can. We’re then given 41 positions which can be played out against a training partner or a computer. These range from typical opening positions, through a variety of middlegame positions through to endings. Each of the positions is then repeated along with the game continuation and some analysis, explaining the length of the chapter.

Chapter 9 (22 pages) covers the important topic of To Exchange or not to Exchange  in rather perfunctory fashion: a brief introduction followed by four examples including games from Kasparov and Karpov.

Finally, Chapter 10 (12 pages) gives you some FAQs for Parents or Those New to Competitive Chess – useful, I suppose, but parents and adult newcomers will have rather different questions, and some of the answers are USA/Canada-centric, which may not be helpful for UK readers.

What to make of this book, then?

The question I always ask is whether the publishers commissioned the book, or whether the authors wrote it and submitted it on spec. Perhaps the former, although I may be wrong. It’s clear that the authors are great chess coaches and the book is full of excellent ideas and advice, some of which is not readily available elsewhere. But it doesn’t seem coherent to me, though, switching between advice tailored for budding masters and instruction more suitable for novices. There was, for my taste, rather too much analysis of fairly random examples, and the layout, with the very large diagrams favoured by this publisher, could have been more economical.

While I get that the chess book market, unless your name is Levy Rozman, is relatively small, and publishers want their books to appeal to as wide a range of readers as possible, trying to please everyone at the same time results in a book which will only be useful in parts for most purchasers. A more proactive approach from the publishers to produce a book with a more specific target market could easily have resulting in something half the size and twice as useful (which would perhaps have sold half as many copies).

Although I can only recommend the book with reservations, you might find it fills a gap in the market and at least some of the material will give you some fresh ideas about how to improve your, or your students’ rating.

And, if you’re interested in publishing a book about what chess coaches don’t tell parents of kids rated under 1000, I know just the person to write it.

 

Richard James, Twickenham 11th July 2024

Richard James
Richard James

Book Details :

  • Paperback: 384 pages
  • Publisher: Everyman Chess (10 July 2023)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 178194654X
  • ISBN-13: 978-1781946541
  • Product Dimensions: 17.25 x 2.16 x 23.37 cm

Official web site of Everyman Chess

What Chess Coaches Don't Tell You, John Doknjas and Victoria Doknjas, Everyman Chess, ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1781946541
What Chess Coaches Don’t Tell You, John Doknjas and Victoria Doknjas, Everyman Chess, ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1781946541

Rook Endgames from Morphy to Carlsen

Rook Endgames from Morphy to Carlsen: Valentin Bogdanov

From the publisher:

“So, you want to improve your rook endings? Good choice, as they occur more often in your games than your favourite opening lines!

Allow vastly experienced trainer Valentin Bogdanov to assist. However, we are not headed for the classroom, but to the tournament hall! We shall witness tense moments as the greatest champions in chess history battle their way through all manner of rook endings: tactical, strategic and technical. Your coach will be whispering in your ear, explaining what is happening and giving the theoretical background. You will also be getting the benefit of modern computer analysis, which X-rays these classic games for errors and missed resources in a way that was not possible even a few years ago. A feast of astonishing analysis awaits!

We shall see that even the best players make a surprising number of errors in rook endings. This should give us heart to fight even in the most desperate of situations, and motivate us to study these endgames so we can pick up the many half-points and even full points that our opponents will surely offer up to us.

By emphasizing the most common themes and areas where players go astray, Bogdanov helps us determine which parts of those technical endgame manuals that are sitting on our shelves are most worth thumbing through. This book can also simply be enjoyed as a stroll through chess history – you will be amazed how many key turning-points occurred in rook endgames!

The players featured in this book include all 17 official world champions, the 3 ‘uncrowned kings’ who preceded them, and a selection of 8 other outstanding players. There are 384 examples in total. The book is completed with a selection of 68 exercise positions, and detailed indexes of themes and players.”

About the author, Valentin Bogdanov

“International Master Valentin Bogdanov has vast experience as a chess trainer, and is from Ukraine. His pupils include Moskalenko, Savchenko and Drozdovsky, and he has acted as a second for the well-known grandmaster and theoretician Viacheslav Eingorn since the late 1970s. For more than 50 years he has been a teacher at the chess school in Odesa (Ukraine), and in 2016 won the European Over-65 Championship. In the same year he also qualified as an International Arbiter and has since then officiated over a great many chess events in his country. This is his fifth book for Gambit.”

Here, on YouTube John Nunn gives the reader an introduction to the book:

and, if that wasn’t good enough for you we have this sample of the content.

This book is an excellent publication on rook endgames. It is packed full of an instructive examples from practical games which makes the material more accessible than a book of purely theoretical positions. There are a lot of fresh examples that are new to the reviewer which makes the book particularly novel.  The book is probably aimed at 2000+ players although any aspiring player would glean lots of useful guidelines on playing rook endings from this tome. There is an excellent “Index Of Themes” at the back.

The reviewer will show six examples from the book.

Position 10

Steinitz-Blackburne Vienna 1898 Position after 80...Rc2
Steinitz-Blackburne Vienna 1898 Position after 80…Rc2

There are many positions with R+2P v R with a and c pawns that are drawn. This position is winning with care. Steinitz inexplicably played 81.a7+? believing that seizing c7 for the king would win. 81…Kxa7! 82.Kc7 Rh1! 83.c6 Rh7+ drawing with flank checks.

The natural 81.Kd7! wins easily, for example 81…Rh1 82.c6 Rh7+ 83.Kd6 Rh6+ 84.Kc5 Rh1 85.Kb6 Rb1+ 86.Rb5

Steinitz-Blackburne Vienna 1898 Variation after 86.Rb5
Steinitz-Blackburne Vienna 1898 Variation after 86.Rb5

86…Ra1 87.c7+ Kc8 88.a7 Ra2 89.a8Q Rxa8 90.Rd5 winning

Position 100

Larsen-Tal Candidates (9) Bled 1965 Position after 52.Kxe5
Larsen-Tal Candidates (9) Bled 1965 Position after 52.Kxe5

Black hurries to force a drawn R+P v R endgame, but is mistaken.
52…b3? 52…Rh2 or Re2 is much better 53.axb3! Rxb3 54.Kd6 Rd3+

Larsen-Tal Candidates (9) Bled 1965 Position after 52...Rd3+
Larsen-Tal Candidates (9) Bled 1965 Position after 54…Rd3+

White played 55.Ke6? throwing away the win, 55.Ke7! wins controlling d8, after 55…Rh3 intending flank checks 56.Ra4 Rh7+ 57.Kf6 Rh6+ (57..Kd8 58.Ra8+) 58.Kg5

Larsen-Tal Candidates (9) Bled 1965 Variation after 58.Kg5
Larsen-Tal Candidates (9) Bled 1965 Variation after 58.Kg5

58…Rd6 otherwise, white will cut black’s king off with Rd4 59.e5 Rd1 60.Kf6! winning because black’s rook can only work on the short side as his king is on the long side

Larsen-Tal Candidates (9) Bled 1965 Variation after 60.Kf6
Larsen-Tal Candidates (9) Bled 1965 Variation after 60.Kf6

Position 116

Unzicker-Petrosian Varna Olympiad 1962 Position after 47.Kg2
Unzicker-Petrosian Varna Olympiad 1962 Position after 47.Kg2

This position is deceptive 47…Rb6 (47…Rb5 allows 48.Rd6 and the rook gets behind the pawn and white probably draws) 48.Ra4 Ra6? for once placing the rook behind the pawn does not win as the a-pawn is only on the fourth rank! 48…Rb5! 49.Rc4 Kf6! and black’s active king wins the game as it can support the a-pawn quickly

Unzicker-Petrosian Varna Olympiad 1962 Position after 48...Ra6
Unzicker-Petrosian Varna Olympiad 1962 Position after 48…Ra6

49.Kf3? natural but 49.f3! and 50.g4! seeking counterplay draws 49…Kf6 50.Ke4 Ke6 natural, but 50…Re6+ and Re5 activating the rook wins 51.f3! white advances the kingside pawns to get counterplay which draws with accurate play.

Unzicker-Petrosian Varna Olympiad 1962 Position after 51.f3
Unzicker-Petrosian Varna Olympiad 1962 Position after 51.f3

51…Ra7 52.g4 Ra6 53.Kf4 f6 54.Ke4 f5+ 55.gxf5+ gxf5+ 56.Kf4 Kf6 57.Ke3 Ke5 58.Kd3 Rd6+ 59.Ke3 Rd5 60.Rc4 Rb5 61.Ra4! Kd5 62.Ra1 Kc4

Unzicker-Petrosian Varna Olympiad 1962 Position after 62...Kc4
Unzicker-Petrosian Varna Olympiad 1962 Position after 62…Kc4

White has defended well but now makes a fatal mistake 63.Rc1+ draws as the black king has to retreat, 63.Kf4? Kc3! The a-pawn is too strong 64.Kg5 Kb2 65.Re1 f4+! 66.Kxf4 a4! 67.Ke4 a3 68.f4 a2 winning

Position 131

Fischer-Bisguier UA Ch New York 1958-9 Position after 70.b4
Fischer-Bisguier UA Ch New York 1958-9 Position after 70.b4

Bisguier had an appalling record against Fischer, gaining a single win and a single draw against the young Bobby. He lost the other thirteen games including this one.

White has an edge as black’s king is a long way from the b-pawn, but he can draw with careful defence. 70…d4? (Sloppy, black can draw easily with 70…Rb3! 71.Kc5 Rb1 72.Rd2 Ke6!) 71.Kd5! a clever switchback probably missed by Black 71…Rd1 72.Rf2+! The point  forcing the black king further away 72…Kg4

Fischer-Bisguier UA Ch New York 1958-9 Position after 72...Kg4
Fischer-Bisguier UA Ch New York 1958-9 Position after 72…Kg4

Now Fischer goes astray, 73.Kc4? White can win with 73.b5! Kg3 (73…Rb1 74.Kc4 d3 75.Rd2! Rc1+ 76.Kc5! Rc1+ 77.Kb6 Rc3 78.Ka5 and Black loses the d-pawn and the game) 74.Rb2! winning

Fischer-Bisguier UA Ch New York 1958-9 Variation 1 Position after 74.Rb2
Fischer-Bisguier UA Ch New York 1958-9 Variation 1 Position after 74.Rb2

After 73.Kc4? played in the game:

Fischer-Bisguier UA Ch New York 1958-9 Position after 73.Kc4
Fischer-Bisguier UA Ch New York 1958-9 Position after 73.Kc4

Bisguier came up with a faulty plan 73…d3? 74.Kc3! winning the pawn after Rd2 and as the Black king is cut off by two files, the ensuing R+P v P is easily won

73…Kg3! draws  74.Rf5 (74.Rb2 Kf4 75.b5 Ke3 draws), 74…d3! 75.Kc3 d2! 76.b5 Kg4! 77. Rd5 Kf4! draws as capturing the d2-pawn allows a drawn K+P v K ending.

So much play with only 6 pieces!

Position 200

Aronian-Carlsen Moscow 2006 Position after 72...Ra8
Aronian-Carlsen Moscow 2006 Position after 72…Ra8

Aronian played the cunning waiting move 73.Rd6 testing the young Magnus. This trap is also covered in Rook Endings by Levenfish & Smyslov. Black played the natural check  73…Ra7+? which loses. After 74.Ke8! Carlsen resigned. Only 73…Kg6! draws.

Position 293

Jansa-Geller Budapest (team event) 1970 Position after 66...Rxb4
Jansa-Geller Budapest (team event) 1970 Position after 66…Rxb4

White won here using a famous systematic manoeuvre called Lasker’s steps. 67.Rxc2? throws away the win as Black’s flank checks with the rook draw, so 67.f7!  Rg4+ 68.Kh8 Rf4 69.Rc6+ Kh5 70.Kg7 Rg4+ 71.Kh7 Rf4 72.Rc5+ Kh4 73.Kg7 Rg4+ 74.Kf6 Rf4+ 75.Ke6 Re4+ 76.Kf5 Re2 77.Kg6 Rg2+ 78.Kh6 Rf2 79.Rc4+ Kh3 80.Kg6 Rg2+ 81.Kh5 Rf2 82.Rc3+ Kh2 83.Rxc2! queening the pawn. Now White just has to win Q v R.

This short review cannot really do justice to this book. I do highly recommend it. The graded exercises at the end are tricky , even the so called easy ones!

FM Richard Webb, Chineham, Hampshire, 6th July 2024

FM Richard Webb
FM Richard Webb

Book Details :

  • Hardcover : 344 pages
  • Publisher: Gambit Publications (1 April 2024)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 1805040715
  • ISBN-13: 978-1805040712
  • Product Dimensions: 17.78 x 2.24 x 25.4 cm

Official web site of Gambit Publications Ltd.

Rook Endgames from Morphy to Carlsen, Valentin Bogdanov, Gambit Publications (1 April 2024), ISBN-13: 978-1805040712
Rook Endgames from Morphy to Carlsen, Valentin Bogdanov, Gambit Publications (1 April 2024), ISBN-13: 978-1805040712
Rook Endgames from Morphy to Carlsen, Valentin Bogdanov, Gambit Publications (1 April 2024), ISBN-13: 978-1805040712
Rook Endgames from Morphy to Carlsen, Valentin Bogdanov, Gambit Publications (1 April 2024), ISBN-13: 978-1805040712

Secrets of Queen Endgames

Secrets of Queen Endgames: Ferenc Berkes and Tibor Karolyi

From the publisher:

A revolutionary new work on a notoriously challenging type of chess endgame

Queen endgames can seem unfathomably complicated. Computers have provided complete information for some of the basic queen and pawn endings, but human understanding has proved elusive.

In this ground-breaking work, two Hungarian authors have gone to extraordinary lengths to explain strategies and methods in queen endgames. Rather than a random series of checks, we can now understand king and queen triangulations that gradually bring the pieces to the squares they need to be to engineer the killer tactic that completes the process. Berkes and Karolyi have devised guidelines that help us judge what we need to aim for, and provided a broad set of tools to help us achieve these goals.

Going beyond previous texts, the authors have used not just seven-man tablebases and modern engines, but the specialized program FinalGen to delve with the same certainty into endgames with many more pawns. But most of all, they have spent thousands of hours seeking to present the whole truth about queen endings in human terms. Their wide-ranging discussion of shelters is especially instructive.”

  • A definitive guide to a fundamental class of endgames
  • Explains all types of endings with queens and pawns
  • A wealth of guidelines for handling positions with many pawns
  • Spectacular and previously unpublished endgame studies
  • Thoroughly up to date, with more than 1000 chess diagrams

Ferenc Berkes is a grandmaster from Hungary. A former World Under-18 Champion, he was won the championship of his country on eight occasions. He plays team chess in several European leagues. IM Tibor Karolyi is also from Hungary. His many pupils have included super-GMs Peter Leko and Judit Polgar, and he is a highly experienced chess writer.

To get some idea of the book Gambit (via Amazon) provide a “Look Inside” at their Kindle edition. As you would expect with Gambit, the notation is English short form algebraic using figurines for pieces. A previous criticism (ibid) has been addressed in that each diagram has a W or B “whose move it is” indicator.

The book is divided into 9 chapters as follows :

  1. Extreme Tactics in Queen Endings
  2. Tools in Queen Endings
    Technical Queen Endgames
  3. Queen and Pawn vs Queen
  4. All the Pawns on the Same Side
  5. Extra Outside Passed Pawn
    Practical and Strategic Queen Endgames
  6. The Pawn
  7. The Queen
  8. The King
  9. Complex Queen Endgames

Here on YouTube John Nunn gives the reader an introduction to the book :

This book is a superb tour de force covering a complex subject that has not been covered so extensively before. My short review cannot really do justice to this magnus opus.

The book is aimed at expert players, probably 2200 and above. The vast majority of GMs would learn a lot from this book. Despite  these comments, it is the reviewer’s opinion that any aspiring, improving player would benefit from reading the more general chapters 1, 2, 5, 6, 7, 8. The pure technical chapters 3 and 4 are certainly more abstruse but very instructive: the authors don’t just give long variations but intersperse these with pithy, useful comments.

The short first chapter really introduces the power of the queen with a mixture of studies and over the board positions.

Chapter 1: Extreme Tactics in Queen Endings

Here is an amazing and stunning study by Rusz:

Rusz 2022 White to play and win
Rusz 2022 White to play and win

Black is threatening to mate with Qa1+, so white plays 1.Qf6!!

Rusz 2022 Position after 1.Qf6 mutual zugzwang
Rusz 2022 Position after 1.Qf6 mutual zugzwang Black to move

Amazingly, this is a position of mutual zugzwang as White to play only draws, whereas Black to play loses. It is hard to believe that in an open position with three queens each, having the move is a disadvantage!
Black can try 1…Qad8_ 2.Qaxd8 Qxd8+ 3.Qxd8 Qf1+ 4.Kc2 Qf2+

Rusz 2022 Position after 4...Qf2+
Rusz 2022 Position after 4…Qf2+ White to move

5.Qd2 (The careless 5.Kb3? allows a standard trick 5…Qg3+ 6.Qxg3 stalemate, always watch out for this type of idea in queen endings) 5…Qc5+ 6.Kd1 Qc2+

Rusz 2022 Position after 6...Qc2+
Rusz 2022 Position after 6…Qc2+ White to move

7.Ke2! Black has run out of useful checks, so white wins

Here is a practical example showing many important principles in queen and pawn endings:

Percivaldi - Thybo Danish League 2021-2 Position after 42.Qd5+
Percivaldi – Thybo Danish League 2021-2 Position after 42.Qd5+ Black to move

White has three pawns for a bishop, but the most important feature of the position is black’s far advanced passed a-pawn. In queen endgames, it’s the degree of advancement of passed pawns that is all important, not the number of pawns. Black correctly shed the bishop with his next move:

42…Kc7! 43.Qf7+ Kb6 44. Qxf8 Kb5!

Percivaldi-Thybo Danish League 2021-2 Position after 44...Kb5
Percivaldi-Thybo Danish League 2021-2 Position after 44…Kb5 White to move

White is three pawns up but is totally lost. White’s only potentially useful pawn is the d-pawn as it’s closest to queening, but white is just too far behind in the race. Black’s king will shelter behind the white’s pawns, there is no chance of a perpetual check.

45.Qe8+ Kb4 46.Qb8+ Ka4 47.Qg8 Trying to bar the king’s progress, but to no avail. 47…Qc2! (47…Qb3 also wins) 48.Qe8+ Kb4 49.Qb8+ Kc3 50.Kg2 a2 51.d5 Using a little tactic to prevent queening and putting black under a little pressure

Percivaldi-Thybo Danish League 2021-2 Position after 51.d5
Percivaldi-Thybo Danish League 2021-2 Position after 51.d5 Black to move

51…Qb2? A poor move deactivating the queen allowing white an amazing draw which he misses, the obvious 51…Qe4+ 52.Kh3  Qxd5 eliminating white’s counterplay, followed by putting the king behind white’s pawns wins easily, 51…Qd1! also wins watching White’s d-pawn and preparing to promote, after 52.Qe5+ Kc2 53.Qe4+ Kb3 54.d6 a1=Q wins as does 54…Qxd6

White missed a clever draw and black won after a slugfest in a four queen ending. Buy the book to see this entertainment.

Chapter 2: Tools in Queen Endings

This is an excellent toolbox chapter that covers the follows topics:

The Queen Triangulates
Cutting Off the King
Batteries and Discovered Checks
Pinning Down a Piece
Exploiting the Opponent’s Harmful Pawn
Zugzwangs

These ideas are absolutely key themes in queen endings. This section is definitely worthy of examination.

The reviewer will show  examples from many of the themes in turn:

The Queen Triangulates
The author  explains the concept concisely:
“In queen endings, there are more zugzwangs than most players would assume. We shall see many examples where the attacker’s king manoeuvres to give up the right to move – a familiar theme from pawn endings, but more surprising with queens on the board. But the queen itself can also lose a tempo by a form of triangulation. It usually happens when the defender’s king is in danger.”

Here is another Rusz study showing this idea:

Rusz 2022 Queen Triangulation
Rusz 2022 Queen Triangulation White to play and win

This positions look ok for black as he has White’s passed pawn under control. 1.Qg5+ Ke8 2.Qc5! 2…a3! 3.Qe3+! Kd8 4.Qg5+ Ke8 5.Qc5! completing the first triangulation

Rusz 2022 Queen Triangulation Position after 5.Qc5
Rusz 2022 Queen Triangulation Position after 5.Qc5 Black to play

5…a6 forced 6.Qe3+ Kd8 7.Qg5+ Ke8 8.Qc5! another triangulation completed 8…a5 9.Qe3+ Kd8 10.Qg5+ Ke8 11.Qc5! a4 12. Qe3+ Kd8 13.Qg5+ Ke8 14.Qc5! zugzwang wins

Rusz 2022 Queen Triangulation Position after 14.Qc5
Rusz 2022 Queen Triangulation Position after 14.Qc5 Black to play

14…Qc8+ (14…Kd8 15.Qf8# ends the suffering) 15.Ka7 Qc7+ 16.Ka6 wins black’s pawns and the game

Cutting Off the King

This principle can be used by the stronger side or the weaker side to prevent the opposing king getting to a desirable area.  For example, the stronger side can use this technique in Q+P v Q to cut off the defender’s king from a drawing zone.  The example below shows the defending side successfully using this theme in an over the board game:

Lupulescu - Sarakauskas After move 46.Qxg5
Lupulescu – Sarakauskas After move 46.Qxg5 Black to play

White has just taken the pawn on g5, black can now draw with an accurate sequence of checks: 46…Qb1+ 47.Kh2 Qb8+ 48.Kg1 Qb1+ 49.Kh2 Qb8+ 50.Kg1 Qb1+ 51.Kf2 Qc2+ 52.Kf3

Lupulescu - Sarakauskas After move 52.Kf3
Lupulescu – Sarakauskas After move 52.Kf3 Black to play

Black must choose the right check here to draw: 52…Qd1+! (the sloppy 52…Qd3+ 53.Kg4! allows white to approach the h-pawn and win the game) 53.Ke4 Qa4+! not allowing the king to cross the fifth rank 54.Ke3 Qb3+ 55.Kd2 Qb2+ 56.Ke1 Qb1+ 57.Ke2 Qe4+ 58.Qe3 Qxg2+ Black has regained his pawn and drew comfortably

In this famous ending, Black is winning with an extra pawn and centralised queen. He played 62..f5? mobilising the pawn majority

Pillsbury - Burn Vienna 1898 Position after 62.Qe2
Pillsbury – Burn Vienna 1898 Position after 62.Qe2 Black to move

Better was 62…Kd6! activating the king trying to cross over to white’s queenside pawns: white cannot defend against the twin threats of the king invasion and the advance of the kingside pawn majority. After 62…f5? white took the opportunity to make Black’s life very difficult 63.Qb5! cutting the king off from white’s queenside. White missed a probable difficult draw and black eventually won.

Batteries and Discovered Checks

From the author: “Powerful ideas in queen endings include forcing an exchange of queens and launching an attack on the enemy king. Usually the queen harasses the enemy ling by giving checks, but sometimes setting up a battery is stronger than the immediate check. Players often miss such an opportunity, or the potential to play for it. The attacker typically uses a battery to attack the opponent’s king or to win a tempo and stop the opponent’s queen from continuously checking by stepping out the check with a cross check.”

This practical example is instructive:

Ni Hua - Berkes Taiyuan 2006 Position after 56...Kh6
Ni Hua – Berkes Taiyuan 2006 Position after 56…Kh6 White to move

White played 57.Qxd5 winning a pawn, 57… Qe3+ (black can also draw with the flashy 57…Qf6+ or 57…Qg4+ or 57…Qa4+) 58.Kf6 Qf2+ (58…Qf3!+ draws easily, 59.Qxf3 is stalemate, and 59.Kf6 Qc3+ draws) 59. Qf5 Qh4+ 60.Ke6 Qc4+ 61. Qd5 This position is getting difficult for black,  but there are still six drawing moves, Black choose a terrible check 61…Qa6??+ 62.Qd6! setting up a deadly battery 62…Qe2+ 63.Kd5+ 1-0 as white exchanges queens

Ni Hua - Berkes Taiyuan 2006 Position after 61.Qd5
Ni Hua – Berkes Taiyuan 2006 Position after 61.Qd5 Black to move

Pinning Down a Piece

Portisch - Morovic Dubai Olympiad 1986 Position after 103...Qe6
Portisch – Morovic Dubai Olympiad 1986 Position after 103…Qe6 White to move

White played 104.Kc2? and lost . Portisch missed a brilliant move here 104.Qd4!! which amazingly draws, after 104…b3 105.Qd3! attacks the pawn and paralyses the Black queen.

Exploiting the Opponent’s Harmful Pawn

There are many example in the ending Q+P v Q+P where the defending side (player with the pawn that’s least advanced) loses because the extra pawn is harmful blocking defender’s queen checks and/or providing shelter to the stronger side’s king. An example is given below:

Boleslavsky - Taimanov Zurich Candidates 1953 Position after 42...c1Q
Boleslavsky – Taimanov Zurich Candidates 1953 Position after 42…c1Q White to move

White played 43.Qb8+ which wins but Boleslavsky messed up later on. In some ways 43.h4 is simpler. A possible line is 43.h4 Qc2+ 44. Qg6 Qxa4 45.h5 Qxa2 reaching this position:

Boleslavsky - Taimanov Zurich Candidates 1953 Variation position after 45...Qxa2
Boleslavsky – Taimanov Zurich Candidates 1953 Variation position after 45…Qxa2 White to move

Without Black’s b-pawn this is a tablebase draw but not easy in practice. With the b-pawn, Black is losing after 46.Kg7!! The pawn blocks the g1-a7 diagonal.

The next huge section of the book is all about Technical Endgames.

Chapter 3: Queen and Pawn vs Queen

This is in some ways the core of the book with 65 pages devoted to this basic ending. But it is anything but basic!

Each pawn is covered in turn starting with the rook’s pawn working towards the centre pawn. Within each pawn’s section, positions are covered from the second rank to the seventh rank. It is certainly a systematic approach.

It is clear that the least favourable pawn is the rook’s pawn, followed by the knight’s pawn. It may surprise some readers to know that the bishop’s pawn is the most favourable.

Rook’s Pawn
These are the authors’ conclusions:
“The closer the pawn get to promotion, the harder it becomes to hold.
In the case of a white a7-pawn:
Black’s safest option is to get really close to the pawn, at least to the d-file.
The h1-corner is a draw for black’s king, but in practice the defence will require a lot of concentration.
The a1-corner is the second least difficult location for the defender’s king.
In case the black king gets trapped in the h8-corner, there is only one mutual zugzwang position that might save the defender.”

The reviewer will show a few positions:

Honfi - Toth Budapest Ch 1966 Position after 89...Qd1+
Honfi – Toth Budapest Ch 1966 Position after 89…Qd1+ White to play

This position is a tablebase draw  particularly as black’s king is fairly close to the h1 corner.
White played 90.Kb4
The author adds a didactic comment: “Ever since the famous Minev -Botvinnik game in 1954, we know the player with the extra pawn should look to put his king on the same or neighbouring file or rank as the opponent’s king. This creates chances for a cross check or to set up a battery.”

The game continued for another 61 moves until this position was reached:

Honfi - Toth Budapest Ch 1966 Position after 151.Kc7
Honfi – Toth Budapest Ch 1966 Position after 151.Kc7 Black to play

Black’s king is not ideally placed, but he can draw with the correct check. Black played 151…Qe7+? (151…Qf7+ draws as 152.Kc8 is met by 152…Qf5+ drawing, Gelfand has made an observation, if in doubt check on the opposite colour square to your king, obviously this not a hard and fast rule) 152.Kc8! Black has run out of checks because of the king on h4. White now plays superbly to bring home the full point fully exploiting the badly placed black king 152…Qe4 153.Qc5!

Honfi - Toth Budapest Ch 1966 Position after 153.Qc5
Honfi – Toth Budapest Ch 1966 Position after 153.Qc5

153…Qe6+ 154.Kc7 Qf7+ 155.Kb6 Qb3+ 156.Ka5!

Honfi - Toth Budapest Ch 1966 Position after 156.Ka5
Honfi – Toth Budapest Ch 1966 Position after 156.Ka5

A standard winning technique in Q+P v Q The author comments thus: “White approaches the rank of Black’s king. Now 156…Qa2+ would be the last check, as it is met by 157.Kb5. from this point, the win is easy, as White can promote after some checks.”

156…Qf3 157.Qc4+ Kh5 158.Kb6 Qf6+ 159.Qc6 Qd8+ 160.Kb7 Qe7+ 161.Ka6 Qa3+ 162.Kb6 exploiting black’s king position again, there are no more checks, so 1-0

Honfi - Toth Budapest Ch 1966 Position after 162.Kb6
Honfi – Toth Budapest Ch 1966 Position after 162.Kb6

The reviewer adds an observation: when the black king is in or near the h1-corner, it is much harder for White to manoeuvre his king to an adjoining rank/file and keep his pieces coordinated as well as the pawn safe.

Gligoric - Timman Bugojno 1980 Position after 60...g1Q
Gligoric – Timman Bugojno 1980 Position after 60…g1Q White to play

This is a tablebase draw as white’s king is close to the best corner (a8) but an experienced top GM still lost this position thirty moves later. This shows how hard it is in practice. The book has some excellent coverage of this endgame viz:

Honfi - Toth Budapest Ch 1966 Position after 84...Kc3
Gligoric – Timman Bugojno 1980 Position after 84…Kc3 White to move

This position is still a draw.
“White should also wait with 85.Ke5, or he could move closer to the corner with 85.Kf7 or 85.Kf6”

White played the obvious centralising check 85.Qe5+? which loses, black replied with the 85…Kc2? (85…Kd2! wins: the analysis is worth looking at just to see the process as Black uses triangulation and White’s poorly placed king to escape the checks, get the book to find out)

Honfi - Toth Budapest Ch 1966 Position after 85...Kc2
Gligoric – Timman Bugojno 1980 Position after  85…Kc2 White to play

In this position White can draw. Over to the authors: “86.Qf4!! is the right move. But why? If it Black’s turn to move in the diagram, Qf3 would cut off the white king and win. The queen on f4 stops that. If 86…Kd1 87.Kf7!= (87.Kf6 also draws)  87…Qe2 88.Qd4+ only move 88…Kc2 89.Qa4+ holds or 89.Qc5+ or 89.Qf4! h2 90.Qa4+ draws”

This subtle, underlying battle of the cut off is amazing. The game continued with 86.Qh2+? Kd1!  Once again the king approaches the neighbouring file of the enemy king 87.Qh1+ Kd2 88.Kf6 (the authors note that if white’s king could move to the c-file he would draw, the win after 88.Ke7 is very instructive as black triangulates again, get the book to find out how)

Gligoric - Timman Bugojno 1980 Position after 88.Kf6
Gligoric – Timman Bugojno 1980 Position after 88.Kf6 Black to move

Timman misses a fairly simple idea to win quickly here 88…Qg3! He played 88…Qe3? This throws away all the hard work. White can draw with 89.Qh2+ and then run with the king towards the h8 corner. White blundered with 89.Kf5? A fatigue blunder allowing 89…Qf2+ 90.Ke5 Qe1+ exchanging queens 0-1

Knight’s Pawn

This is the authors’ observations:
“This situation occurs more often in practice than Q+P v Q with other pawns. This type of pawn has some unique features. for example, the attacker’s king has more scope for hiding near the pawn then it does behind a rook’s pawn, but less room compared to a bishop’s pawn. There is a drawing zone that often exists for the defender’s king in the far corner from the promotion square.”
The reviewer adds the proviso: but even this depends on the exact position of the queens of course.

Lenart position
Lenart position after 19…Qxh3

This is position from an unknown composer/player. Surprisingly White wins here even with the black king so close. White plays 20.Qc6! which is a standard cut off move. The winning process here takes 75 moves with perfect defence. There are some mind boggling triangulations with white’s king to wrong foot the black queen. Buy the book to find out how.

Here is a position with a knight’s pawn on the fifth rank.

Zurakhov - Boleslavsky Riga 1955 Position after 73...e1Q
Zurakhov – Boleslavsky Riga 1955 Position after 73…e1Q White to play

White wins here with the brilliant 74.Qf8+ Kg4 75.Qa3!! cutting black’s king off from the drawing zone. Zurakhov played 74.Qc8? throwing away the win but he won anyway on move 119.

Once the knight’s pawn reaches the seventh rank, the defender’s king has to stay in the opposite corner. This is the type of position the attacking side should aim for:

Cheron 1968
Cheron 1968 Black to play loses

Apparently with a g-pawn on g7, the d4 is vitally important for the stronger side’s queen.

Bishop’s Pawn

There is no drawing zone for the defender’s king (unless of course the king can get in front of the pawn).

Velimirovic - Uhlmann Arandjelovac Zonal play-off 1976 Position after 55.Kxa6
Velimirovic – Uhlmann Arandjelovac Zonal play-off 1976 Position after 55.Kxa6

This is a technical win for Black: 55…Qg4! is an excellent cut-off preparing to activate the king. Uhlmann played this ending well not letting the win slip at any point. This ending is worth close study.

Centre Pawn

Jevtic - Vujacic (analysis) Belgrade 2008
Jevtic – Vujacic (analysis) Belgrade 2008

1.Qxf7+ Ke3! the only winning move.

If white’s king was on h1, he would draw as his king would be in the small drawing zone on the short side of the pawn. 2.Qg8 Qd5+ (a series of queen checks to force white’s king to the unfavourable long side of the pawn) 3. Kc1 Qh1+ 4.Kb2 Qe4!

Jevtic - Vujacic (analysis) Belgrade 2008 Position after 4...Qe4
Jevtic – Vujacic (analysis) Belgrade 2008 Position after 4…Qe4 White to move

5. Qg1+ Ke2 6.Qh2+ Kc3 7.Qg3+ Qe3! 8.Qg6+ Kd2 9.Qc2 Ke1 10.Qb1+ Kf2 stopping the checks, notice how white’s own king impedes his own queen 11.Qh7 e5

Jevtic – Vujacic (analysis) Belgrade 2008 Position after 11…e5 White to move

Nunn comments: “The general theory of queen and pawn against queen tells us that this position is probably winning, because with the centre pawn there is no drawing zone for the white king in a remote corner, and if the defender’s king cannot move in front of the pawn then his chances are grim.”

Chapter 4: All the Pawns on the Same Side

This is a systematic analysis of all the different pawn configurations and is a really technical. For mortals like me, this will take many months to take in, but is nonetheless really interesting.

One surprising conclusion is that a two pawn advantage Q and rook’s pawn + knight’s pawn [gh-0] v Q is drawn in many positions if the defender’s queen and king are actively placed.

Here is a practical example:

Atanasov - Spiridonov Ruse 1978 Position after 68...Kg8
Atanasov – Spiridonov Ruse 1978 Position after 68…Kg8 White to move

How should White capture the Black pawn? On general principles, it looks better to capture with the queen retaining two connected passed pawns. Here both captures win, but generally Q+f+h pawns v Q is a win unless there is an immediate perpetual. Q+g+h pawns v Q is drawn in many cases. After 69.Qxf4?! Qc5+ 70.Kg4? White has thrown the win away:

Atanasov - Spiridonov Ruse 1978 Position after 70.Kg4
Atanasov – Spiridonov Ruse 1978 Position after 70.Kg4

Black played 70…Qc8+ which draws as does 70…Qa7, 70…Qc3, 70…Qc6
The game was drawn after both sides made mistakes.  Instead of 70.Kg4?, 70.Kg6! wins.
This ending is truly complex and worthy of study. Buy the book to find out more.

Chapter 5: Extra Outside Passed Pawn
This is divided into four natural subsections:
Passed Rook’s Pawn
Passed Knight’s Pawn
Passed Bishop’s Pawn
Passed Centre Pawn

The author concentrates on the passed rook’s pawn:
“Firstly, they occur more often than other passed pawns, as is also the case in rook endings. Secondly, the defender has much better drawing chances compared to positions with a c-pawn for example, because the stronger side’s king can’t find shelter around the rook’s pawn. If the attacker’s queen is busy defending the king from checks, there is little capacity left to help the rook’s pawn advance. On the opposite wing from the passed rook’s pawn, exchange of pawns tend to favour the defending side for several reasons:
1) They increase the chance of perpetual check.
2) Less frequently, it may even be possible to simplify to a queen and pawn versus queen endgame by exchanging off all the kingside pawns.”

Here is an excellent demonstration by the strongest player in the world:

Carlsen - Vachier-Lagrave Karlsruhe/Baden-Baden 2019 Position after 32...Kg7
Carlsen – Vachier-Lagrave Karlsruhe/Baden-Baden 2019 Position after 32…Kg7 White to play

Carlsen played the neat 33.Bd5! (33.Qb2+ Kg8 34.a3 Qd3 black is very active and white cannot make progress) 33…Bxd5 34. Qe5+ f6? A serious mistake from a top player as it weakens the king’s shelter. Chapter 8 gives lots of advice and examples about shelters. Much better was 34…Kg8 35.Qxd5 Qa3 36.Qb3 Qc1+ 37.Kg2 h5 38.gxh5 Qg5+ 39.Kh2 Qxh5 and black can hold. 35.Qxd5 h5 (Trying to weaken White’s kingside) 36.gxh5 gxh5 37.Qd7+ Kg6 38.a4

Carlsen - Vachier-Lagrave Karlsruhe/Baden-Baden 2019 Position after 38.a4
Carlsen – Vachier-Lagrave Karlsruhe/Baden-Baden 2019 Position after 38.a4 Black to play

Although both Kings’ shelters have been partially wrecked, Black’s exposed king is more significant as the game continuation shows. 38…Qe2 39.Qd5! Centralisation 39…f5 Black is trying to block in the White king, but this move exposes his own king even more 40.a5 f4 41.Kg2! Kh6 42.Qf5

Carlsen - Vachier-Lagrave Karlsruhe/Baden-Baden 2019 Position after 42.Qf5
Carlsen – Vachier-Lagrave Karlsruhe/Baden-Baden 2019 Position after 42.Qf5 Black to play

42…Qc4 43.Kf3 winning another pawn, so 1-0
Notice how Black’s pawn advances brought down his downfall.

The last four chapters are in a section of the book on
Practical and Strategic Queen Endgames

Chapter 6: The Pawn

The following ideas are discussed:

Breakthrough
Promoting With Check
Reducing the Number of Pawns in Order to Hold the Draw
Pushing a Pawn to Force an Exchange of Queens
Connected Passed Pawns
Gaining Space
Races
Races when Both Sides Have Only One Pawn
Quality vs Quantity
Doubled Pawns

An example from the Quality vs Quantity subsection is given below.
The author states “It’s a well-known and common saying that in queen endgames, ‘it’s not the number of pawns that counts, but their quantity!’ In other types of endgames, the principle of strength in numbers map apply more often, but less so in queen endings.”

This ending has been quoted often:

Stahlberg - Euwe Stockholm Olympiad 1937 Position after 41.Kh2
Stahlberg – Euwe Stockholm Olympiad 1937 Position after 41.Kh2 Black to play

Euwe played the natural centralising move 41…Qd4? which is multi functional, but surprisingly throws away the win.  The h4-pawn is not important here. There is a win with a very subtle move 41…Qd6!!+ which looks like a superfluous check, but forces white to weaken his position.

Stahlberg - Euwe Stockholm Olympiad 1937 Position after 41...Qd6+
Stahlberg – Euwe Stockholm Olympiad 1937 Position after 41…Qd6+ White to play

White now has an invidious choice on how to spoil his position, g3 weakens the king’s shelter and both king moves have their disadvantages. Let’s look at each alternative.
a) 42. g3? Qd4! Now this move gains in strength as white would like to take the f2 pawn exposing White’s king fatally 43.Qb5 Qxf2+ 44.Kh3

Stahlberg - Euwe Stockholm Olympiad 1937 Variation 1 Position after 44.Kh3
Stahlberg – Euwe Stockholm Olympiad 1937 Variation A Position after 44.Kh3 Black to play

Black has two different wins here 44…Qf3! (44…Qf5+ also wins) 45.Kh2 (45.Qxb4? Qh1+ 46.Kg4 Qf1! forcing mate or win of queen) 45…b3 46.a5 Qf2+ 47.Kh3 Qg1! winning

Stahlberg - Euwe Stockholm Olympiad 1937 Variation 1 Position after 47...Qg1
Stahlberg – Euwe Stockholm Olympiad 1937 Variation A Position after 47…Qg1 White to play

48.Qxb3 Qh1+ 49.Kg4 f5+ 50.Kf4 Qe4#

b) 42.Kh3 b3 43.Qb5 (43.Qc3 Qd7+ exploits White’s wins exposed king, winning the a-pawn) Qa3!! This is unconventional move, putting the queen on the side, but it exploits the exposed White king: the threat of a discovered check is fatal for white.

Stahlberg - Euwe Stockholm Olympiad 1937 Variation B Position after 43...Qa3
Stahlberg – Euwe Stockholm Olympiad 1937 Variation B Position after 43…Qa3 White to play

If 44.Qb7 a2+ 45.Kh2 Qa2 wins
If 44.a5 b2+ 45. g3 Qa2 wins as well as 45…Qf3
If 44.h5 b2+ 45.f3 g5 46.Qf5+ Kg7 47.Qe5+ Kg8 48.Qb8+ Kh7 49.Qb7 Qa2 wins

c) 42.Kg1 b3 43.Qb5 Qa3 44.Qc4! b2!!

Stahlberg - Euwe Stockholm Olympiad 1937 Variation C Position after 44...b2
Stahlberg – Euwe Stockholm Olympiad 1937 Variation C Position after 44…b2 White to play

Black gives up three pawns to get his king out of the checks. This is a brilliant example of quality over quantity. 45. Qxf7+ Kh8 46.Qf6+ Kg8 47.Qxg6+ Kf8 48.Qxh6+ Ke7 49.Qg7+ Ke6 50.Qg8+ Kd5 51.Qg7+ Kd5 52.Qf7+ Kg4 53.Qg7+ Kc4 54.Qf7+ Kc3 55.Qf3+! Kb4 56.Qb7+ Kxa4 57.Qa6+ Kb3 58.Qe6+ Kc2

Stahlberg - Euwe Stockholm Olympiad 1937 Variation C Position after 58...Kc2
Stahlberg – Euwe Stockholm Olympiad 1937 Variation C Position after 58…Kc2 White to play

Now after the obvious 59.Qe2+ black plays 59…Kb1!!
The author explains why this wins: “Although Black is two pawns down and apparently has no shelter, he can win. The white king has to give up the back rank due to threats of crosschecks, after which the black king can find shelter on f1! For this reason, sacrificing the f2-pawn is inevitable. Then, in marvellous variations, White, can be forced into zugzwang where he either loses his h-pawn or is force to play Kh3, which means that the black king can find a shelter on g1, which decides the battle.”

Back to the game continuation, after 41…Qd4? 42.Kg3? White defends a pawn with little value and exposes his king fatally. 42.Qb5! draws easily viz: 42…Qxh4+ 43.Kg1 Qe4 44.a5 Qb1+ 45.Kh2 b3 46.Qb7 Kg7 47.a6 Qa2 48.a7 b2= The best Black can achieve here is Q+3 v Q+2 all on one side which is a draw.

Stahlberg - Euwe Stockholm Olympiad 1937 Missed draw in game
Stahlberg – Euwe Stockholm Olympiad 1937 Missed draw in game Position after 48…b2 White to play

After 42.Kg3? this is the position:

Stahlberg - Euwe Stockholm Olympiad 1937 After fatal mistake 42.Kg3
Stahlberg – Euwe Stockholm Olympiad 1937 After fatal mistake 42.Kg3 Black to play

Black exploited the exposed white king as follows: 42…b3 43.Qb5 b2 44.Qb3 Kg7! winning 45.f4 (Other moves lose as well, for example 45.a5 Qe5+ 46.Kf3 Qf5+) 45… Qd2 0-1

A really instructive game.

Chapter 7: The Queen

The following ideas are discussed:

Exchanging Queens
Zwischenzugs
Passive and Active Queens
Neutralizing Queens
The Queen has Multiple Tasks
Restraining an Enemy Passed Pawn from Behind
Superfluous Checks

The reviewer will show an example on the topic of superfluous checks. The author explains: “In many positions there is no clear plan to implement, and in this case having the move in an over-the-board game creates tension. Rather than finding something constructive to do, or at least find a move that doesn’t compromise their position, players often insert an exchange or a pointless check. Either can harm their position.”

Miron - Lupulescu Romanian Team Ch Sovata 2018 Position after 36...Qf6
Miron – Lupulescu Romanian Team Ch Sovata 2018 Position after 36…Qf6 White to play

This position is objectively equal, although Black’s position looks slightly superior as his pawn majority has been mobilised. White’s pieces are well placed. 37.b4 is equal, but simpler is probably 37.exf5 Qxf5+ 38.Ke2 Qc2+ 39.Qd2 Qe4+ 40.Qe3 is equal, Black has no realistic winning chances.

White played 37.Ke2?! So Black responded with the obvious 37..f4 gaining space and creating a passed pawn 38.Qa7+? The superfluous check that loses. The author quotes John Nunn here: “Nunn pinpoints the basic truth that many people think they must keep giving checks in queen endings. this is one of the most common conceptual mistakes.” 38.Qd3! holds 38…Kg6 39.b4! getting the queen side pawns going draws 38…Kh6

Miron - Lupulescu Romanian Team Ch Sovata 2018 Position after 38...Kh6
Miron – Lupulescu Romanian Team Ch Sovata 2018 Position after 38…Kh6 White to play

After two poor strategic moves, White is totally lost. After 39.Qd7? (39.Qf2 is more resilient but still loses after 39…Kg5)  39…fxg3! won easily as Black’s king can shelter near his passed pawn.

Chapter 8: The King

These topics are covered:

Attacking The King
Stalemate
Avoiding Stalemate
Perpetual Check
Shelters

The section on Shelters is really important and is broken down into 9 further sub-sections:
The Importance of a Good Shelter
Weakening Our Own Shelter
Failing To Reach a Shelter
Invading and Destroying Shelters
Unusual Shelters
Leaving The Shelter to Support Pawns on the Other Wing
Leaving the Shelter to Exchange Queens
Leaving The Shelter to Win a Pawn
Breaking Open The Shelter with Pawn Sacrifices

Here is an example from the Weakening Our Own Shelter section.

Tal - Tseshkovsky Riga 1981 Position after 39...Qg4
Tal – Tseshkovsky Riga 1981 Position after 39…Qg4 White to play

The great Tal made a serious mistake here in a winning queen endgame 40.f3? Voluntarily weakening his king’s shelter: a poor move from a great player. 40.Qd5 centralising the queen wins easily 40…Qc8 41.Qd2 b5 42.Qb4 wins or 40…b5 41.a4 wins 40…Qd7 41.Qd5 Qc7 42.Qd2 b5 43.a3 (43.a4 bxa4 44.bxa4 Qc4 45.a5 Kg6 holding) Qc5 44.Qa2 Qc1 draw agreed

Chapter 9 Complex Queen Endgames rounds off the book with the study of some intricate endings.

This is a great book and is thoroughly recommended. Be prepared to put in some hard work.

FM Richard Webb, Chineham, Hampshire, 17th June 2024

FM Richard Webb
FM Richard Webb

Book Details :

  • Hardcover : 384 pages
  • Publisher: Gambit Publications (27 Nov. 2023)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 1805040634
  • ISBN-13: 978-1805040637
  • Product Dimensions: 15.6 x 2.69 x 23.39 cm

Official web site of Gambit Publications Ltd.

Secrets of Queen Endgames, Ferenc Berkes and Tibor Karolyi , Gambit Publications, ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1805040637
Secrets of Queen Endgames, Ferenc Berkes and Tibor Karolyi , Gambit Publications, ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1805040637

The Art of the Endgame: My Journeys in the Magical World of Endgame Studies

The Art of the Endgame
My Journeys in the Magical World of Endgame Studies
Revised Edition – with 14 New Studies
by Jan Timman

From the publisher, New in Chess:

“All through his career Jan Timman has been captivated by the mystery and splendour of endgame studies. Even during his most successful and busy years as a world-class player, Timman continued to compose studies and admire those of others. For him, there has never been any doubt that his journeys in this magical world helped him to grow as a player.

In this fascinating book, first published in 2011, Timman has collected studies by other composers and explains in his lucid style how they inspired him to create dozens of brand-new studies.

Timman has revised the book for this new edition. With the help of engines, Timman discovered that a few studies needed to be corrected or had alternative solutions. He removed six studies and replaced another six with better versions. And fourteen new studies have been added, two of which are published here for the first time.”

About the Author, Jan Timman:

“Jan Timman is a former world championship candidate who rose to number two on the FIDE world rankings. He is the author of several highly acclaimed bestsellers, such as Timman’s Titans and Max Euwe’s Best Games. He was awarded the title of FIDE Master of Composition in 2022.”

GM Jan Timman
GM Jan Timman

This book is a gem and I do remember perusing the first edition at a bookstall a while back, now I have a copy of the second edition.

There is no doubt that familiarity with ideas from endgame studies improves a player’s overall chess ability and imagination.

The reviewer was introduced to endgame studies at a tournament in London when he was junior: I was having lunch in the analysis room, when an older gentlemen showed some Harold Lommer studies involving knight promotions which got me hooked. The acquisition of Test Tube Chess by John Roycroft soon followed.

Jan Timman’s book has a variety of positions some of which are really “game like” whilst others are artistic beauties involving for example multiple promotions.

The book is divided into fourteen themed chapters viz:

Chapter 1: Miniature studies
Chapter 2: Rook versus bishop
Chapter 3: Preventing pawn promotion
Chapter 4: Various promotion combinations
Chapter 5: Knight promotions
Chapter 6: Bishop promotions
Chapter 7: Mating patterns
Chapter 8: Stalemate patterns
Chapter 9: Mutual zugzwang
Chapter 10: Building a fortress
Chapter 11: Systematic manoeuvres
Chapter 12: The disappearing trick
Chapter 13: Three themes
Chapter 14: Various endgame studies

The reviewer will show a variety of positions from various subsections.

Chapter 1: Miniature studies

These are positions with no more than seven pieces. This one is particularly beautiful with a mutual zugzwang.

Position 1

Liburkin
Liburkin, ’64’ 1933 White to play and win

White is a pawn up with black’s king close to the passed pawn, so white needs something special here.
1.Kd1 pins the knight forcing  1…Kf5 2.Ke2 threatening to win the knight. Black bishop’s impedes his king, so he goes after the h-pawn with 2…Bf6 3.Kf3 Bxh4

Liburkin 1934 After 3...Bxh4
Liburkin 1934 After 3…Bxh4

If white takes the bishop 4.Nxh4+ Kg5 attacking the knight saves black. So 4.Bxe4+ Kg5 5.Bd5!Kh5 6.Bf7+ Kg5 7.Be8

Liburkin 1934 After 7.Be8
Liburkin 1934 After 7.Be8

Black is zugzwang and loses the bishop and the game. Note this is a position of mutual zugzwang as white has no good waiting move and cannot win with the move! Very pretty.

Chapter 2: Rook versus bishop

This is the most practical chapter with studies in the complex endgame of R+P v B+P.

Position 18

Reshevsky-Fischer, Los Angeles match (11) Position after 52...Ra2+
Reshevsky-Fischer, Los Angeles match (11) Position after 52…Ra2+

This is a celebrated position where Reshevsky played 53.Kf3? with Fischer missing a clear win by exchanging rooks and occupying g4 with his king. Instead Fischer kept the rooks on. White draws with 53.Kh3!

This study was created to show this:

Position 19

Study based on Reshevsky-Fischer game White to play and draw
Study based on Reshevsky-Fischer game White to play and draw

1.Kg2! Kf5 2.Kh3 Rc4 3.Be7! the only move 3…Rc1 4.Bf8! (The bishop hides itself to prevent a rook check followed by attacking the bishop to allow black to get in Kg4) 4…Rb1 5. Bg7 or 5.Bh6 draws

Chapter 3: Preventing pawn promotion

This is a famous promotion combination from a game which resembles the elegance of a study:

Position 44

Ortueta-Sanz Madrid 1933 Position after 30.h3
Ortueta-Sanz Madrid 1933 Position after 30.h3

Black played 30…Rd2 31.Na4 (31.a4 was better) 31…Rxb2! 32.Nxb2 c3 33.Rxb6 c4!! 34.Rb4 a5!! winning

Ortueta-Sanz Madrid 1933 Position after 34...a5
Ortueta-Sanz Madrid 1933 Position after 34…a5

White cannot prevent the coronation of a new  queen.

The great composer, Pogosyants composed a study with a very similar theme:

Position 46

Pogosyants 1977 White to play and win
Pogosyants, ‘Themes-64’ 1977 White to play and win

The solution is 1.Bg3 dxc4 2.Rxg7! Nxg7 3.f6 Rxg3 4.f5!! Rg5 5.f4! Nxf5 6.f7 wins

Chapter 4: Various promotion combinations

Position 69

Wotawa Schach Magazin 1951 White to play and win
Wotawa Schach Magazin 1951 White to play and win

A game like position. 1.d6 Be5 2.Bb8 threatening d7 winning the bishop, so 2…Bf6 3.d7 Bd8 apparently saving the bishop, but 4.Bg3! a4 5.Bh4! Bxh4 6.g4+ and wins

Chapter 5: Knight promotions

Here is a superb Harold Lommer study with multiple promotions:

Position 96

Lommer 1933 White to play and win
Lommer, ‘Feuille d’Avis de Lausanne’ 1933 White to play and win

White is threatened with a brutal discovered mate by the black monarch. So 1.d8N Bd5 2.g8B!! (2.g8Q allows black a brilliant defence  2…Ke3+ 3.Qxd5 stalemate!) 2… Be4 3.e8R!! (3.e8Q allows another fantastic defence 3…Kg3+ 4.Qxe4 stalemate!) and wins

A brilliant study has with stunning counterplay.

Position 97 shows a famous Lommer involving 5 knight promotions, but unfortunately after the fourth promotion, there is alternative prosaic win promoting to a queen.

Chapter 6: Bishop promotions

Position 112

Rusinek 1971 White to
Rusinek ‘New Statesman’ 1971 White to play and draw

White has an army of far advanced pawns against 3 minor pieces and a well placed black king.

1.a7 Ba6+ 2.b7 Ne4 threatening  Nd6# 3.g8N+ Ke8 4.Nf6+

Rusinek 1971 after 4.Nf6+
Rusinek 1971 after 4.Nf6+

If black plays 4…Ndxf6 5.Kb8 gets the king out of the mating trap, so 4…Nexf6 5.a8B!! (5.a8=Q? Nd5 followed by Ne7#)

Rusinek 1971 after 5.a8B
Rusinek 1971 after 5.a8B

White is attempting a self stalemate, so black must release this and rearrange his pieces. 5…Ne5 (5…Bf1 6.b8N! draws) 6.Kb8 Nc6+ 7.Kc8 Bf1 threatening Bh3# 8.b8R!! (8.b8Q? Ba6+ 9.Qb7 Ne4 10.Qxa6 Nd6#, or 8.b8N? Ne7+ 9.Kb7 Bg2+ 10.Ka7 Nc8+ wins the bishop on a8 and the game)

Rusinek 1971 after 8.b8R
Rusinek 1971 after 8.b8R

8…Ba6+ 9.Rb7! with a draw

Scintillating promotion play.

Position 124

This is a creation of genius and very amusing.

Troitsky, Korolkov 1938-1939 White to play and win
Troitzky, Korolkov 1938-1939 White to play and win

The great Troitzky is involved here. Black threatens a brutal Ng3 mate. 1.Qc3!! (Threatening the key g7 pawn, 1.Qa3? is met by f1N reinforcing the threat on g3 winning for black) 1…Nxc3 2.d8B!! (Not 2.d8Q? Nde4 3.Qxc7 f1N 4.Bf4 Ne2 followed by sacrificing all the knights ending with Qxg3 stalemate) 2…Ne2 3.Bxc7 f1N 4.b8B!! (4.b8Q allows black to sacrifice all the knights on g3 ending with Qg3 stalemate) 4…Ne4 5.B1f4 winning as the three white bishops control the three knights.

Troitzky, Korolkov 1938-1939 Position after 5.B1f4
Troitzky, Korolkov 1938-1939 Position after 5.B1f4

Who says there is no humour in chess?

Chapter 7: Mating patterns

Here is an elegant study by the author, Jan Timman:

Position 163

Timman 2010 White to play and win
Timman 2010 White to play and win

1.h5 preventing Bxa2 as Rd7+ would win easily 1…Kh6 2.Rd8! Bxa2 3.Rh8! Bg8! great counterplay

Timman 2010 Position after 3...Bg8
Timman 2010 Position after 3…Bg8

4.Kc3 a2 5.Kb2 a3+ 6.Ka1 Kg7 7.h6+

Timman 2010 Position after 7.h6+
Timman 2010 Position after 7.h6+

7…Kxh8 8.g7 mate

Chapter 8: Stalemate patterns

Position 167

Rusinek 1973 white to play and draw
Rusinek 1973 White to play and draw

Stalemate looks unlikely here. 1.b6 must be played as white is two pieces down 1…Rf5 2.b7! Rf7+ 3.Kd6 Nc4+ 4.Ke6 Bxb7 5.Rh3+ Kg7 6.Rf3+ Kf8

Rusinek 1973 position after 6...Kf8
Rusinek 1973 position after 6…Kf8

7.Rg8+! Kxg8 stalemate!

Chapter 9: Mutual Zugzwang

Position 189

Here is an entertaining position:

Kliatskin 1924 White to play and win
Kliatskin 1924 White to play and win

1.Rc8+ Kxc8 2.b7+ Kb8 3.d5 Kc7

Kliatskin 1924 Position after 3...Kc7
Kliatskin 1924 Position after 3…Kc7

Now only 4.bxa8B! Kb8 5.Bb7 wins with a position of mutual zugzwang

Chapter 10: Building a fortress

Position 203

Smyslov 2005 White to play and draw
Smyslov 2005 White to play and draw

The elderly former World Champion, Smyslov, composed this amusing study in his eighties. 1.Nb8 Rd6 2.Nd7+! Rxd7 3.Rxg7! Kxg7 4.h4

Smyslov 2005 Position after 4.h4
Smyslov 2005 Position after 4.h4

After 4…Rd6 5.Kg2 Rg6+ 6.Kh3! black has to move the rook off the g-file to avoid stalemate, so white draws!

Chapter 11: Systematic manoeuvres

Kotov, Mitrofanov 1976 White to play and draw
Kotov, Mitrofanov 1976 White to play and draw

The reviewer assumes this is the Mitrofanov of Qg5!! fame.

White plays 1.Rf8+ Bf2 2.g8Q Rxf8 3.c5! 

Kotov, Mitrofanov 1976 Position after 3.c5
Kotov, Mitrofanov 1976 Position after 3.c5

3…Rf7 4.Qg7! Rf6 5.Qg6! Rf5 7.Qg5! Rf4 8.Qg4! Rxf4 stalemate

Chapter 12: The disappearing trick

The disappearing trick is a kind of systematic manoeuvre whereby white plays to achieve a particular position without a certain white piece. This is demonstrated below with a neat study.

Position 260

Sochniev, Gurgenidze JT 2004 White to play and win
Sochniev, Gurgenidze JT 2004 White to play and win

1.Nd6+ (to create two dangerous passed pawns) cxd6 2.Kh6 Rf6+ 3.Kh5 Rf5+ 4.Kg4 Rf4+ 5.Kh3! Rxf3+

Sochniev, Gurgenidze JT 2004 Position after 5...Rxf3+
Sochniev, Gurgenidze JT 2004 Position after 5…Rxf3+

Now the king sneaks back minus the f-pawn.

6.Kg4 Rf4+ 7.Kh5 Rf5+ 8.Kh6 Rf6+ 9.Kh7 Rf5

Sochniev, Gurgenidze JT 2004 Position after 11...Rf5
Sochniev, Gurgenidze JT 2004 Position after 9…Rf5

10.Rf1! (The point of removing the f-pawn) Rxf1 11.c7 Rf5 12.d8N+ Rxd8 13.cxd8N+

Sochniev, Gurgenidze JT 2004 Position after cxd8N+
Sochniev, Gurgenidze JT 2004 Position after cxd8N+

13…Kf6 (otherwise white promotes to a queen) 14.g8N mate Brilliant!

The last two chapters are short with some pretty positions.

I heartily recommend this labour of love to the endgame study which will give the reader many pleasurable hours.

FM Richard Webb

FM Richard Webb, Basingstoke, Hampshire, 15th June 2024

Book Details :

  • Hardcover : 248 pages
  • Publisher:New in Chess (31 Aug. 2023)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10:9083328414
  • ISBN-13: 978-9083328416
  • Product Dimensions: ‎7.3 x 2 x 23.7 cm

Official web site of New in Chess

GM Jan Timman
GM Jan Timman
The Art of the Endgame: My Journeys in the Magical World of Endgame Studies, Jan Timman, New in Chess, ISBN-13: 978-9083328416
The Art of the Endgame: My Journeys in the Magical World of Endgame Studies, Jan Timman, New in Chess, ISBN-13: 978-9083328416

King’s Indian Killer: The Harry Attack

King’s Indian Killer: The Harry Attack by Richard Palliser & Simon Williams

From the publisher, Everyman Chess:

“Do you want a simple and practical method to counter Black’s kingside fianchetto defences after 1 d4? A line that takes the initiative from a very early stage and creates difficult practical problems? If so, then The Harry Attack (1 d4 Nf6 2 c4 g6 3 h4!) is for you.

At first this looks like some sort of joke or, at the very least, a weird outlandish line. Aren’t we all taught to focus on development and control of the centre in the early stages? What’s 3 h4 got to do with that? Perhaps surprisingly, this is a very difficult line for Black to counter effectively. This applies not just in practical play but also theoretically, where it is far from straightforward for Black even to find a route to equality. And when Black gets it wrong they are often on the receiving end of a very unpleasant miniature.

You may be thinking that surely the best chess engines can show how to counter this line? No! One of the unexpected features of leading engine play is their enthusiasm for shoving the h-pawn up the board and they fully concur that 3 h4! is a very decent move for White.

Many leading players have taken the hint and 3 h4 is frequently seen at elite level. Richard Palliser and Simon Williams (the GingerGM) provide a thorough guide to this fascinating line. They show how to adapt when Black chooses a King’s Indian set-up, a Grunfeld set-up, a Benoni set-up or even plays in Benko style.

The Harry Attack is easy to learn and is perfect for unsettling players steeped in the theory of their favourite Indian defences.”

Simon Williams is a Grandmaster, a well-known presenter and a widely-followed streamer, as well as a popular writer whose previous books have received great praise. He is much admired for his dynamic and spontaneous attacking style.

 

GM Simon Williams
GM Simon Williams

Richard Palliser is an International Master and the editor of CHESS Magazine. In 2006 he became Joint British Rapidplay Champion and in 2019 finished third in the British Championship. He has established a reputation as a skilled chess writer and written many works for Everyman, including the bestselling The Complete Chess Workout.

IM Richard Palliser
IM Richard Palliser

Harry is a nickname for the h-pawn. The Harry Attack is 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.h4!?

Although this book is titled as an anti-King’s Indian system, it is also aimed at the Gruenfeld Defence as the book explains.

The reviewer likes the book and despite his initial scepticism about the Harry Attack (based on his ignorance), has come to realise that this is a serious system that cannot be refuted: in fact it has been adopted at the highest levels. It is not just a one trick pony with the crude idea of hacking down the h-file, it is a sophisticated scheme with many facets including space gain. After just one or two careless moves, black can easily find himself/herself being suffocated, devoid of counterplay.

Of course, it is an “anti-book/theory” system aimed at getting the opponent out of their familiar territory. As ever, these fresh systems soon acquire a fair body of theory!

This book is suitable for club players and above. Chapter 2 gives a pertinent precis of the whole system which would be perfectly adequate for a less experienced player to play the variation with confidence.

The book is divided into seven main chapters:

Chapter 1: Model Games
Chapter 2: The Basic Repertoire
Chapter 3:  Gruenfeldesque Lines
Chapter 4:  Black Obstructs Harry
Chapter 5: Other Third Move Alternatives to 3…Bg7
Chapter 6: King’s Indian Style 3…Bg7
Chapter 7: The Main Line: 3…Bg7 and 6…c5

Chapter 1: Model Games

This is a really good section that shows many of the key ideas of the Harry Attack.  There are six model games that are definitely worth studying. A summary of these games is:

  • Games 1, 2 & 3 show typical continuations if black replies with the Gruenfeld move d5 on moves 3 or 4
    Chapter 3 covers this in more depth
  • Game 4 showcases black blocking Harry with 3…h5
    Chapter 4 gives further coverage when black blocks Harry
  • Game 5 introduces the second player responding in a Modern Benoni fashion
    Chapter 7 gives good guidance on this main line
  • Game 6 demonstrates Peter Svidler responding in Benko Gambit style
    Chapter 7 also presents this important system in more detail

The first two games show black’s difficulties if he insists on playing a Gruenfeld setup. viz: 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.h4!? Bg7 4.Nc3 d5?!

Basman - Grinberg Ramat Hasharon 1980
Basman – Grinberg Ramat Hasharon 1980 White to move

Game 1 is a superb model game from the late and great Mike Basman.

After 5.h5! Nxh5 6.cxd5 c6 (6…e6 is a more modern try but white has powerful riposte with an excellent pawn sacrifice covered in Chapter 3. Buy the book to find out.) 7.e4! cxd5 8.e5! A well judged pawn sac’ from the creative Basman viz:

Excellent pawn sac 8.e5
Basman – Grinberg 1980 Excellent pawn sac 8.e5 Black to move

White has a simple threat of 9.g4 winning the stranded knight, after 8…Bf8 9.Nf3 Nc6 (9…Bg4 10.Qb3! is awkward) 10.Qb3! white has a clear advantage:

Basman - Grinberg After 10.Qb3
Basman – Grinberg After 10.Qb3 Black to move

The next few moves showed what a pickle black is in 10…e6 11.g4! Ng7 12.Bh6! reaching this horror show for black:

Basman - Grinberg After 12.Bh6
Basman – Grinberg After 12.Bh6 Black to move

The knight on g7 is particularly awkward. Basman went on to win a fine game.

The second illustrative game shows one of the authors, Simon Williams, in scintillating form beating Katarzyna Toma following the Mike Basman game until move 9, where black varied with 9…Ng7, white responded with the natural 10.Qb3!

Williams - Toma 10.Qb3
Williams – Toma 10.Qb3 Black to move

Stockfish gives this as a clear plus to white. Simon went on to win a fine game.

Chapter 2: The Basic Repertoire

This section gives the reader a quick overview of the repertoire against black’s main tries. It is a useful introduction to all the subsequent chapters. As I stated above, this chapter is adequate coverage for a less experienced player to play this system.

Chapter 3:  Gruenfeldesque Lines

As already mentioned, this covers black’s attempt at an early d5.

Stockfish does not like 4…d5 and  gives 5.h5! with an edge for white already!

4...d5 5.h5
4…d5 5.h5 Black to move

Black’s best move, according to the engine, appears to be the nonchalant 5…0-0 completely ignoring white’s attack! 6.hxg6 hxg6 7.cxd5 Nxd5 8.Bh6!

4...d5 early h-file attack
Basman – Grinberg 1980 4…d5 early h-file attack Black to move

This is looks scary for black, but he can defend with 8…Bxh6! 9.Rxh6 Kg7! Nevertheless, white is still for choice here owing to his extra space, central control and the initiative. This is covered in some detail in Chapter 3.
Beware Gruenfeld players!

Chapter 4:  Black Obstructs Harry

Black can block the h-pawn with 3…h6 or 3…h5 which is committal.
The obstructive 3…h5 can lead to either KID or Gruenfeld lines with the extra h4 and h5 moves thrown in. Who does this favour? White can profitably occupy g5 with a bishop or knight that cannot be kicked with h6. Buy the book to find out.

Chapter 5: Other Third Move Alternatives to 3…Bg7

This chapter important alternatives such as the super solid 3…c6 and the more aggressive 3…c5 which can lead to Benoni or Benko Gambit type positions.

The solid 3…c6 cannot be a bad move. White responds by going into a Schlechter Slav viz: 4.Nc3 d5 5.cxd5 cxd5 6.Bf4 Nc6 7.e3 Bg7 8.Be2 h5 9.Nf3 0-0 10.Qb3

Exchange Slav type position 10.Qb3
Exchange Slav type position 10.Qb3 Black to play

White has a pull here and his position is easier to play. The line given in the book involves black playing a5 a few moves later which is a little compliant creating weaknesses.

After the Benko Gambit type response viz: 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.h4  c5 4.d5 b5!? 5.cxb5 a6 6.e3!

Benko Response 6.e3
Benko Response 6.e3 Black to play

White plays solidly and intends to use b5 as an outpost to slow black’s counterplay. Clearly black has some compensation here but not a full pawn’s worth. A critical line here may be 6…Bg7 7.Nc3  0-0 8.a4! e6!? This is covered in the book.

Chapter 6: King’s Indian Style 3…Bg7

This and the final chapter are probably the key chapters for more experienced players who want to get to the meaty main lines.

Chapter 7: The Main Line: 3…Bg7 and 6…c5

After these natural moves 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.h4 Bg7 4.Nc3 d6 5.e4 0-0 6.Be2 c5 7.d5 e6 8.h5 exd5 9.exd5! Re8 10.h6! Bh8  11.Bg5, this tabiya is reached:

Main tabiya
Main tabiya after 11.Bg5 Black to move

This is a hot position played quite a bit at the top level. The open e-file may look scary for white, but the king can slide to f1. White’s space advantage is significant and black can have difficulties finding counterplay. Stockfish gives white about a small advantage. More important than that is understanding the ideas in this interesting position. Get the book to further your knowledge.

For those competitors fed up with meeting reams of KID or Gruenfeld theory, I recommend giving The Harry Attack a go!

FM Richard Webb, Chineham, Hampshire, 9th June 2024

FM Richard Webb
FM Richard Webb

Book Details :

  • Paperback: 400 pages
  • Publisher:  Everyman Chess (12 Jun. 2023)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 1781947066
  • ISBN-13: 978-1781947067
  • Product Dimensions: 17.17 x 1.4 x 23.39 cm

Official web site of Everyman Chess

King's Indian Killer: The Harry Attack, Simon Williams and Richard Palliser, Everyman Chess, ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1781947067
King’s Indian Killer: The Harry Attack, Simon Williams and Richard Palliser, Everyman Chess, ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1781947067

Understanding Pawn Endgames

Understanding Pawn Endgames: Valentin Bogdanov

From the publisher, Gambit Publications “Understanding the endgame is fundamental to playing good chess, and at its heart lie positions where just kings and pawns remain on the board.

Even when a pawn ending is not actually reached, the players must often assess ones that could arise from an exchange of pieces. And an error calculating a pawn ending is normally fatal. Questions of pawn-structure, and thus decisions made early in the game, can be fully understood only when we appreciate how they impact the possible pawn endings.

This book takes a practical angle, so is the perfect complement to Secrets of Pawn Endings, which examines their theory in detail. Experienced trainer Bogdanov examines a wealth of pawn endings where strong players made significant errors, and draws lessons and rules of thumb from them.

While we are enjoying the entertaining material in this book, we are painlessly absorbing endgame principles and improving our intuitive decision-making skills. We learn how to calculate and identify key positional elements, and appreciate the beautiful tactics and paradoxical ideas that are unique to the world of pawns.

The Nunn Convention is used throughout the book, and all the material has been checked in detail with modern NNUE-based engines with access to seven-man tablebases.”

International Master Valentin Bogdanov has vast experience as a chess trainer, and is from Ukraine. His pupils include grandmasters Moskalenko, Savchenko and Drozdovsky, and he has acted as a second for the well-known grandmaster and theoretician Viacheslav Eingorn since the late 1970s.

For 50 years he has been a teacher at the chess school in Odesa (Ukraine), and in 2016 won the European Over-65 Championship. In the same year he also qualified as an International Arbiter and has since then officiated over a great many chess events in his country.

This is his fourth book for Gambit.

IM Valentin Bogdanov (UKR)
IM Valentin Bogdanov (UKR)

Before we start our review it is worth watching this video preview from John Nunn and Gambit Publications:

This is a excellent book that has an emphasis on practical king and pawn endgames. All the examples are taken from 1981 onwards which means that the reader will see novel positions rather than a rehash of old favourites. The other fresh approach is the structure of the ten chapters based on themes rather than the number of pawns. This book is not for beginners or very inexperienced club players as it assumes a basic knowledge of elementary pawn endgames. It is aimed at 1750+ chess enthusiasts but ambitious lower rated readers will benefit from some of the easier examples. The more difficult positions will tax GMs. This book would be ideal material for a coach for training purposes to give the students a toolkit of ideas.

The chapter structure is as follows:

Chapter 1: Obvious Errors
Chapter 2: Breakthrough
Chapter 3: Zugzwang
Chapter 4: Opposition and Corresponding Squares
Chapter 5:Spare Tempi
Chapter 6: The Fight To Promote
Chapter 7: Changing the Pawn-Structure
Chapter 8: Calculation
Chapter 9: Evaluating the Resulting Queen Endings
Chapter 10: Positional Play

The reviewer will  show examples distributed from all the chapters to give the reader a flavour of this instructional idyll.

Chapter 1: Obvious Errors

Position 21

Movsesian-Sadvakasov Calvia Olympiad 2004
Movsesian-Sadvakasov Calvia Olympiad 2004              White to play

White, Movsesian, a 2600+ GM played the dreadful blunder 59.Kc6? (throwing away a totally winning pawn endgame. 59.Kc5! wins as the threat is to play Kb4 which will preserve white’s remaining pawn as a b-pawn with the king in front and a reserve tempo move of b3, if 59…a3 60.bxa3! Ke7 61. Kc6 Kd8 62.Kb7! and the a-pawn promotes) 59…Ke6 60.Kb5 reaching this position:

Movsesian-Sadvakasov Move 60 Calvia Olympiad 2004
Movsesian-Sadvakasov Calvia Olympiad 2004 Move 60 Black to play

Now, black drew with a common, but nevertheless neat idea:
60…a3! (transforming white’s pawn into a now useless a-pawn, as black’s king is just close enough to draw) 61.bxa3! Kd7! 62.Kb6 Kc8! reaching c8 with an elementary draw

Position 22

Forcen Esteban - Lagarde
Forcen Esteban – Lagarde Internet rapid 2019 Move 83 Black to play

This position is simpler than the last one.
Both players are rated well over 2500!
Black is to play here and after the obvious 83..b3, it is crystal clear to a novice player that both sides are going to promote with a draw, even though white promotes first. If 83…Kb7 trying to impede the advance of the d-pawn, white can play 84.Kf6 making sure that the d-pawn does promote with a stone cold draw.
Black played 83…Kb8? (Placing the king on the back rank presumably in the mistaken belief that he could stop the white pawn from promoting. 84.Kf6! b3 85.d7! followed by promoting with check, winning the game, thanks to black’s foolish Kb8 move!

Chapter 2: Breakthrough

This is a key topic in pawn endings and there are many beautiful examples. Sometimes, the threat of a breakthrough can limit the opponent’s king manoeuvres, thus winning the game indirectly.
Once a player has seen some pretty examples of this theme, they are never forgotten.

Position 33

Nikolic-Lautier Reykjavik rapid 2004
Nikolic-Lautier Reykjavik rapid 2004                                   White to play

White missed a chance for a standard breakthrough against black’s mangled pawns viz: 35.h5 Kd7 36.g5 reaching this key position:

Nikolic-Lautier Reykjavik rapid 2005 Move 36
Nikolic-Lautier Reykjavik rapid 2005 Move 36                 Black to move

Now there are two main variations:

A) 36…Ke8 37.gxh6! Kf8 38.Kc2 Kg8 39.Kb3

Nikolic-Lautier Reykjavik rapid 2005 variation A
Nikolic-Lautier Reykjavik rapid 2005 variation A

and white wins the race to get a new queen for example: 39… Kh7 (39…a5 40.a4 breaks through) 40.Kb4 Kxh6 41.Kc5 Kxh5 42.Kxd5 Kg4 43.Kc6 Kxf4 44.d5 wins easily

B) 36…fxg5 37.fxg5! Ke8 38.gxh6! Kf8 39.Ke3

Nikolic-Lautier Reykjavik rapid 2005 variation B
Nikolic-Lautier Reykjavik rapid 2005 variation B

39…Kg8 40.Kf4 Kh7 41.Kg5 winning

Back to the original position: white played 35.Kc2? f5! 36.g5 h5! 37. Kb3 draw agreed

Position 36

Gashimov-Anastasian Dubai 2003 Move 53
Gashimov-Anastasian Dubai 2003 Move 53                     White to play

White has an outside passed a-pawn and was probably dreaming of swapping his a-pawn for black’s c-pawn, leaving black to deal with an outside passed b-pawn, while white’s king mops up the king side pawns winning the game, hence his next move 53.Kc3?

A more alert white player would have spotted the danger of black’s advanced kingside pawns. It might look as though black can only create a passed e-pawn as his extra kingside pawn is on the e-file, but this an illusion: black can now breakthrough creating a pawn configuration that ties down the white king permanently, thus allowing black to win on the queenside. Once seen never forgotten!
53…e4! would have won threatening e3 or f3 winning, if 54.Kd2 f3! 55.gxf3 exf3 reaching a position similar to the game

53…Kd5? 54.a4? Pursing his faulty plan, 54.Kd2! would have drawn 54…e4! 55.Kd2 (55.gxf4 allows an immediate breakthrough 55…e3! 56.fxe3 h4! and the h-pawn queens) 55…f3! 56.gxf3 exf3! reaching this position:

Gashimov-Anastasian Dubai 2003 Move 56
Gashimov-Anastasian Dubai 2003 Move 56                    White to play

White’s king is tied down and cannot cross to the c-file as this allows a decisive breakthrough of h4! Therefore black’s king can invade on the queenside with decisive gains viz: 57.Ke3 Kc5 58.Ke4 Kb4 59.Kd4 Kxa4 60.Kxc4 h4 61.b3+ Ka3 62.gxh4 g3! 63.Kd4 0-1

Position 38

Mamedyarov-Sokolov Hoogeveen 2006
Mamedyarov-Sokolov Hoogeveen 2006                             White to play

White missed the elegant 59.f5! b3 60.Kc3! Kd5 61.e6 fxe6 62.f6 62…gxf6 63.h5! and the h-pawn queens.

White played 59.Kc4? and still won after black missed a draw.

Chapter 3: Zugzwang

Here is a subtle example, but nevertheless didactic:

Position 56

Grabarczyk - Rustemov
Grabarczyk – Rustemov Koszalin 1997                                 Black to play

This ending looks like an easy win for black with a extra passed pawn. But be careful!
Black played the natural 52…Kg5? which throws away the win. This won’t become clear for a few moves. 52…Kg6! wins
53.f4+ exf3 54.Kxf3! h5 55.Kg3! reaching a position of mutual zugzwang:

Grabarczyk-Rustemov Mutual Zugzwang
Grabarczyk-Rustemov Mutual Zugzwang

If black had played 52…Kg6, white would be on move here and would be lost as 56.Kh3 or 56.Kf3 would be met by 56…h4 and any other king move would allow 56…Kg4 winning easily.

The game continued 55…h4+ 56.Kf3! Kh5 57.Kf4! Kh6 58.e4! h3 59.Kg3 drawn

Chapter 4: Opposition and Corresponding Squares

The introduction to this chapter is excellent explaining the concept of the opposition, the distant opposition, corresponding squares and triangulation.

Here is a simple example from a game between players rated in the 2400s:

Position 70

Heim - Helmers Reykjavik 1981
Heim – Helmers Reykjavik 1981                                               White to play

White played the “active” 55.Ke4? (55.Kf2! maintaining the distant opposition draws a textbook ending) 55…Ke6! winning the opposition 56. Kf3 Kd5 bypassing 57.Ke3 Ke5! 58.Kf3 Kd4 (another bypass) 59.Kf2 Kd3 60.Kf3 g4+ and white threw in the towel

Chapter 5: Spare Tempi

Position 105

Siugirov - Lupulescu Jerusalem 2015
Siugirov – Lupulescu Jerusalem 2015                                     Black to Play

The author’s explanation of black’s defensive plan here is pithy and pedagogical:

“Black’s defensive plan is to let White  take the a7-pawn and then block the king in permanently in front of his own a-pawn. For this idea to work, Black needs a spare tempo on the kingside, as otherwise he will be forced to release the white king from its a-file prison. Immediately fixing the kingside pawns by 43…g5!? secures two such tempi and is the simplest path to a draw viz: 44.Kc6 Ke5 45.Kb7 Kd6! 46.Kxa7 Kc7! 47.h3 h6 48.a6 h5!”

Siugirov - Lupulescu Jerusalem 2016 Trapped king
Siugirov – Lupulescu Jerusalem 2016 Trapped king

White does not enough tempi to release his imprisoned king.

In practice Black played 43…Kd7 which retains the draw but mis-defended on the next move and lost.

Interestingly, I had a similar position in a game many decades ago with reversed flanks. I won the game and proudly showed the endgame to a friend, who promptly demonstrated a drawing plan for my opponent identical to this game.

Chapter 6: The Fight To Promote

Mchedlishvili - Jankovic
Mchedlishvili – Jankovic Dubai 2009                                     White to move

White totally mis-assessed the resulting king and pawn endgame after the exchange of queens here. He probably thought that his connected passed pawns on the kingside were at least a match for black’s queenside majority. 

34.Qxf7+? Kxf7 35.g4 a5 36.Kf2 c5 37.Ke3 d5 38.Kd3 a5 reaching this position:

Mchedlishvili - Jankovic Winning queenside majority
Mchedlishvili – Jankovic Winning queenside majority

What white missed was that black can create a passed a-pawn and a passed d-pawn (separated by two files) and these pawns can reach the fifth rank safely which means they are unstoppable.

White played the desperate 39.c4 dxc4+ (39…bxc4+ also wins) 40.Kc3 a3 41.h4 Kg6 42.g5 h5 43.Kd2 b4 44.Kc2 c3 white resigned

7: Changing the Pawn-Structure

This is one of the most complex chapters and the hardest to evaluate in practice.

The reviewer will show an excellent example to show a typical idea:

Position 153

Kasparov - Azmaiparashvili Geropotamos rapid 2003
Kasparov – Azmaiparashvili Geropotamos rapid 2003  Black to play

Black played the automatic 46…Kc6? White won with a well known technique exploiting the fact that his king is one move ahead in the race to the kingside 47.h4! f5 48.g3! Kc5 (48…Kc7 49.Ka7 Kc6 50.Kb8 wins) 49.Kb7! and black resigned because of this variation: 49…b5 50.axb5 Kxb5 51.Kc7 Kc4 52.Kd6 Kd3 53.Ke6 Ke3 54.Kf6 Kf3 55.Kxg6! Kxg3

Kasparov - Azmaiparashvili Geropotamos rapid 2004 possible continuation
Kasparov – Azmaiparashvili Geropotamos rapid 2004 possible continuation White to play

56.Kg5! winning

Going back to the original position:

Kasparov - Azmaiparashvili Geropotamos rapid 2003
Kasparov – Azmaiparashvili Geropotamos rapid 2003  Black to play

Instead of the passive 46…Kc6? black can actively rearrange the kingside pawn structure to draw as follows:

46…h4! 47.Ka7 f5 48.h3

Kasparov - Azmaiparashvili Geropotamos rapid 2004 variation in missed draw
Kasparov – Azmaiparashvili Geropotamos rapid 2004 variation in missed draw Black to play

48…Kc6! 49.Kb8 Kc5 50.Kc7 Kb4 51.Kxb6 Kxa4 52.Kc5 Kb3! 53.Kd4 Kc2! 54. Ke5 Kd3 55.Kf6 Ke4 56.Kxg6 Kxf4! 57.Kf6!

Kasparov - Azmaiparashvili Geropotamos rapid 2004 variation in missed move 57
Kasparov – Azmaiparashvili Geropotamos rapid 2004 variation in missed draw move 57 Black to play

Black draws here with 57…Ke4! 58.Kg5 Ke5! 59.Kxh4 Kf4! 60.g4 (60.g3 Ke3 draws) 60…Ke5! 61.g5 f4! 62.Kg4 Ke4! leads to a drawn Q + h-pawn v Q endgame

Kasparov - Azmaiparashvili Geropotamos rapid 2004 variation in missed move 62
Kasparov – Azmaiparashvili Geropotamos rapid 2004 variation in missed draw move 62 White to play

Position 158

The reviewer loves this endgame.

Gelfand-Jobava (Move 50)
Gelfand-Jobava (Move 50)

This king and pawn ending is clearly drawn but white is pressing with a more advanced king. White played 50.h4 setting a subtle trap. 50…h5? losing, incredible to believe but it is true. 50…Kd7 draws, for example 51.g4 f6+ 52.Kd5 e6+ 53.Kc5 h6 54. e5 fxe5 55.fxe5 Kc7 seizing the opposition and drawing 51.f5! f6+ 52.Ke6! gxf5

Gelfand-Jobava (Move 53)
Gelfand-Jobava (Move 53)

Now white played 53. e5! which had been completed missed by black (automatic recapture syndrome) 53… fxe5 54.Kxe5! Kd7 55.Kxf5! Kd6 56.Kg5 Ke5 57.Kxh5! Kf4

Gelfand-Jobava (Move 57)
Gelfand-Jobava (Move 57)

Now white can enter a winning queen endgame with 58.Kg6! e5 59.h5! e4 60.h6! e3 61.h7! e2! 62.h8Q e1Q 

Gelfand - Jobava Dortmund 2006 Queen Ending
Gelfand – Jobava Dortmund 2006 Queen Ending            White to play

This looks drawn as the white g-pawn is only on the second rank and the black king is close to it. However, white has a series of checks to exploit the poor position of the black pieces viz:

63. Qb8+ Kg4 64. Qc8+ Kf4 (64…Kg3 65.Qh3! is the same as the game) 65. Qf5+ Kg3 66.Qh3+ Ke5 67.g4!

Gelfand - Jobava Dortmund 2006 Queen Ending Tablebase win
Gelfand – Jobava Dortmund 2006 Queen Ending Tablebase win

Surprisingly this is a tablebase win even though the g-pawn is only on the fourth rank. Looking more closely at the position, black’s pieces are badly placed with the king interfering with the queen. If the black king was in the south west corner, he would draw.

Gelfand did win this game about 50 moves later after mistakes by both sides.

Chapter 8: Calculation

Clearly this is absolutely critical in king and pawn endings.
Here is a relatively simple example:

Position 172

Ikonnikov - Liogky Paris 1998
Ikonnikov – Liogky Paris 1998 Black to play

Black played the obvious exchange 47…hxg5? which loses trivially 48.hxg5! Kf1 49.Kf3! Kg1 50.Kg3 (50.g6 Kh2 51.Kg4! also wins) 50…Kg1 51.g6! Black resigned as white’s king travels to f7 and black’s cannot get to h6 in time.

Ikonnikov - Liogky Paris 1999 End
Ikonnikov – Liogky Paris 1999 Final Position Black to play

Going back to the start:

Ikonnikov - Liogky Paris 1998
Ikonnikov – Liogky Paris 1998

Black can draw with 47…h5! After 48.g6 viz:

Ikonnikov - Liogky Paris 1999 Drawing Line
Ikonnikov – Liogky Paris 1999 Drawing Line

As soon as white plays Kxh5, black will answer Kf4 stalemate!
If white goes after the g-pawn, black draws by going after the h-pawn, for example 48…Kf1 49.Kf4 Kg2 50.Ke5 Kh3 51.Ke6 Kxh4 52.Kf7 Kg3 53.Kg7 h4 54.Kf6 h3 55.g7 h2 56.g8Q+ Kf2 drawing

Chapter 9: Evaluating the Resulting Queen Endings

The introduction to this chapter by the author is a superb summary of the intricacies of these transitions. The reviewer has already given an example from Chapter 7 (position 158), so I will leave the reader to buy the book to sample this chapter.

Chapter 10: Positional Play

Position 259

Radjabov - Ding Liren Internet rapid 2021
Radjabov – Ding Liren Internet rapid 2021 Black to play

This looks very difficult for black as not only does white have a potential outside passed pawn but also a better king. He played 52…Kc6? and lost. Buy the book to find out how black can draw or work it for yourself!

In summary, this is a really good book and close study will reap rewards.  The book is very well laid out and is easy to read with lots of diagrams. Thoroughly recommended.

FM Richard Webb, Chineham, Hampshire, 30th May 2021

FM Richard Webb
FM Richard Webb

Here is a pdf extract from Everyman

Book Details :

  • Hardcover : 192 pages
  • Publisher: Gambit Publications Ltd (16 Sept. 2020)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 1911465597
  • ISBN-13: 978-1911465591
  • Product Dimensions: 17.15 x 1.52 x 24.77 cm

Official web site of Gambit Publications Ltd.

Understanding Pawn Endgames, Valentin Bogdanov, Gambit Publications, ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1915328854
Understanding Pawn Endgames, Valentin Bogdanov, Gambit Publications, ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1915328854

Thinkers Chess Academy Volume 3 – Test your chess knowledge – Crucial exercises to sharpen your understanding

Grandmaster Thomas Luther, born in 1969, is the first player with a disability to have entered the FIDE Top 100 rating list. In 2001 he was ranked 80th in the world. He has won the German Championship three times and is well known as an experienced and successful coach. In 2014 his achievements were recognised by being granted the title of FIDE Senior Trainer. In his career to-date he has published several books and DVDs. This is his fourth book for Thinkers’ Publishing, after a co-production with Jugend Schach Verlag entitled ‘Chess Coaching for Kids – the U10 Project‘ and the current series

GM Thomas Luther
GM Thomas Luther

This is the third volume in Thinkers’ Chess Academy (TCA), an ever-growing series written by Grandmaster and FIDE Senior Trainer Thomas Luther intended for beginners through to club standard players.

John Upham has previously reviewed the first volume, First Steps in Tactics, although I note a negative review on Amazon which considered the examples were too hard for the target market. Volume 2, From Tactics to Strategy – Winning Knowledge, which, I believe, hasn’t been submitted for review by BCN, covers more advanced tactics along with an introduction to strategy.

Volume 3 is designed as a workbook for readers of the two previous volumes, while also providing more challenging exercises for ambitious students.

From the author’s introduction (it’s also on the publisher’s website):

Not every reader is ambitious enough or has enough time to work very hard on his chess. That’s quite understandable and nothing to be ashamed of. You can enjoy chess very well without being a strong tournament player. You could just entertain yourself by playing through interesting combinations. In this case don’t try too hard to solve the Advanced Lessons or Master Class exercises. Have a look to make yourself familiar with the position, than look at the solution and enjoy the surprising combinations. You won’t learn as much as you would by racking your brain to crack the hard nuts. But some knowledge and experience will certainly rub off and increase your understanding of chess. I hope this book will help you to work towards your goals and let have you fun with chess.

The book has an unusual structure. We have 20 chapters alternately easier and harder, with the answers at the end of each chapter. Less experienced players are advised to work through the odd numbered chapters first before tackling the odd numbered chapters, while stronger players could work through the book in order, using the odd numbered chapters as ward-up exercises.

An interesting concept, but does it work? Let’s take a look inside. All the odd numbered chapters are billed simply as ‘Quick Test’, although their specific themes are discussed in the chapter introductions.  The first Quick Test, which corresponds to Chapter 7 of TCA1, features mates in up to 2 moves. Other tests involve winning material in various ways. There is a gradual increase in length and complexity, until, by Chapter 19 you’ll be able to find wins (material or mate) in up to 5 moves.

I enjoyed Chapter 9 (Quick Test 5): From The Good Old Times!

Can you find this mate in 3 (Napier – Amateur 1904)?

Ng5+ is only a mate in 4: it’s quicker and more spectacular to play 1. Qg6+ Bxg6 2. Ng5+ hxg5 3. hxg6#

This, for example is Q12 in Chapter 19.

If you can solve this within a few seconds you’re a pretty good tactician: quite a jump forward from the simple positions in Chapter 1.

In case you haven’t spotted it yet: 1. Bxf6 Bxf6 2. Qxe6+ Kg7 3. Qxf6+ Kxf6 4. Nxd5+ followed by 5. Nxb6.

The even numbered chapters, apart from Chapter 2, have more specific titles, Chapters 4-12 being Advanced Lessons and Chapters 14-20 being Master Classes. We have (from 4 in steps of 2): Easy Tactics in the Endgame, Chess History, Checkmate in Up to 5 Moves, Advantage or Mate in Up to 5 Moves, All Kinds of Draws, Advantage in 5 or More Moves, The Classics, Studies and finally The Long Way to Checkmate. Yes, of course some two move combinations can be much harder to spot than some five move combinations, but the author has been very careful in his choice of material.

This is from Chapter 10: Mohammad Fahad – Vatsal Mumbai 2018.

White won by continuing 17. fxe6 fxe6 18. Nxe5 dxe5 19. Nxe6 Bxe6 20. Bb5+ Kf7 21. Qf2+ Bf6 22. Rxd8. A nice example of a clearance; very difficult to see, according to Luther.

Like many leading chess teachers these days, Thomas Luther is very keen on endgame studies. “Don’t be frightened or repulsed by the studies”, he says in the introduction to Chapter 4. “They are not like problem chess but very practical and instructive. You can learn a lot by trying to solve them.”

Here, from Chapter 18, is an 1851 study by Horwitz and Kling.

The solution runs like this: 1. Ra4+ Ke5 2. Ra5 c5 3. Rxc5 Qxc5 4. d4+ Qxd4 5. Nc6+ Kd5 6. Nxd4 Kxd4 7. Kf3

Instructive, I think, because you need to know basic KP v K theory as well as being able to spot knight forks.

The book is beautifully produced and the author has clearly put a lot of thought into both the selection of the puzzles and the structure of the chapters.

If you’re following the Thinkers’ Chess Academy series you’ll definitely want this book. If you’re looking for a book, with puzzles you probably haven’t seen before, this book would also be an excellent choice. I would place this volume high up in my list of recommended puzzle books for club standard players.

Of course many players these days prefer to solve puzzles online, but there’s also much to be said for the old-fashioned method of using a book. Although I’d guess the main target market would be roughly 1250-1750 rated players, anyone between, say, 1000 and 2000 strength would find this book both instructive and enjoyable. Lower rated players should work through the odd numbered chapters first, while higher rated players will prefer to start at the beginning and work through sequentially.

If you want to make sure the book’s for you, you can read the first three chapters here.

Richard James, Twickenham 3rd June 2024

Richard James
. Richard James

Book Details:

  • Softcover : 362 pages
  • Publisher: Thinkers Publishing; 1st edition (20 Dec. 2022)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 9464201673
  • ISBN-13: 978-9464201673
  • Product Dimensions: 17.02 x 2.54 x 23.37 cm

Official web site of Thinkers Publishing

Thinkers Chess Academy Volume 3 – Test your chess knowledge – Crucial exercises to sharpen your understanding, Thomas Luther, Thinker's Publishing, Thinkers Publishing; 1st edition (20 Dec. 2022)
Thinkers Chess Academy Volume 3 – Test your chess knowledge – Crucial exercises to sharpen your understanding, Thomas Luther, Thinker’s Publishing, Thinkers Publishing; 1st edition (20 Dec. 2022)