We all know that studying endgames is fundamental to chess improvement, but staring at an endgame study for hours and needing to remember all your calculated moves in a million-move variation can be tedious, even for the strongest of players. World Champion in endgame composition, Steffen Nielsen, and Grandmaster Jacob Aagaard understand this well, which led them to write “Endgame Labyrinths” – an endgame book that presents 1002 challenging but practically solvable endgame studies.
GM Jacob Aagard gives us a look into how the book came about and what the reader can expect:
What we have done is a slightly different thing from previous books on the topic. The idea from the book came from a solving group of four people I ran some years back. We were two guys and two girls, trying to solve studies from perhaps the most famous modern book on studies. I finally had it with these way too long solutions, when there was a 30+ move pawn ending. I know that top players find their most significant details on the first three moves in calculation in the middlegame (direction of travel, let’s call it). Sometimes we go deeper in the endgame, and of course, we see further ahead. But 30 moves? Not me.
I asked Steffen for studies and they were far more solvable, and I actually liked them better than these supposed “best studies of all time”. The idea of creating a book with this sort of material came quickly (of course). I had not imagined just how much work it would be. Although we are two authors of this 424 page book, it took me far more effort than the “less than 900” page A Matter of Endgame Technique that I published in 2022. I think I spent 1000+ hours on this book. It does not try to be a “best studies of all times” book – rather it is a book for strong players wanting to improve their game through solving endgame studies. They are selected for solving. They are cut for solving. They have a point system, designed to keep you honest in your solving.
Jacob Aagaard
Take your solving for a test drive with some of these examples from the book:
Endgame Labyrinths: Exercise 531
White to play and draw
Endgame Labyrinths: Exercise 539
White to play and win
Check out the book’s free sample to see these positions and a few more!
About the Authors:
Jacob Aagaard
Grandmaster Jacob Aagaard is a renowned Danish-Scottish chess player, author, and trainer. He has written multiple influential chess books on a range of topics, helping players of all levels improve their understanding of chess. Aagaard has won several awards for his chess books. Some of the most prestigious are from the English Chess Federation (ECF) and the Association of Chess Professionals. Notably, his book “Excelling at Chess” won the ChessCafe.com Book of the Year award. He has also had a lot of success as a coach where his students have beaten all the greatest players of the last few decades!
Aagard is the co-owner of Quality Chess, and you can find many of his books on Forward Chess:
Steffen Nielsen
Steffen Nielsen is one of the greatest minds in chess studies and currently holds the title of World Champion in endgame composition! His compositions are innovative, aesthetically pleasing, and tactical in nature which has earned him many awards including the aforementioned World Championship title. As a player, he is a strong 2100+ which gives him “a good understanding of the difficulties practical players face over the board”.
Jacob Aagard writes about his co-author:
It was a great pleasure to work with Steffen on this book. He is the current World Champion in Study composition, which is a title handed out every three years, based on a points system, rather than individual competitions. Steffen and I are contemporaries and Steffen said that we made two draws about 30 years ago – which I have entirely forgotten. He said it was a bigger result for him, but then I was not aware he would be World Champion!
Have any thoughts or questions? Let us know in the comments!
Get Endgame Labyrinths on Forward Chess with a new release special discount:
Study Solutions
Exercise 531
Exercise 539
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Sean Marsh 
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