In the phase of the game, the endgame, strange things happen. Material advantages don’t bring home the expected fruits, wins vanish, draws slip away, and frustrations build. Why is it that when things are supposed to be simpler, they become slippery and nearly impossible to handle with any kind of accuracy? And why do players such as Rubinstein, Capablanca, Andersson, Karpov, and Carlsen seem able to drum up resources out of nothing, make the lives of their opponents miserable, and win things that looked drawn and draw things that looked lost? Many factors are at play, but an accurate assessment of the remaining resources, both present and latent, allows these players to make better plans and maximize the potential for a positive outcome.
In this book, experienced authors, IM Lakdawala and FM Hansen, look at this phenomenon and help the reader better “read” the positions to understand what measures are needed in a given position.
Along with numerous practical examples, and endgame studies with practical application, there are also many exercises for the student to work through, either on their own or with a coach.
The author has countless practical suggestions for improving your endgame play in this era of rapid-time controls so that you don’t end up “drowning” in the ocean of endgame theory. Let Mark Dvoretsky help you win more games as he examines some elementary endgame errors from master play and shows you how to avoid making the same mistakes.
International Master Tibor Karolyi has studied Carlsen’s career and selected more than 90 of his best endgames. He reviews them in chronological order to show how Magnus developed his skills. His technique and his choices are being explained in a manner that is easy to understand for club players.
Sergei Tkachenko, a member of the Ukrainian team that won the 5th World Chess Composition Tournament in 1997 and which came second in 2000, 2004, 2013, and 2017, has collected 100 studies whose common theme is that white ends up with just one bishop in the finale, yet manages to win or draw
The diverse set of tactical ideas involving two knights in the finale will enable them to gain a deeper understanding of how the knight pair combines.
Endgame books tend not to prioritize the information most useful for reluctant endgame players, but this is the territory explored by Australian Grandmaster Ian Rogers in Rogers’ Practical Endgame Guide.
Rather than show methods of winning certain technical positions, Rogers’ Practical Endgame Guide is designed to help endgame-averse players who want to know what the ‘correct’ result of an ending is and, more importantly, what chance they will have to work out the right moves in actual play. Rogers’ Practical Endgame Guide obliges as little memory work as possible and offers plenty of general advice to keep you heading in the right direction.
Rogers’ Practical Endgame Guide covers endgame ideas that are not often highlighted but consistently turn games: recognizing Injustice Patterns, how to scare your opponent in an equal position, and understanding the endgame potential of the Tricky Knight or the Hyperactive King.
Sergei Tkachenko, a member of the Ukrainian team that won the 5th World Chess Composition Tournament in 1997 and which came second in 2000, 2004, 2013, and 2017, has collected 100 studies whose common theme is that white ends up with just one knight in the finale, yet manages to win or draw
The diverse set of tactical ideas involving two bishops in the finale will enable them to gain a deeper understanding of how the bishop pair combines.
This book aims to give you a wealth of self-study knowledge about handling different types of endings that occur frequently but on which there is not much literature analyzing recent games. Imbalanced material endgames involving rooks are a key focus of the book, covering three-fifths of the material, and all endings in the book feature at least one rook. The vast majority of games are taken from the last few years, including many from 2021-2022. Like the author’s previous endgame book published with Elk and Ruby, 101 Endgame Crimes and Punishments (2020), this one is aimed at strong tournament players (1900-2300 Elo) and fast improving juniors.
Specifically, this book covers the following endings: rook vs. minor piece (chapter 1), rook vs. a pair of minor pieces (chapter 2), rook and minor piece vs. rook and minor piece, rook and minor piece vs. rook, rook and minor piece vs. two minor pieces, rook and minor piece vs. a pair of rooks, and rook and minor piece vs. queen (all in chapter 3).
The material arrangement principles applied for this book are largely consistent with those adopted for the author’s books published earlier. He has selected examples only from games played over the board and in which at least one of the players is a grandmaster. Six of the included games were played by world champion Magnus Carlsen. Other examples come from games by top players such as former world champions Garry Kasparov, Vladimir Kramnik and Vishy Anand, as well as Ian Nepomniachtchi, Ding Liren, Hikaru Nakamura, Sam Shankland, Jan-Krzysztof Duda, Judit Polgar, Gata Kamsky, Daniil Dubov and others. Eight of the 101 examples in this book come from the author’s own games.
Endgame positions have been selected so that a person studying the book can see the critical moments of play, such as a single or a series of errors that led to a loss or when one of the sides missed a winning move. Before playing through the correct continuation the reader is advised to try and work it out from the initial diagram.
This book presents the 100 most essential chess endgames — the basic endings every club player is likely to encounter in real games.
Learning how to handle these positions will help you win more games, and also save more games. Once you reach the stage where your results are no longer decided by simple tactical mistakes, the real challenge begins: converting your advantages with confidence.
With clear explanations and a structured, step-by-step approach, these 100 lessons form a complete endgame survival kit. You will learn:
* how to stay confident when the game transfers into an endgame
* how to exploit advantages you have gained in the middlegame
* how to avoid the frustration of failing to win clearly better positions
* how to approach simplification without uncertainty
Master these basic endings and they will serve you for the rest of your chess life. Study them carefully, and your technique — and your confidence — will improve forever.
Jesus de la Villa (1958) is an International Grandmaster born in Spain. He is a successful author and a well-known chess trainer. He has twice won the Spanish Championship. His book '100 Endgames You Must Know' is an international bestseller.
In our final book of the series we want to show the most entertaining elements of rook and pawn endgames, plus many of the most important practical cases. Additionally, we have included more than 100 of the most entertaining studies as well as 100 rook ending tests. Part 8 of the first FIDE-approved endgame manual, written by 3 of the world leading experts: FIDE Senior Trainers IGM Mikhalchishin, IGM Grivas and IGM Balogh.
In this book, the authors aim to assist the reader in becoming better at finding combinations, constructing plans, and calculating long, forcing variations. For the purpose of instruction, the material is based on the output of former World Champion Vassily Smyslov (1921-2010), using his endgame compositions from various works and publications as well as several of his practical endgames from games from tournaments and matches throughout his career against players such as Mikhail Botvinnik, Paul Keres, Bent Larsen, Efim Geller, Tigran Petrosian and several other world class players
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