Everyone knows they should work on their endgame play. So many hard-earned advantages are squandered in ‘simple’ endings... But, for a good playing ending, necessary to precisely calculate. This book can help to improve your skills and calculation in endings. In this book, we can find a lot of famous endings played in practical games and how some of the top grandmasters coped with them. Improve your knowledge endings with this book. Start to calculate, and learn ending rules!
In this widely acclaimed chess classic, Russian trainer Mikhail Shereshevsky explains how to master the most important endgame principles. Where other endgame manuals focus on the basics and theoretical endgames, this book teaches the ‘big ideas’ that will help you find the most promising and most practical moves in any endgame.
Even in endgames, it helps to think schematically instead of trying to calculate every move. To maximize your winning chances, this invaluable manual will teach you these lessons:
- Do not hurry
- Centralize your king
- Fight for the initiative
- Exploit two weaknesses
- Exchange the right pieces at the right moment
Endgame Strategy is considered to be one of the most important endgame manuals. In comparison with the 1981 publication, this new edition has been thoroughly revised and the author has added dozens of new and inspiring positions.
The book is highly recommended by club players, coaches, and grandmasters alike. ‘I especially read the chapter “Do not hurry!” with pleasure; not just because I agree with what he says, but more importantly because it defines the playing style of Magnus Carlsen,’ said Grandmaster Simen Agdestein, long-time trainer of the Norwegian World Champion.
Study brings wisdom. Practice brings perfection. Following his highly acclaimed Mastering Chess Strategy and Mastering Opening Strategy, this book completes a trilogy of strategy books by Grandmaster and renowned chess teacher Johan Hellsten. In his new work Hellsten focuses exclusively on endgame play and covers every type of endgame: pawn, minor piece, rook and queen endgames. He examines not only the many fundamental positions that everyone needs to know, but also the key themes and characteristics of successful endgame play, including activity, creating and exploiting weaknesses, active and passive defence, fortresses and technique. Just like his previous two books, Mastering Endgame Strategy is a product of Hellsten's many years' work as a full-time chess teacher and is specifically designed as part of a structured training programme to improve strategic thinking. In addition to the many examples there's an abundance of carefully selected exercises which allow readers to monitor their progress and put into practice what they have just learned. Following such a course is an ideal way for players of all standards to improve. Although designed mainly for students, this book is also an excellent resource for chess teachers and trainers.
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 pawn in the finale, yet manages to win or draw.
Chess players are known to be obsessed by openings. However, world champions have recommended that up-and-coming players should actually begin by studying the endgame first. This is because only by studying simplified positions can one fully develop an understanding of how chess pieces work - both in isolation and with each other. It is also the endgame where the true depth and subtlety of chess is revealed. In this instructive and entertaining book, renowned endgame expert Steve Giddins selects 50 of the finest examples of endgame play in the history of chess. Giddins examines each example in great detail and uses them to demonstrate the essential principles of high-quality endgame play. This book is full of essential guidelines and tips which all players should follow if they want to become a successful endgame player. – 50 examples of brilliant endgame play; – Examines key endgame strategies; – Ideal for players of all levels.
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.
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.
An old Soviet quip has it that Western amateurs “play the opening like grandmasters, the middlegame like experts, and the endgame like beginners.” Soviet-trained players would fearlessly steer the game toward the final phase, confident of their superior endgame skill. Ilya Rabinovich’s Russian Endgame Manual is a major reason for this. Rabinovich raises the beginner’s understanding of the endgame to a sophisticated level, starting with elementary checkmates and then moving on to the principles for handling complex endgames and advanced concepts in king-and-pawn endings, such as the theory of corresponding squares. The author pays special attention to frequently neglected endgame themes such as rook vs. pawns, rook vs. a minor piece, and queen vs. rook. First published in 1927 and updated in 1938, this classic work – featuring more than four hundred instructive endings and over three hundred exercises for self-study – served a generation of players at the height of the Soviet School’s dominance. Mongoose Press now makes it available to the English-speaking public for the first time.
Rook endgames are the most important to study, because they are the type of endgame you will face most often over the board. Working on rook endgames gives the biggest bang for your buck.
World-class grandmaster Sam Shankland explains technical rook endgames in a way that is clearer, better organized, more concise, and easier to understand than any previous work. After learning the vital set positions, the reader is offered lots of rules and guidelines to correctly assess any theoretical rook endgame they have not yet memorized.
Theoretical Rook Endgames is the ideal guide to a vital topic in chess. After reading this book, you will know which positions must be memorized, and which positions are best handled by considering general principles.
The sister volume – Conceptual Rook Endgames by Jacob Aagaard – shows how the theoretical knowledge shown in the present book is used in advanced practical play.
GM Sam Shankland is the 2018 US Champion, 2016 Olympiad gold medal winner for teams and 2014 individual gold medal winner. He has played Board 1 for the US in the World Team Championship and competed with the best players in the world in Wijk aan Zee, St. Louis, Prague and elsewhere.
New and substantially expanded edition of a modern chess classic. By chance, in 2013 publisher New In Chess discovered a previously unnoticed and unpublished extra batch of endgame tactics collected by the legendary Dutch correspondence grandmaster Ger van Perlo (1932-2010). More than 250 fresh examples have been added, making this fourth edition 25% BIGGER than its predecessors. For casual players and club players. Why is it that most amateur chess players love opening and middlegame tactics but hate endgames? Why do you usually look at only a couple of pages in any endgame theory book you see? Sit back, forget about theoretical endgames, and enjoy the entertainment of real life chess in Endgame Tactics! There is no substitute for hard work in getting better at chess, as a wise grandmaster once said. But you always work harder at something you enjoy. Make the first step towards improving your endgame play (and beating more opponents) by learning to love the endgame. Endgames are fun, and the examples from everyday practice in Endgame Tactics prove it. – New (4th) and 25% expanded edition of a best- selling modern classic; – More than 1,300 Sparkling Tricks and Traps; – WINNER of the ECF Book of the Year Award; – WINNER of the ChessCafe Book of the Year Award; – Makes regular players discover the fun in endgame.