Chessable The Masters Hand Fischers Endgame T... Extra Quality

Well, I took a closer look. The thing's addictive! Watchingplayers fall for the most insidious traps, or resign prematurely whileneglecting improbable salvation, is undoubtedly entertaining. Let's face it:Schadenfreude is even more prevalent among chessplayers than the generalpopulation. Then I realised what every thoughtful reader had: that along withthose cute trick positions that the reviewers had shown (the same positions, ofcourse), Endgame Tactics was a full of practical chess material. To besure, the book is stuffed with entertaining trickery, but there's educationaltrickery as well. For one thing, some of the tricks are standard techniquesnecessary to win a certain kind of position. Furthermore, many if not most ofthe examples contain themes, however surprising, that repeat themselves insimilar positions, and most are found in grandmaster games. This means that themore of these positions you learn, the more often you will pull a half point orfull point out of a hat. Finally, there are many 'book' endings that van Perlooffers illustrate not so much 'tricks' or 'traps' as blunders, often by famousmasters, when proper knowledge of the endgame would have saved the point. Therook endings section is particularly full of these. One thing people like aboutthis book is that you can absorb fundamental lessons while being entertained.In fact, Van Perlo's book is organised traditionally, according to generalending type: Pawn Endgames, Queen Endgames, Rook Endgames, and Minor PieceEndgames. Then we find very specific subsections which allow us to gainfamiliarity with not only the characteristic tactics of a specialised endingbut the traditional solutions. These subsections are just as specific as anending enyclopaedia might contain, for example, rook+pawn versus rook+pawn allthe way to rook+5/6/7 pawns versus rook +5/6/7 pawns, or rook with 5 or 6 pawnsversus rook with 4 or 5 pawns. It's difficult to find a missing category.

Chessable The Masters Hand Fischers Endgame T...

The book's cover says that it is "designed to "speak" to a playerin a very personal way, Silman's book teaches the student everything he or sheneeds to know at his or her current rating level, and builds on that knowledgefor each subsequent phase of the player's development." That's a gooddescription of the author's fundamental idea that drives the book. Instead ofmerely making the examples increasingly complex, he defines what hethinks is necessary to know at specific rating levels. For example, thebeginner or unrated player needs to know how to checkmate with an extra queenand rook, two rooks, and finally with a lone extra rook. Second, he or she mustunderstand the difference between checkmate and stalemate. But no more!Silman's idea is to wait until you climb in strength before you worry aboutmore advanced material. Then, as a Class 'E' player (that's 1000-1199), onemust learn with what material you can mate, and learn queen versus bishop andqueen versus knight. Mates with two bishops and bishop and knight are left forlater. But you are also introduced to the concept of 'opposition' and playingthe most elementary king and pawn versus king ending. That's enough for now:It's so easy to forget how little near-beginners know and can handle! In ClassD (1200-1399), one begins to use the 'opposition' to win (or draw) king andpawn endings when the king is in front of it's own pawn, and here for the firsttime we add more pawns and see the idea of one pawn holding up two, followed byhow to win by allowing your passed pawn to be captured while winning theopponent's other pawns. The D player also learns about distant opposition, andcases of a single piece versus a lone pawn. And so forth all the way up tomaster. By the time you get to Expert, for example, Silman emphasizes a'flow-chart' method that breaks down complex positions into ones that youalready know. I urge those who get the book to look at that chapter; thissimple idea appears in a few other books, but never in an organised form. Infact, Silman may be the first to give it explicitly as a general technique, andnot merely singular examples. The last, lengthy chapter is made up of 'endgamesfor pleasure', the majority of which are by "The Five Greatest Endgame Playersof All Time" (Lasker, Rubinstein, Capablanca, Smyslov, and Fischer). Not theselection that I would make, but there exist numerous wonderful endings by mostany great player, so it really doesn't matter.

1.c4 Nf6 2.Nc3 e5 3.Nf3 Nc6 4.a3 A modest little move that's not the most testing in the English Four Knights, but it can often allow for a reversed Sicilian Taimanov/Kan of some description. 4...d5 5.cxd5 Nxd5 6.Qc2 Nxc3 7.bxc3 Bd6 8.e3 0-0 9.d4 Bg4 10.Bd3 Bxf3 11.gxf3 Qh4! Stopping Nepo from launching right into an all-out attack by throwing 'Harry the h-pawn' up the board. 12.Bb2 g6 13.d5 Na5 Superficially, Nepo looks to have the upper-hand with his attack and the bishop-pair - but such is Black's solid structure with no pawn weaknesses, that Aronian has the promise of the better prospects if he can successfully exchange a few pieces. 14.c4 b6 15.0-0-0 Nb7 Not so much a retreat but rather heading for the ideal knight outpost on c5 - and with it, Nepo decides that he now has to go all-in with the attack rather than being pushed into a dreadful ending with his wrecked pawn structure. 16.Rdg1 Nc5 17.Bf1 f5 18.Rg3 Rae8 19.Rhg1 Rf7 20.Kb1 Kf8! With all of White's pieces committed to the kingside attack, Aronian, very calmly, comes up with a solution that another Armenian chess hero would have been proud of: a Tigran Petrosian-like king march over to safety on the queenside! 21.Rh3 Qf6 22.Be2 Ke7 23.Bd1 Kd8 You got to think that somewhere celestially above, Petrosian had to have a knowing smile of admiration on his face. 24.Qe2 Qe7 25.Bc2 Kc8 With Aronian's king run to the queenside complete, he now sets about looking for the breakthrough to expose Nepo's wrecked pawn structure. 26.Ka2 Qd7 27.Rhg3 f4! 28.Rg4 e4! Now the breakthrough comes, totally wrecking White's position and pawn structure. 29.exf4 exf3 Slightly more accurate was 29...Rfe7 with the follow-up plan of ...exf3 and ...Ne4 that leaves all of White's vulnerable pawns easy pickings. 30.Qxf3 Kb7 31.f5 Best was 31.Bd4! h5 32.Rh4 Qe7! 33.Bxg6 Qxh4 34.Bxf7 Re4! 35.Bxc5 Rxf4 36.Qg3 Qf6 37.Qg7 Bxc5 38.Qxf6 Rxf6 39.Bxh5 Rxf2+ 40.Kb3 Rxh2 41.Rg5 Rh3+ 42.Kc2 Rxa3 where Black has an extra pawn and a passed a-pawn - but with all the pawns on the queenside and opposite-coloured-bishops on the board, this is not an easy endgame to convert for the win. 31...Be5 32.d6+ c6 33.Bxe5 Rxe5 34.Rd1 gxf5 35.Rg8? The decisive blunder. After 35.Rgd4 over-protecting the d6-pawn, White would be in a better place to hold. 35...Qe6 Now simply ...Rd7 will corral the d6-pawn with a won endgame. 36.Qc3 Rd7 37.Kb1 Ne4 38.Bxe4 fxe4 39.Qd4 Qxg8 40.Qxe5 Qxc4 Now Aronian has revenge over Nepo, as he picks off all of his opponent's hanging pawns. 41.Qg3 Qe6 42.Kb2 c5! The final touch of elan from Aronian, as his wandering king puts the boot in with ...Kc6 and the d6-pawn falls, and the game not long afterwards. 43.Qf4 Rf7 44.Qe3 Kc6 45.Kb1 Rd7 46.Qf4 Qb3+ 0-1 Nepo resigns, as after 47...Qxa3+ Aronian will come back to e6 (either via ...Qb3+ or ...Qa2+) for seconds to pick-off the d6-pawn. 041b061a72