Endgame Challenge (Chess Problems and Studies)

Test Your Skills with 250 Brilliant and Instructive Chess Endgame StudiesNew ebook feature: each diagram is also a link to a lichess analysis board of that position!"a good choice for the non-chess player looking for a Christmas present for a chess player." - John Donaldson, USA Team CaptainJohn Nunn presents 250 challenging positions where your task is to find a cunning way to win or draw. In many cases the odds against success seem overwhelming, yet by using all the tactical resources in the position it is possible to achieve the goal.The studies were subjected to a rigorous checking procedure, during which thousands of unsatisfactory positions were weeded out. The 250 studies finally selected represent some of the finest creations of composers such as Kasparian, Troitsky, Pogosiants, Mitrofanov, Chéron and Réti. Nunn’s detailed solutions contains many points and clarifications that have hitherto gone unmentioned, so readers will rarely be left to wonder whether their intended solution really did work.Solving endgame studies is a well-established and popular training method used, for instance, by the renowned Russian chess coach Mark Dvoretsky. In an over-the-board game, the ability to use the pieces in harmony is paramount, and those players who can exploit every resource in a position are those who become champions.While the focus in this book is on tactics, readers will also develop a greater understanding of many important endgame topics, such as fortresses, stalemate defences, the opposition and zugzwang.John Nunn is a grandmaster from England. He has won four individual gold medals (one of them for solving) and three team silver medals at Chess Olympiads. In the Chess World Cup of 1988/9, he finished sixth overall, ahead of several former World Champions. He is arguably the most highly acclaimed chess writer in the world, with two of his books receiving the prestigious British Chess Federation Book of the Year Award. He has won the British Chess Problem Solving Championship three times, and took the gold medal for Chess Problem Solving at the 1999 Mind Sports Olympiad. Nunn has also composed some outstanding problems and studies, notably in his ‘Brains of Earth’ Challenge."The first 50 pages contain 250 diagrams to solve, and then we get 250 pages of shocking solutions - shocking in the sense that even world class players might draw or even resign positions, when beautiful and unlikely possibilities still exist" - Bab Wilders, Nederlands Dagblad"the many beautiful studies here will delight and entertain you whatever your approach." - Matthew Rose, Oxford Times"Endgame fanatics and serious tournament players at expert level and above should love this book" - Daniel Lucas, Georgia Chess"It was William Napier, I believe, who once described the play of the winner of a game as 'This is witch chess, heathen and beautiful.' To even begin to describe the contents of Endgame Challenge I have to resort to poetry, to hyperbole. This is magic stuff. I don't want to sound like a snake oil salesman, but the contents of this book may be just the cure for what ails you. ... This is a superb collection of endgames. If you feel your chess appreciation has grown a touch jaded, buy this book! You will not regret it!" - Alex Dunne, Correspondence Chess News Read more