The
increasing tempo at which games are being played
today is putting a premium on good endgame skills.
Twenty years ago it might have been sufficient
to steer a favorable ending to adjournment, where
the win could be carefully worked out with possible
assistance from outside sources, but today you
are on your own and the clock is ticking.
Fundamental
Chess Endings by GM
Karsten Mueller and IM Frank Lamprecht seeks to
arm the reader with the necessary skills to play
the endgame correctly. Any reader who manages
to make it from one end to the other of this massive
and attractively priced tome will no doubt make
a quantum leap in their endgame play.
Realistically speaking I don't
think many will, but the many diagrams, very helpful
prose summaries and exercises to solve make this
a book that any real chess player will want to
delve into again and again in much the way that
at an earlier endgame compendium by Speelman,
Tisdall and Wade was. Now, the difference of course
is that computers have made things much clearer
and few areas remain gray.
One very impressive set of pages
in the back of the book is a complete table of
computer database results for pawnless endings
where not only the general result is given, but
also the longest win and longest reciprocal zugzwang.
You probably will never reach the ending of Queen
versus two minor pieces in your lifetime, but
if you do Mueller and Lamprecht will show you
that two knights are a draw and two Bishops and
Knight and Bishop are lost. They will also point
out that there exist fortress positions for each
of the latter two endings where the defender
can
draw. In the case of Queen versus two Bishops
the relevant position to know is W-Qe6 and Kb4
versus B-Kb7, Bb6 and Bc6. After 1.Qe7+ Kc8 2.Qe6+
Kb7 3.Qd6 Ba7 4.Qe7+ Kb6! 5.Qd8+ Kb7! 6.Ka5 Bc5
with ...Bb6+ to follow reestablishing the fortress.
Was this analysis the product of a silicon
oracle? No! The Italian Giambattista Lolli figured it
out in 1763!
I can recommend this book without
reservation.
YOU
CAN FIND THIS BOOK AT
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