[chessmind] Dennis Monokroussos: Mini-review: 100 Endgames You Must Know

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Posted by Dennis Monokroussos:
Mini-review: 100 Endgames You Must Know
http://chessmind.powerblogs.com/posts/1215320650.shtml


   That's a slightly funny title for a slightly funny book, yet this
   effort by GM Jesus de la Villa may be worth your while. Allow me to
   briefly explain the humor, after which I'll summarize and evaluate the
   book. What's funny about the title is its vagueness. Maybe he's right
   that we must know these 100 endgames, but are they the 100 endings we
   must know, or are there more? (Can you say "sequel"?) Also funny, in
   the sense of being peculiar, is the ordering of the book's material.
   After a chapter on basic endings and a sort of pre-test, his first
   "real" chapter covers knight vs. pawn, while king and pawn endings
   (aside from the most trivial cases) are addressed only in chapter 12!
   Despite the slightly strange - or perhaps only unusual - arrangement
   of material, there is much to commend in this book. First, the
   material selected does belong, and includes fare sometimes skipped in
   introductory texts. (His coverage of various rook and two pawns vs.
   rook endings is a useful example.) Second, he presents the information
   by multiple means: specific variations, verbal explanations, rules (he
   calls them "conclusions") and diagrams with various markings (numbered
   squares, stars of various shapes, etc.). This is an excellent way to
   help the reader really get the information and remember it - or at
   least increases the likelihood that learning will take place.
   Occasionally he offers tangential exercises for the reader (without
   solutions, which in the context of the challenges is actually a good
   thing), and the pre- and post-tests are also pedagogically useful.
   So I think he has done a good job in presenting the material. But what
   is the material? Here are the chapter headings:
   1. Basic endings (covers some elementary k+p vs. k endings, as well as
   some very simple, pawnless, rook vs. bishop and rook vs. knight
   endings)
   2. Basic Test (this is essentially a pre-test for the whole book, not
   a review of chapter 1)
   3. Knight vs. Pawn
   4. Queen vs. Pawn
   5. Rook vs. Pawn
   6. Rook vs. 2 Pawns
   7. Same-coloured bishops: Bishop + Pawn vs. Bishop
   8. Bishop vs. Knight: one pawn on the board
   9. Opposite-coloured bishops: Bishop + 2 pawns vs. Bishop
   10. Rook + Pawn vs. Rook
   11. Rook + two Pawns vs. Rook
   12. Pawn endings
   13. Other material relations (this one's a real grab bag, including
   but not exhausted by KBNk, KRBkr, and KQkrp)
   14. Final Test
   The ordering is non-traditional, and it's interesting that there's no
   section on N + P vs. N or on Q+P vs. Q. True, such endings arise
   rarely, but when was the last time you had queen vs. rook and pawn?
   I've never had it in a serious game, and I doubt I've had it occur
   more than five or six times in the tens of thousands of blitz games
   I've played in my life. Overall though, it's a very good presentation
   of many, maybe most of the fundamental, building-block endings that
   all tournament players ought to know.
   The book isn't a substitute for works like Müller & Lamprecht's
   [1]Fundamental Chess Endings or [2]Dvoretsky's Endgame Manual, but
   it's worthwhile for what it does do. Recommended, especially to
   players in the 1400-2000 range.
   A second of de la Villa's Introduction can be read [3]here (in pdf),
   and the book is available for purchase [4]here.

References

   1. http://www.amazon.com/Fundamental-Chess-Endings-Karsten-Muller/dp/1901983536
   2. http://www.amazon.com/Dvoretskys-Endgame-Manual-Mark-Dvoretsky/dp/1888690283/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1215323989&sr=1-1
   3. http://www.newinchess.com/Shop/Images/PDFs/100endgames.pdf
   4. http://www.ukgamesshop.com/Merchant2/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Product_Code=chnew411&Category_Code=chnew