Understanding = Mastery! Knowing the abilities and limitations of the minor pieces is very valuable for mastering the secrets of the royal game, and this can be studied best in the endgame. It is essential to understand the management of the long-range bishop, albeit confined to one color, as well as the short-range, ubiquitous knight. This book is the second volume in the authors’ acclaimed Understanding Endgames series. It follows a dual philosophy, like their previous work, Understanding Rook Endgames. It deals with seven-piece minor-piece endings in some detail. These endgames are often so deep that pre-tablebase analysis almost always contained errors. Many new discoveries are revealed here. In addition, the authors emphasize the important five- and six-piece endings every club player should know. But to really understand minor piece endings, these theoretical positions are of course not enough. Sub-chapters on the principles of each material configuration have therefore been added. Understanding Minor Piece Endgames will take you a long way to mastering these important endings. “Having had the pleasure to preview this book, I can tell you that you are in for a treat. Careful study of this book will benefit your chess immensely...” From the Foreword by GM Jacob Aagaard

Many chess players shy away from positions with material imbalances, because they feel insecure in the face of their unclear nature. Traditional chess teaching does not spend much time on understanding such imbalances, but in this original book Esben Lund discusses one of the most common imbalances, where one player has a rook, and the other two minor pieces. The author begins with basics, covering theoretical foundations and basic endgames and then moves on to deep studies of two main lines from the Catalan Opening and the Scotch Opening. Neither of these lines has been studied in such depth before. Lunds lucid explanations carry the reader effortlessly through the book, with the reader's understanding increasing at the same pace as the complexity of the chess.

Professionals know that during the course of a game, the value of chess pieces change. And they use this knowledge to decide which pieces to exchange--and when. International grandmaster Andrew Soltis, the author of Bobby Fischer Rediscovered, helps pass this important information on to novices so they can benefit, too. He investigates why the traditional "chart of relative values" or computer analysis so often fails to explain why certain trades and sacrifices work and others just don't. All the typical decisions a player has to make, such as whether to swap two minor pieces for rook and pawn, receive detailed scrutiny. Players will appreciate the insightful analysis.

Mauricio Flores Rios provides an in-depth study of the 28 most common structures in chess practice. In Chess Structures - A Grandmaster Guide you will find:*Carefully selected model games showing each structure's main plans and ideas*Strategic patterns to observe and typical pitfalls to avoid*50 positional exercises with detailed solutionsGM Axel Bachmann from the Foreword:"Chess Structures - A Grandmaster Guide is an excellent selection of model games. By studying the 140 games and fragments in this book, the reader will learn many of the most important plans, patterns and ideas in chess."

Giving mate is the ultimate goal of every chess player. Finding that all-decisive combination is immensely satisfying. But how are you supposed to spot a checkmate when you are sitting at the board with the clock ticking? In this guide International Master Vladimir Barsky teaches the method created by his mentor Viktor Khenkin (1923-2010). It’s based on an ingenious classification of the most frequently occurring mating schemes. A wide range of chess players will find it an extremely useful tool to recognize mating patterns and calculate the often narrow path to the kill. All the 1,000 examples (850 of them in exercise format) that Barsky presents are from games played in 21st century. He has carefully selected the most instructive combinations and lucidly explains the typical techniques to corner your opponent’s king. More often than you would expect, positions that look innocent at first sight, turn out to contain a mating pattern. This is not just another book full of chess puzzles. It’s a brilliantly organized course that has proven to be effective. Finding mate isn’t rocket science, but you need to know what to look for. Vladimir Barsky teaches you exactly that.

One of the world's foremost chess writers provides everything you need to know about chess endgames! Assuming no specialized endgame knowledge, John Nunn presents 100 key endgame concepts, and explains how they are used to win games or save difficult positions. He covers all the main types of endgames and typical thinking methods, and so equips readers with all the skills needed to excel in this vital phase of the game up to good club level and beyond. The endgame is the stage of the game where precision is most important, and where errors are punished most drastically. It is also deceptive: many endgame positions look too simple to require prior knowledge, but yet contain fiendish concealed pitfalls that can reverse the result of the game on the spot. Some key positions simply have to be memorized, as they can hardly be worked out at the board, especially when playing with today's faster time-controls. In such perilous terrain, an expert guide is necessary. John Nunn could not be better qualified: he is a battle-hardened grandmaster of top-level over-the-board chess and a solving world champion. From his wealth of endgame expertise, he has distilled a course of fundamental knowledge that is highly targeted on practical success for all levels of players.

Here... at long last... we have it. A new type of endgame book. A book which explains how to handle those positions that frequently occur in practical play but, curiously, are hardly ever the subject of theoretical works. Most endgame books rely upon recycling established theory on basic positions, or concentrate on fantastical studies. This one is different. Well known Grandmaster and endgame expert Glenn Flear examines in depth all endgames which feature either two pieces for each side, or two pieces against one. Why is this an important subject? Because these situations arise surprisingly frequently in practical play. For example, an examination of any big database will reveal that the endgame of rook and minor piece versus rook and minor piece arises in nearly 20% of games. That means that if you open with 1 e4, you are more likely to reach one of these endgames than you are to face the French Defence. And overall, every time you sit down to play a game of chess, there is nearly a 50% chance that you will reach one of the endgames covered in this book. If you can handle such endgames well, your results will inevitably improve. This book will show you how.