Tricks, Traps, and Tips In The Chess Opening is geared toward players becoming familiar with the basic opening principles and common tricks. This book includes many of the most important instructive games used in my classes and is designed to ensure that players have a strong foundation from the beginning of the game.

Topics include:

• Early f-pawn moves,
• Early queen moves,
• Different attacks and sacrifices on weak spots.

Special attention is given to the most common and important traps such as the Center Fork Trick and the Fried Liver Attack.

Sample #1

Most of the common and dangerous traps (and mistakes) in the opening have something to do with the f-pawn. This is easy to understand, as that is the spot that is defended only by the king. Apart from simple mistakes and how to take advantage of them, the book is filled with practical examples from games that involve tactics that involve a sacrifice against the f-pawn.

The following example is taken directly from a class and involves a typical trick that all tournament players should be familiar with:

After 5…dxc3? White has a typical two-move double attack.

Question: Can you find it?

6.Bxf7+! Kxf7 7.Qd5+ Kf8

One of my students once won a game at nationals instantly after 7…Kg6? 8.Qf5#.

Back to the game: 8.Qxc5+ d6 9.Qxc3 Nf6

Trying to trade queens with 9…Qf6 was best, though of course, White doesn’t need to allow the exchange. Black instead threatens White’s pawn on e4.

10.0-0

Defending the e4-pawn with 10.Nbd2 just defending was safer with a nice edge.

Sample #2

One of the most common tricks in the opening is the Center Fork Trick. Due to how often it occurs at all levels, I have dedicated an entire chapter to the subject. First of all, here is the most common position where the trap occurs.
4.Bc4

Question: What is Black’s best move?

4…Nxe4!  

Here is the Center Fork Trick! 4…Bc5 allows White to get away with an inaccurate move order which leads to a normal Four Knights position.

In chess as in life, small changes often greatly affect whether a decision is good or bad. One of the factors that I have always tried to highlight with students is that patterns are important. However, one cannot simply assume that because a pattern has worked in one position will mean that it will work in a nearly identical one.

Consider the two following similar positions:

White has the opportunity to use the Center Fork Trick in both positions with the move 5.Nxe5. In one position, it is the best move. In the other, it is a losing move, played many times even by strong Grandmasters. Can you find which is which? 

Answer:

The first position is basically the same exact trick that Black used in the initial position. Here, the pawn being on a3 changes nothing. In the second though, the pawn on g3 changes everything.

5.Nxe5??  Nxe5 6.d4        

It looks like all is in order except for one thing…       

6…Bxd4! 

Oops. White resigned because he realized he loses the queen if 7.Qxd4 Nf3+ with a double attack.

The right thought process is important, and in itself leads to a huge increase in playing strength, regardless of knowledge. Simply knowing that a difference may exist gives one the opportunity to discover it.

The book gives many similar examples, designed not only to increase knowledge but drive home the idea of the proper thought process.

Sample #3

A very detailed chapter covers the Fried Liver Attack, one that is essential for all tournament players. It is not just the idea of attacking the weak spot in this specific case, but the idea of attacking the weak spot in similar positions that should be understood. There are many typical mating attacks and patterns that appear over and over. Games from scholastic players all the way to world-class players highlight the themes. 

Here is one of my favorite instructive games played by a student:

C. Wu – A. Shen, NJ K-3 Championship 2005

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Nf6 4.Ng5 d5 5.exd5 Nxd5 6.Nxf7 Kxf7 7.Qf3+ Ke6 8.Nc3 Ncb4 

9.d4!?

White simply ignores Black’s threat while trying to open the black king.

Either 9.Bb3 (defending c2); or 9.0–0 followed by 10.d4 may be the absolute best ways to play, but anyone who finds themself in the same situation as Black surely will not know the best chance.

9…Nxc2+

9…exd4 loses to 10.Nxd5 Nxd5 11.Qe4+ and White will pick up the knight on the next move.

10.Kd1 Nxa1??

Black goes for a win of material, but this leads to a quick defeat. 

10…Nxd4 was best but after 11.Bxd5+, Black’s king is still in trouble.  After 11…Kd6 12.Qf7 threatens 13.Ne4#. Black can defend with (White could also play 12.Qg3 with a big mess. This doesn’t take anything away from this way of playing, as players who allow 6.Nxf7! are unlikely to defend perfectly. Additionally, 9.Bb3 or 9.0–0 are simply good for White.) 12…Qe7! and on 13.Ne4+ Kd7 14.Nc5+ Kd6 seems like a draw by perpetual check.

11.Bxd5+ Kd7

The only way to avoid mate was to sacrifice the queen, but that was hardly a good option. 

Question: Find the mate in 3.

The answer is trivial if one remembers the rule that diagonal queen checks are often more dangerous than linear ones since they are less easily blocked.

12.Qf5+

Diagonal queen checks are often the best checks as they are more difficult to block. 12.Qf7+?? Qe7 and Black escapes.

12…Ke7

12…Kd6 13.Qxe5+ Kd7 14.Qe6#; 12…Ke8 13.Qf7#

13.Qf7+

13.Qxe5+ is also checkmate in 2: 13…Kd7 (13…Be6 14.Qxe6#) 14.Qe6#

13…Kd6 14.Ne4# 1–0

14.Nb5# was also checkmate. This was a very nice game for a 6–year-old to win the state championship for players up to 3rd grade (age 9).

Wojo’s Weapons

The Wojo’s Weapons series is based on the very solid, practical opening repertoire used by the late Grandmaster Alexander Wojtkiewicz as White. This repertoire helped him to become one of the most successful open tournament players in the United States for years. The themes and ideas are easy to understand, and stand the test of time in an increasingly engine-reliant chess world. Very little will be changed by an upgraded engine, and the theory is based more on understanding rather than pure memorization. For that reason, club players through to Grandmasters have used the book for many years. 

Dean Ippolito

Dean Ippolito has been regarded as one of the top scholastic chess coaches for well over two decades. He has personally worked with over 30,000 students and has taught many of the youngest national champions in the US. He is the author of six books, including the popular ‘Wojo’s Weapons’ Trilogy as well as his latest ‘Tricks Traps and Tips In The Chess Opening‘. As a player, Dean was a 10-time All-America Team member with 12 national championships. He was awarded the Frank J. Marshall Ambassador of Chess Award for his contributions to the chess world in 2011. Though his focus is mainly on coaching future champions, Dean remains active as a player and is continuing his pursuit of the Grandmaster title. 

I was approached by the editor-in-chief of Schaakmagazine (the magazine of the Dutch Chess Federation) about whether I wanted to do a series of articles. This came at just the right time because I could review the outlines, concepts, and stereotypical maneuvers of many different openings, before only focusing on the various variants. Editor Thinkers Publishing (from Belgium) through an old chess friend, Daniël Vanheirzeele, gave me the chance to commit my thoughts on this to paper. Although I don’t have a good ready knowledge of openings myself, I dare say I can increase understanding by showing the various pawn structures in a schematic way. So instead of complicated and complex variants, more explanation is given using pawn structures and an inventory of the various specific plans belonging to a particular variant. Sometimes even a trip to a late middlegame or an endgame is made to understand how best to develop one’s pieces in the opening. The new series called “Understanding before Moving” was born! It also led to a weekly based video lesson on the portal of Chessbase.

It seemed to me that in the field of the ‘big openings’ (Ruy Lopez, Italian, Damegambiet, Sicilian, etc.) a gap had opened up because most opening books mainly cough up variants that the average club chess player cannot get through. Therefore, I thought it would be a good idea to start discussing precisely these systems in the way described above. To see whether this would be interesting for a certain audience, I organized a presentation in my own hometown with a reader attached, which I handed out afterward. At this try-out on a weekday evening in Eindhoven, almost 50 people signed up, an unprecedented number! The feedback I got from some people was that the evening went by way too fast! What better wish could a presenter have than this kind of positive criticism?

 In the end, a whole series of books came about in which I also gave several presentations, and almost always the room was packed. I had previously been approached by the then director of the Dutch editor, New in Chess represented by Mr. Allard Hoogland, whether I would also like to write some books for this publisher. The initial contact led to the later award-winning book “Chess Strategy for Club players“. This book is mainly hung up on Steinitz’s “table” which is widely regarded as the elements of chess strategy. The book has already been printed in the third version and translated into German and Italian languages. 

Meanwhile, I was working steadily on a second book, “Attacking Chess for Club Players” using much of the training material that I had collected together with my girlfriend, FM Petra Schuurman – with whom I had co-founded our own company (Sterk Spel “Dutch for Strong Play”) for over 10 years. We both gave a lot of training to various age groups and managed to organize and elaborate many tactical topics into learning materials at various levels. After the training material was further developed, the book with many exercises was published. So this book had a totally different approach and was also excellently received. 

The promise was that I would write at least a third book and that became “Chess Endings for Club Players“. Before I got around to writing this at all, I first (re)organized the 45 years of training work on my hard drive. This led to a large collection of endgames. The main intention I had was to eliminate the great distaste many club chess players have for the endgame. In doing so, I was speaking from my own experience. In my youth, when I sat bent over several endgame books (including Averbakh’s) with a chess friend two years my senior, we immediately noticed that it was ‘tough stuff’. It led to us not completing every book…. 

Later, when, as a stronger chess player, I delved into endgames again, I found out more and more that entire move sequences are sometimes incomprehensible to a post-playing reader. To understand more of it, you actually want more advice from the author. And that is precisely what I started doing in this book. It is hung up on “techniques” and “rules of thumb”. A chess player benefits more if he knows whether to cut off the enemy king horizontally or vertically, that the rook belongs behind the passed pawn, and so on. In doing so, I have tried to take the reader to the various anecdotal games I have played myself in my own practice. In this way, I hope to make the book a bit more lively, and in the meantime, I am getting positive reactions to this.

Together with Petra we have one son, Tommy Grooten, who is born in 2010. In the meanwhile he already achieved several Dutch junior titles (U7, U9, U10, U12) and was invited by the Dutch Chess Federation to compete in two World Cadettes Championships (U8 in Spain in 2018 and U12 in Georgia in 2022).

Have any thoughts or questions? Let us know in the comments below!

Herman Grooten, born in July 1958 in Curaçao (The Netherlands Antilles), was raised in the Netherlands and started playing chess actively from the age of 14. He became an IM in 1990. He has since been a chess trainer/coach for more than 40 years. His chess students included Loek van Wely, Dennis de Vreugt, Jan Werle, Wouter Spoelman, Robin Swinkels, Twan Burg, and Benjamin Bok, all of whom became (strong) grandmasters. As an author of chess books, he now has quite a few to his credit. His book “Chess Strategy for Club Players” was crowned “Book of the Year” in 2009.

Photo Credit: Harry Gielen

Today, I’d like to give you a sneak peek into my first two books Beyond Material and How to Study Chess on Your Own. Both made the FIDE Book of the Year shortlist in 2019 and 2022, respectively, and were bestsellers for New in Chess.

Beyond Material

Have you ever grabbed a pawn in the opening only to regret it later? Or talked yourself out of making a piece sacrifice that would promise you long-term compensation or attack? If you have, you are not alone. There is a reason why such situations tend to occur. 

Chess is a game in which our materialistic nature is often exposed, for better or worse. However, sometimes the best moves and ideas in a position defy our preconceived notions about the value of the material. Time, space, and psychology can play just as, or even more, essential roles in a chess game as how many pieces and pawns we win or lose. In ‘Beyond Material,’ I explore and explain the interplay between these four factors in six chapters.

Let me give you a few fresh examples to illustrate this. (Note: these are not from the book).

Example 1

Example 2

In the two examples above, all protagonists were titled players, International Masters. Based on the mistakes such strong players made, it is evident that mastering the non-materialistic way of thinking is far from trivial. As with many other skills in chess, to get better at it, one is well-advised to study many instructive examples, such as those presented in ‘Beyond Material’ in a systematic manner. The ultimate reward is the ability to play better and, what’s more, more beautiful and inspired chess. For instance, one happy reader sent me a game, played a few days after he began reading the book, in which he nicely sacrificed an exchange to obtain positional domination in the endgame.

Example 3

How to Study Chess on Your Own

When I started playing chess in the 1990s, life was much simpler. High-quality chess books and magazines, strong chess engines, and opening databases were luxury items for most. The online chess scene, with its excellent study resources available today, was virtually nonexistent. Back then, to study chess on your own, you would usually get your chess board out and explore whatever scarce resources you had. 

Fast forward 25 years into the digital era, and paradoxically, everyone seems confused about the optimal way to study chess. Due to an absolute explosion of information and resources available to virtually anyone on the globe, we have reached the point where ambitious young players and adult improvers seem to drown in abundance and often wonder how to resolve this ‘paradox of choice’.

I tried to address this issue with ‘How to Study Chess on Your Own.’ It is a multi-faceted book that advises on employing the right study mindset and learning processes, identifying your study priorities, picking appropriate study resources, creating study plans and schedules, and more. I have drawn on my fairly extensive playing and coaching experience to produce numerous helpful tables that facilitate the better organization of your studies, such as the following:

Besides the high-level advice mentioned above, the book also contains plenty of actionable ideas that help you to conduct your chess training on the ‘micro’ level. You will learn how to study opening tabiyas properly, memorize important variations with the help of logical steps and key images, explore typical middlegame structures efficiently using the Chessbase software, and much more. 

Let me give you a concrete example from the chapter ‘Make your endgame study more enjoyable’, one of the readers’ favorites. In it, I suggest that studying endgames doesn’t have to be a tedious chore. One can develop a particular interest in the final part of the game by combining the study of theoretical textbook material, endgame studies, and practical examples that cover the same endgame topic or principle. Let me provide one example from that chapter here:

Knight vs Rook’s Pawn Example 1:

Knight vs Rook’s Pawn Example 2:

Practical Endgame Example:

With a little extra effort, you can collect instructive examples like these from various sources (endgame manuals, articles, database search) and save them to your endgame databases. Something similar can be done with middlegame themes or model games in the opening. One of the main tenets of the book is to do as much independent work as possible. Gathering and systemizing knowledge in this fashion make learning more enjoyable and effective.

‘How to Study Chess on Your Own’ was one of the most popular chess books during the COVID-break in 2020 and 2021 when most in-person chess tournaments were canceled. Chess players had to spend more time at home than ever, leaving them with more time to reflect on and study chess, and this book came as a perfect guide and inspiration to many. I believe that the fundamental approaches laid out there will stand the test of time and be helpful to future generations of chess players.

Davorin Kuljasevic is a Croatian Grandmaster, FIDE trainer, and author.

He has trained many talented youths worldwide and has an extensive record of instructive chess content publications. Some of his top achievements include 4th place in World Youth U16 in 2002, and gold in many international tournaments including; SPICE Spring 2011, Zupanja 2011, Mediteran 2011, Split 2013, and Castelfranco 2014. Besides chess, he also graduated with a Masters’s degree in Finance from Texas Tech University in 2011.

The update includes over 200 new diagrams, a number of photographs and a conversion from English descriptive notation to figurine algebraic.

The icy fingers of Stockfish 14 have been allowed to wander over the moves and analysis, but these are prefaced by ‘S14’ instead of merely serving to tear up Reinfeld’s original notes.

The book contains biographical material and 113 annotated games.

Bearing in mind that the book was written 80 years ago, Reinfeld’s notes hold up very well as do, of course, the games of the Third World Champion.

Capablanca’s chess career was remarkable and his tournament record shows he very rarely failed to finish either first or second, despite being hampered by high blood pressure and a predilection to be distracted from studying chess by certain other pleasures.

Reinfeld presents games from Capablanca’s earliest years all the way up to his splendid performance on board one of the famous Buenos Aires Olympiad of 1939, at which he outscored all of the other top players.

Of course, we are used to seeing Capablanca win games with his extraordinary endgame skill, but he was more than capable of smashing through a king’s defense in the good old style. Here is a case in point, with a couple of notes by Reinfeld.

Here is another example, from one of Capablanca’s best tournaments, in which he shared first place with Mikhal Botvinnik, ahead of a galaxy of other chess stars.

This time, Capablanca is able to utilize checkmate themes deep into the endgame, on his way to creating a decisive passed-pawn elsewhere.

As Reinfeld puts it, ‘Capablanca at all times remained a master of the first rank, and that he produced many fine games which will continue to delight chess players for generations to come.’

Yes, we can still learn an awful lot from Capablanca’s games and this book will definitely repay careful study.

Sean Marsh

“I promised to knock Karpov off his throne.” – Alexander Nikitin (Author)

Who is the greatest player ever to play chess? This question is guaranteed to generate endless discussions and heated debates. Regardless of your nomination for this honour, there is no doubt that Garry Kasparov has a very strong claim to this title. His legendary and illustrious career has been discussed at length in many books by Kasparov himself and by other authors.

The two volumes discussed in this review present a very different perspective of his career, since they are written by his former coach, Alexander Nikitin, who was instrumental in Kasparov’s successful drive to the world championship. It can be argued that this was the most successful coaching partnership in chess, and yet, as the above quote shows, it may not have happened except for the very human emotion of seeking revenge.

Nikitin fell out with Karpov in 1979 and was sacked from his coaching position. He was determined to seek revenge, and this spurred him to put all his efforts to ensuring that Kasparov, then only sixteen, would eventually defeat Karpov and become world champion. The books describe how Nikitin took a talented junior and made him into a champion, and thereby exacting revenge on Karpov.  The Kasparov-Nikitin partnership lasted seventeen years and finally ended in 1989, at the time of the world championship match in Seville. Hence, Nikitin saw Kasparov through most of the epic ‘K-K’ rivalry that dominated the chess world in the 1980s. About the end, Nikitin writes “He started to find my influence a burden, and our mutual understanding quickly decreased.” He also writes “I am proud that I kept my promise and achieved my aim.” Revenge was obviously very sweet for Nikitin.

The books give a detailed account of how Kasparov rose to the top from a coach’s perspective, and they complement Kasparov’s books on his career. Although the chess aspects dominate, the personal and political issues are also extensively discussed, including Kasparov’s change in surname for political reasons and the influential role of his mother throughout his career. The political intrigues are particularly well-covered, and they provide a vivid picture of the harsh reality of life in the former Soviet Union, where the State dictated most aspects of daily life, and favours were bestowed on only the chosen few.  The account of the Kasparov family escape from war-torn Baku in 1990 reads like the plot of a World War 2 movie, and the family was very lucky to have State support for the evacuation.

The books also contain over 80 annotated games that cover the period 1972 – 1989. These games provide a detailed account of Kasparov’s development from a raw junior to a mature world champion. The annotations provide a good insight into the critical aspects of the games, and they also give the background to the games. Some of these games, such as the informal Kasparov-Tal blitz match in 1978, were originally published for the first time in these books. Some games also include the time the players spent on their moves, and this provides an interesting insight into how quickly top players make decisions at the chessboard.

Two examples from the books are given below, with annotations from the books.

In summary, the books provide a fascinating account of Nikitin’s successful coaching career with Kasparov. They can be read either as individual books or as complements to Kasparov’s writings about the same period.

If the lethal eyes of a grandmaster are not immune to such tactical oversights, how can we, the aspiring professionals, club players and beginners of the game, stay away from such mistakes?

This blog post highlights three psychological phenomenons to watch out for!

Aronian isn’t alone here. The scythe of the grim reaper hasn’t forgotten other elite players.  Here’s a famous example.

And another one…

1. Decision Fatigue:

A grandmaster playing a typical tournament makes a variety of decisions each day. Right from what to eat for breakfast to the more complex move-by-move decisions at the chessboard. Decision fatigue refers to the deteriorating quality of decisions due to weariness after a long and continuous session of making decisions.

Famous personalities like Mark Zuckerberg, Steve Jobs, and Barack Obama are said to limit the number of decisions they make each day to escape Decision Fatigue. One famous example is Zuckerberg and his grey t-shirt.

2. Inattentional blindness & Tunnel Vision

I like this famous test by Daniel Simons and Christopher Chabris.
All you have to do is count how many times the players in white pass the ball.

Ready? (Check the video below)

Did you get the answer right? Here are two scenarios (below) where Inattentional blindness & Tunnel Vision play a sneaky role in toppling strong players.

Failure to notice an unexpected object right in front of your eyes. Petrosian played Ng5 here and lost his queen (Against Bronstein).

Constricted peripheral vision when you focus too much on something. Kramnik played Qe3 and fell into a mate in #1 elsewhere on the board.

3. The Einstellung effect:

Another unforgiving phenomenon that affects chess players, even grandmasters is The Einstellung Effect.

“Einstellung” is a German word meaning “setting”, meaning your mind is fixated on a known pattern. The Einstellung effect can also trick a doctor into misdiagnosing a disease by inducing cognitive bias towards a particular ‘known’ pattern.

Here is an example. White to play and checkmate the black king in both the positions below. The pattern is also highlighted. But one of them is designed to trick your mind.

Einstellung Effect in a real game: Carlsen Vs Topalov, Linares, 2007.

Topalov resigned here. An Einstellung Effect?

Black could have played Qd5+ but after f3 Qd2 Kh3, there are no more checks and hence he resigned here. White’s idea of sneaking into black’s position with Ng5 – Qh7 – Qh8 is a common trick except there’s usually a pawn on g7 instead of a knight.

What did Topalov miss here? Can you spot the hidden resource?

Many of the games have been hard fought, with at least one big surprise: the resignation of Veselin Topalov of Bulgaria, No. 1 in the world, to Carlsen in Round 5 in a position that could have been a draw. Topalov overlooked a simple resource that Carlsen was kind enough, or perhaps cruel enough, to point out immediately afterward. In the final position, Topalov should have played 64 … Qd5, when 65 f3 e5 66 Qh7 Kf8 67 Qh8 Qg8 68 Nh7 Kf7 69 Ng5 Kf8 is a draw because of perpetual check.

~ The New York Times 

Awareness & Practice:
An awareness of our own state of mind (during the game) and alertness to possibilities of psychological errors is the first step to ensure that such tragedy does not befall us.

We hope you enjoyed reading this blog post. If you like it, don’t forget to share. You can also subscribe to our monthly newsletter for exclusive discounts on our ebooks and the latest feature updates.

1. Interactive board using Brush Tool –  web app.

Whether you solve problems with your audience on Twitch or work with your students in your online class, the brush tool on our web app is something that would add value to your experience.

Brush Tool allows the following options:

– Square highlight

– Drawing arrows

– Pen Mode for writing on the board

– Eraser / Clear option

– Options to change color & drawing size.

– And more on the way!

2. Opening Book & Games database: 

Our desktop version for Windows & Mac has an added functionality to assist with your opening preparations – The opening book & Games search feature.

3. Tactics Trainer – Web & Desktop.

Fond of tactics training websites? Forward Chess has an in-built Tactics Trainer for selected book so that you can solve and follow your progress through the book.

The following books currently have tactics trainer enabled:

Sac and Mate: Volume I, II & III.
Improve Your Chess Tactics
Greatest 525 puzzles from practical games of 2018
1001 Chess Exercises for Club Players
The Woodpecker Method
Chess Tactics from Scratch
Chess Tactics: Volume 1
Chess Tests
The Power of Tactics – Volume 1
Chess Calculation Training For Kids And Club Players, Level 1
A Modern Guide to Checkmating Patterns
Practical Chess Puzzles

4. Wish List: Have you ever noticed the heart icon on our website? Yup, this is what they do!

5. Subscriber-only discounts & updates:

We have a little ritual at the end of each month. We send our email subscribers a special email with the latest on discounts, feature updates & new releases. If this is something you’ll be interested in, opt-in by filling in your email address here. You can also subscribe using the newsletter box at the bottom of this page.

In this little piece of writing, you will find a reason to postpone such reactions and punishments just long enough to find what we call a swindle, or a counter-tactics or counterplay, in what seems like a terribly lost position.

Swindle is the art of finding resources that while objectively insufficient, may work due to opponent’s human errors ( like Overconfidence, Impatience, fear etc.)

We begin with a simple question – DO you have what it takes to swindle?

The advantage of playing with humans is knowing there’s always a chance, a human error, the susceptibility to making mistakes, of an oversight, or a blind spot saving your computer screen from that fatal blow. But it takes a few extra ingredients to make use of those mistakes when they do show up – The courage to persist even in a dire position, the sharp intuition of a tactical ninja, and the cunning nature of a fox to trick your opponents!

Below are a few positions to test your capacity to become a swindler.

Position #1 Black just played Rd2 and it looks like white will either lose his queen or get checkmated. If you take a minute to examine the position one more time, you’ll realize a hidden resource at white’s disposal.

Position #2 It looks like white can lose in a million ways, but there’s a hidden draw like a bolt from the blue! (This position was inspired by a game from one of our weekend blitz tournaments).

Here’s the actual unedited version of the combination from the actual game: (Thanks Flamingo!)

Position #3: Time to out-smart your smart opponent!

Position #4

White is losing, there’s no doubt about it. It’s only a matter of time before he pauses the clock and extends his hand to announce resignation. Most of us would have seen the inevitable and given up to save us from the shame of having everyone watch us suffer through this.

But in this position, white comes up with a bit of creativity and finishes the game in style!

A fun explanation below

Position #5: Tal played white in the below position. It was his birthday and he was playing in a blitz event at the Leipzig Olympiad 1960 when this interesting gem was played against him.

The concept of “Swindle” and the last two positions are from the book The Complete Chess Swindler by GM David Smerdon (published by New in Chess). Check out this link for purchase or to read the book sample.

We hope you enjoyed reading this blog

Well, I hope your fellow passengers are insured.

Similarly, there are different methods to develop a solid understanding of Chess Endgames. This blog will help you get started on your journey to Endgame mastery through different methods and book recommendations.

Let’s see step by step procedure on How to Study Chess Endgames

Endgame Theory:

I imagine theoretical endgame positions as lighthouses. A stranded boat might find a way to the land if they spot a lighthouse in a distance. Similarly, the more knowledgeable you are, say about Rook endgames, you’ll know which way to steer your boat to gain an advantage or a safe draw when there are more pieces on the board.

Let’s take the following position for example:

100 Endgames you must Know by Jesus De La Villa and published by New in Chess.

[A free sample of the above book can be found here Or click the image above.]

The author has also recently released a workbook (100 Endgames You Must Know Workbook) which can be studied along with this book.

[A free sample of the above book can be found here. Or click the image above]

One more reference book on Chess Endgame is Dvoretsky’s Endgame Manual. You can call it the Bible for Chess Endgame and every serious chess professional will be studying the principles from the book.

[A free sample of the book can be found here. Or click the image above]

General Endgame Strategies/Principles:

The second most important aspect of getting better at Endgame is understanding the different strategic ideas that are important in the Endgame phase.

Example: King Centralization, Piece Activity, The importance of Tempo, Liquidation, Principle of Two Weakness, Prophylaxis, etc.

Now, consider the below position. Capablanca wins this endgame with white against Ragozin back in 1936. What interests us most is Capa’s annotation, which helps us understand his way of thinking in this position.

“White’s plan is to prevent the advance of the c-pawn (after which the b-pawn could become weak) and to control the entire board up to the fifth rank. This is achieved by moving the king to e3, and by placing the rook at c3, the knight at d4, and the pawns at b4 and f4. After he has attained such a position, White will be able to advance his Q-side pawns” ~ Capablanca

These Endgame strategies can be learned by studying games (and their analysis) of great endgame players like Capablanca. But another smart way is to study books on this topic because the author must’ve already done the hard work of combing through tons of games to find specific games and explained in simple words.

Recommended Books for Endgame Strategy:

Capablanca’s Best Chess Endings – By Irving Chernev

Endgame Strategy by Mikhail Shereshevsky

Also, note that Dvoretsky Endgame Manual has a chapter on General Ideas in the Endgame with fantastic examples.

There are also newer books in the market like:

– Monster Your Endgame Planning series (Links for book sample: Volume 1, Volume 2) by Grandmaster and FIDE Senior Trainer Efstratios Grivas.

– Mastering Endgame Strategy by Swedish Grandmaster Johan Hellsten. (Book Link).

– Improve Your Practical Play in the Endgame by Grandmaster Alexey Dreev. (Book Link)

[Note on Forward Chess book links: The Forward Chess links we have mentioned in this blog can be used to download free samples of the mentioned books]

Calculation:

Well, a car needs four wheels after all! You can’t drive much with one or two wheels missing.

Knowing the theory and strategies alone will not help you bring home the win. You have to be able to calculate Endgame properly. For this our recommendations are:

• Solve Tactics every day using either book or apps. [List of best-sold books on Chess Tactics can be found in this link]
• Solve a lot of Pawn Endgames! (Pawn Endgame is a magic pill for your calculation practice!)

Book Recommendation for Pawn Endgame: 

Secrets of Pawn Endings – by Karsten Muller, Comprehensive Chess Endings Volume 4 Pawn Endings by Yuri Averbakh, 100 positions you must know workbook.

[Best-selling Endgame books catalog on ForwardChess can be found here]

Practice: The last, but the most important aspect of Endgame study.

Yup, that’s the fourth wheel!

In the end, you should be able to put your knowledge and skill into actual practice. Practice important Endgame positions with your friends or using any software or online tools (example).

You can set up the Endgame positions and practice until you beat (or draw) against the computer! This step helps us master our Endgame techniques and develops a deeper understanding of the different ideas involved!

Thank you for reading

Our best wishes for your endgame journey! Let us know what you think using the comment section below.

Until next time,

Arun from Forward Chess team.

https://forwardchess.com/

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