Secrets of pawn endings

   The extraordinary complexity of chess is familiar to every player. When most of the pieces are on the board, the number of legal moves is relatively large, and so the tree of analysis expands very quickly the deeper one looks into the position. Humans only look at a tiny part of this tree, but even so a complex piece of tactics can take a long time to calculate; moreover, the result may not be especially accurate. Computers may be more accurate and faster when it comes to tactical analysis, but they have problems when it comes to planning and long-term strategic decisions. Of course, this complexity is what makes chess a game rather than a calculation - if it were possible to evaluate each position definitely, chess would lose its appeal. However, it is fascinating to look at a subset of chess positions which are more amenable to definite analysis.

   I hope this book will give other readers as much pleasure and instruction as it has given me, and provide them with further insight into the subtle beauty of pawn endings.


   When you deal with them in more detail you will even discover a special little chess world with a beauty all of its own. The magician of this world is without doubt Nikolai Dmitrievich Grigoriev, who enchants us with his masterpieces. It is no accident that we have included many of his ideas. Such points and surprising turns have been an encouragement for us throughout our work. Also the use of the Nunn Convention in dealing with the move evaluations has not only extended the analysis but also produced some surprises. Writing this book was a real matter of teamwork, since each position was analysed by both authors. In this connection we want to express our special thanks to Carl-Christian Buhr, Holger Hebbinghaus, Peter and Stefan Kuhn, Werner Muller, Martin Voigt, Georg von Billow, Christian Wilhelmi, and Claus Dieter Meyer, a trainer in Hamburg for many years, for their many suggestions, analyses and corrections.



Authors: Mueller Karsten & Lamprecht Frank
Title: "Secrets of pawn endings"
Released: 2000
Format: djvu
Quality: good
Number of pages: 288
Size: 2 Mb