Checkpoint by Alexander Baburin While this column started off as a place where books on openings were reviewed, this month I have something quite different in the basket, as among three books being reviewed, two are not about openings, but endgames. Personally, I am very glad that there are books about endings, emerging now - I always felt that too much emphasis was placed on opening monographs. Surely it's crucial to have a well-prepared opening repertoire for a chess professional, but in my opinion most club players would actually benefit more by investing their time studying endgame. So, let's see what chess books can help you, should you decided to improve your endgame technique. The Survival Guide to Rook Endings by GM John Emms 1999 Everyman Chess, 160pp., $19.95 If the claim that is made on the back of this book is true - that rook and pawn endings occur in about 20% of all chess games - then it's certainly very important to know such endgames at least reasonably well. Different books use different approaches presenting the vast material available on this subject. Some (like the Yugoslav 'Encyclopaedia of Chess Endings') offer massive amounts of positions and almost no explanation, some explain principles, but don't go into much detail in analysis. Then there are books like this one, which is somewhere in the middle. In 160 pages Emms gives many very important positions and offers a good deal of explanation. In this regard the book is well-balanced and I think that its title is also very appropriate. Indeed, if you can take your time and diligently study the material given in the book, you should be able to make it through in most rook and pawn endgames without making too many mistakes. The book starts with the chapter called 'Basic Rook Endings', which takes up 30 pages. It first shows very basic examples of the rook fighting against a single pawn. They can be still very difficult. In fact, some of them are beautiful studies like, for example, this one (See Diagram): White: Ke7, Rd4 Black: Ke5; pawn - d5. White to move wins. As a coach, I offered this study by Richard Reti, which is featured on page 13 of Emms' book, to many club players and up-and-coming juniors, and I must say that nobody got it right... This is a good example when you are much better off knowing the right principles of endgame play rather than hoping you can work out everything over the board. White wins by playing 1 Rd2! (or 1 Rd3!) d4 2 Rd1! Kd5 3 Kd7! Ke4 3 Kd6, when his king outflanks his black colleague. The more obvious line 1 Rd1? d4 2 Kd7 only leads to a draw after the stunning 2...Kd5!!, as then White has to worsen his position. In total Emms gives 13 positions with rook vs. pawn(s). They are quite well explained and give a fair idea how one should play such endings. Then the author proceeds to the endgame rook and pawn vs. rook, which is the backbone of all rook endgames. This type of ending is so complicated that Dr. Nunn at some point wrote a massive book about it. Emm's aim is quite different, as he cites only the most important positions (e.g. by Lucena and by Philidor) and explains the key ideas in them. This coverage is very adequate for this type of book. Chapter One then includes a few positions with rook and 2 pawns vs. rook and ends with an exercise section. There Emms gives 6 positions to solve. While I like this idea in principle (readers immediately get a chance to test their understanding), I think that the selection of some of these positions is sometimes less than convincing. For example (See Diagram): White: Kd4, Rh7 Black: Kf3; pawns - e4, g4, h3 White to move. Here White can choose between 1 Rh8 or Rf7+ - what should he prefer? I am not going to spoil your fun by disclosing the answer, but I don't really think that this particular example teaches much. What are the odds that you or I would ever get such a position? I guess that the chances are minimal and even if you do get one, then it's mostly down to calculation, rather than knowledge. Instead of showing this ending, Emms could have given a simpler, yet more instructive example. The other point is that in many places in this chapter Emms talks about 'enough checking distance', but does not quite explain what makes that distance sufficient for a draw. Also, the coverage of the "Frontal Defense" should have been more extensive - to include at least a couple of positions where the defender's king is cut off from the enemy pawn by more than one file. Still, this is very good chapter and the one not to miss. Such endings are notoriously difficult and even grandmasters often err in them. Chapter 2 deals with situations when both players have pawns on the same side of the board. I like the systematic way in which Emms deals with this topic. He compares different positions and explains what make them special. For example, here you may learn that e- and f- pawns vs. defender's f-pawn offer much better winning chances than, let's say, f- and g- pawn versus single g-pawn. Recently John Emms had to defend one of such endings - against Rahman in the British Championship. (See Diagram) White: Kd6, Rc6; pawns - e5, f6 Black: Kg8, Rb8; pawn - f7. White to move. The defender's task here was very difficult, particular after a few hours of play, and eventually Emms lost. While that game was still in progress, GMs Peter Wells and Jonathan Rowson, alone with IM Mark Heidenfeld and myself had a chat over dinner about whether it should be a draw. Later John himself said that he could have saved the game, but slipped. After the British championship I could not find much information about this ending in existing books and therefore I was particularly anxious to see what Emms' book had to offer. Alas, he does not draw a clear line between those positions which are lost and those which are drawn. For example, on page 67 he gives the game Fokin- Kalegin, USSR 1987, which at some point reached the following position (See Diagram): White: Kg1, Rb5; pawn - f2 Black: Kd4, Ra2; pawns - e4, f4 White to move. In the game Black eventually played ...f3 (making it look very similar to the Rahman-Emms, 1999) and won, but still not clear to me whether White can draw here and if so, what is the best defense? I think this is something Emms should clarify in the later editions of his work. Apart from that, this is a really good chapter with many very instructive examples. One of them is the case when the superior side has 4 pawns vs. 3 on the same flank - a very common ending indeed and the one to know. Emms claims that his database shows 37% decisive results in this type of ending. I am not quite sure what to make of such statistics. It's very trendy nowadays and Emms uses it often in book, but probably many games were played by relatively weak players. Still, this figure indicates that defensive task isn't always simple. Even strong GMs don't always save such positions. For example, on page 74 Emms gives very instructive analysis for almost two pages of the endgame I.Sokolov-Chernin, 1991, which is very instructive (See Diagram): White: Kg1, Ra1; pawns - f2, g3, h4 Black: Kg7, Rb3; pawns - e6, f7, g6, h7. Black to move. Careful study of this example might help you to earn you a few extra half-points. Chapter 3 covers positions with pawns on both sides of the board. Here the most important positions from a practical point of view are those with 3 pawns vs. 3 pawns on one side and an extra passed pawn on the other flank. Emms does a very good job explaining which pawn (a-, b-, c- or d-) gives the superior side most chances and why. He also covers different positions of the rooks (behind the pawn, in front of it or on the side) and shows how this affects the result. According to Emms (page110), the superior side has the best chances in positions like this one (See Diagram): White: Kg2, Rb7; pawns - b6, f2, g3, h4 Black: Kg7, Rb3; pawns - f7, g6, h5 White to move. Here White's king has a shorter distance to his passer than in the positions with the a-pawn. Moving that passer one file to the right would make the defense easier, as then Black's king would be rather close to the c-pawn. All these nuances are pretty well explained in the book. In Chapter 4, Emms shows some typical endings with four rooks on the board. This is a very welcome addition to a book on rook endgames, as the presence of an extra pair of rooks often makes a lot of difference. Yet, most endgame books do not cover such situations very well, which makes this chapter very useful. I'd like to illustrate my point with just one example (See Diagram): White: Kg1, Rb7, Rc7; pawns - e3, f2, g3, h2 Black: Kg8, Ra2, Rf8, pawns f7, g7, h6 White to move. Here White has much better winning prospects than in a situation with just one pair of rooks. In Tukmakov- Wojtkiewicz, Bern 1993, White played 1 g4! and went to win the game. At the end of the book there are answers to the training questions and an index of players, composers and analysts. In the book there are 20 of Emms' own rook endings, which is valuable - most authors write better from their personal experience. All in all, this is a very nice work, which can be of use to amateurs and professionals alike. Personally I went through it with great interest. My assessment of this book: ****. Chess Endings. Essential knowledge by GM Yuri Averbakh. 1999 Everyman Chess, Softcover, Figurine Algebraic Notation, 160pp., $14.95 This is quite a different book compared to the one that was just reviewed. First of all, it deals with all different kinds of endings, rather than with just one. Secondly, it is aimed at beginners rather than experienced players. In the Introduction Grandmaster Averbakh, who is a renown endgame expert, clearly outlines his goal: "I thought that it was important to select the minimum which any chess enthusiast should know in order to handle competently the concluding phase of the game. It turned out that it was not necessary to know such a great deal." In this book Averbakh gives 147 positions, which, in his opinion, are most important to know in the endgame. As this book has had several editions and this algebraic version, which first appeared in 1993, is now reprinted for the second time, it's obvious that Averbakh's approach has been successful. Indeed, this is a very good book, which smoothly guides the reader through various types of endings, beginning with the most simple one, like checking the lone king with queen, rook or two bishops. When it's necessary, Averbakh spends a greater deal of time explaining ideas in a particular endgame. For example, he devoted almost three pages to explaining how to mate a lone king with bishop and knight, which is very reasonable. However, I believe here he made a slight inaccuracy, claiming that "the king can only be mated in a corner of the color the bishop controls." Of course, he meant 'if the defender plays correctly'. But if he does not, then the defender can find himself in a position like this (See Diagram): White: Ka6, Be5, Nd5 Black: Ka8. White to move. Suppose that Black has just played ...Kb8-a8, not wanting to leave the corner where his king 'cannot be mated'. Then a move like 1 Nb6# may come as a major surprise to him! I was also a bit surprised not to find in the section called 'The Properties of the Pieces' any word about the king. Surely, the king is an active piece in most endgames and therefore its role and functions should have been outlined as well. Introducing simple positions is not always easy, as there is a danger of boring your readers. However, Averbakh handles this task very nicely, showing many beautiful studies, which also have a great practical value. I particularly liked the following one by Grigoriev (page 31) (See Diagram): White: Kh2, Nb5 Black: Kd5; pawn - b4. White to move and draw. This position may look simple, but the play here is not trivial at all: 1 Nc7+ Kc4 2 Ne8! Kc5 3 Nf6! Kd4 4 Ne8! Ke5 5 Nc7! and White holds the position. The chapter 'Practical Endings' contains many important rook and pawn endgames, king and pawn endgames and positions with bishops, knights or queens on the board. One example (See Diagram): White: Kc3, Bc5; pawns - e3, f4, h4 Black: Kf3, Be6; pawns - b3, d5, g6, h5 Black to move. Here Black needs to create passed pawns on the opposite flanks, which is most important in such endings. In the game in the game Kotov-Botvinnik, Moscow 1955 (page 91 in the book) Black sacrificed two pawns in order to achieve his goal: 1...g5!! 2 fxg5 d4+! 3 exd4 Kg3 4 Ba3 Kxh4 and soon won. This is an excellent example that explains a lot about play in the endgame with bishops of opposite color. Of course, Averbakh had to be very selective and economical with the material he gives in this chapter, but perhaps he should have showed more king and pawn endings. I also think that he could have included some typical situations of a rook versus a minor piece - for example, rook and 3 pawns versus bishop and three pawns (with all pawns on the same side). Yet, this is a rather subjective view and it does not change my opinion of this book as a very useful guide to endgames. I trust that most players would enjoy reading this book and will greatly benefit from studying it. My assessment of this book: ****. The English Defence by GM Daniel King, 1999 Everyman Chess, Softcover, Figurine Algebraic Notation, 144pp., $19.95 Now it's time to depart from my beloved endgame material and have a look at one opening monograph. I feel that, overall, the quality of opening books is improving, mainly thanks to British chess publishers and their excellent range of chess authors. One of them is GM Daniel King, whose book English Defence has just been released. The book has 144 pages of a slightly larger than usual format, and it retails for $19.95. Danny King is well-known as a TV commentator and a chess journalist. Many readers might also recall that he was the moderator of the recent Kasparov vs. the Rest of the Word challenge. Apart from that, he is a strong and very experienced Grandmaster, who has a wide opening repertoire. In this book he covers a significant part of it - the English Defence. This opening usually arises after 1 c4 b6 2 d4 e6 or 1 d4 e6 2 c4 b6. In the latter case Black has to be prepared for the French Defence (after 2 e4 d5), but, as King correctly points out, not many 1 d4 players would opt for 2 e4 here. Besides, after 2 e4 Black might try something like 2...c5. The English Defence is a very interesting opening, which would perfectly suit those who want to unbalance the game and break away from classical openings. Thus, it's hardly surprising that this opening was pioneered by Tony Miles, who is renown for his original style. Tony remains a keen practitioner of this opening, along with such GMs as Speelman, Kengis, Ehlvest, Short, Bischoff, Gulko and Shabalov. This list could be easily extended. I faced this opening a few times as White and confess that it's not easy for White to keep things under control and to play in the academic style - a sharp battle usually breaks out anyway. So, this is a good opening if you are looking for counter-play in the opening. For example, see what you might get here (See Diagram): This position occurred in the game Babu-Miles, Sakthi 1996 after 1 d4 e6 2 c4 b6 3 e4 Bb7 4 f3 f5 5 exf5 Nh6 6 fxe6 Nf5. After only six moves White already has to deal with serious problems and certainly cannot hope for a quite life. Examples like this are plentiful in the book. The book is built around 79 annotated games and consists of eight chapters. After each chapter there is a short summary with a kind of a map, where the author shows how those games, that are cited in the chapter, relate to each other. I find such summaries and 'maps' very useful. Games are not heavily annotated - that in fact would not be appropriate for this book. Instead, King highlights most important moments of each game, shows critical variations and often comes up with possible improvements or at least with worthy alternatives. For example, on page 57 after 1 d4 b6 2 c4 Bb7 3 Nc3 e6 4 e4 Bb4 5 Bd3 f5 6 Qh5+ g6 7 Qe2 Nf6 8 Bg5 h6 (See Diagram) King writes: "If you are looking for a 'sound' way to play for a win, then this is the move. 8...fxe4 is fine, but it releases the tension; and the queen sacrifice from the previous game is great fun, but can go wrong at a stroke. 8...h6 holds the tension but bags the bishop. It makes a virtue out of having the pawn on g6: the f5- pawn is bolstered, and the queen can slip back to g7 if necessary." The book is full of such comments and I feel that this is its great asset - Danny King does not lecture his readers on how to play this opening - instead he shares his thoughts and let's them to decide what to play. Here is another example: in the Chapter 'Main Line with 3 e4 Bb7 4 Bd3: other moves for Black' King writes about 1 c4 b6 2 d4 e6 3 e4 Bb7 4 Bd3 Qh4 (See Diagram): "Mad. Although this move is seen regularly in the English Defence, in this particular position it isn't justified." The position after 3 e4 Bb7 occupies the most space in the book and is covered in the first five chapters. King believes that 4...Nc6 is a sound way of dealing with 4 Bd3 (chapter 1), while 4...f5 is also worth investigating. Then after 5 exf5 Bb4+ 6 Kf1 White currently does well according to King, so he recommends that Black look deeper into the wild positions that arise after 5...Bxg2 6 Qh5+ g6 7 fxg6 Bg7 8 gxh7+ Kf8. After 4 Qc2 King recommends both 4...Qh4 and 4...g6!?. Against 4 f3 he gives 4...e5!? (game 38) as in interesting alternative to 4...f5 (game 37). One attraction of this opening for Black is that he has many different ideas and set- ups available and can switch between them. There is also plenty of room for imagination and new findings. I am particularly impressed how Jonathan Speelman plays this system - you will see his original ideas in many places in this book. The system with an early a2-a3, which is the preferred choice for many players, is dealt with in chapter 6. Here King provides an adequate coverage as well. After 1 d4 e6 2 c4 b6 3 a3 Bb7 4 Nc3 (See Diagram) Black can choose 4...Nf6, which might transpose into the Petrosian Variation of the Queen's Indian Defense if White plays 5 Nf3. Alternatively Black can play 4...f5 or 4...g6, although the latter is rather risky from the strategic point of view. The last two chapters deal with lines like 1 c4 b6 2 Nc3 Bb7 3 e4 and 1 c4 b6 2 Nc3 Bb7 3 Nf3 e6 4 g3. In the latter case King recommends Black consider ...Bxf3. The book is very well written - with lively language and entertaining passages. I will certainly keep a copy of this book in my library. In fact, I have been thinking for quite some time about including the English Defence into my repertoire and this book will be of great help to me. My assessment of this book: *****.