Test Time "Chess Choice Challenge" by Chris Ward and John Emms, 1998 Batsford Books, Figurine Algebraic Notation, Softcover, 144pp., 19.95 So, you've been really hitting the chess books lately, studying until your eyeballs are ready to pop out of your head But, you're finally starting to see some tangible progress through a relatively steady rise in your rating. You think you're really beginning to understand what this game is all about. Well, if you're at that point today, or you aspire to be there some day, and you want to see how much you REALLY know, "Chess Choice Challenge" might just be your ultimate challenge. The back cover claims that it is "A chess puzzle book with a difference... no ordinary chess quiz book but one designed to identify your strengths and weaknesses as a player and help you improve your chess." Although there's nothing particularly noteworthy about quiz books that are written to help players improve, Ward and Emms' recent entry into the quiz book market will surely put your knowledge of endgame principals to the test. The authors' approach is, perhaps, a bit unusual, compared to other similar works. Their intent is for the reader to "do one test at a time and properly read the reasoning behind the answers", thereby hopefully achieving "progressively higher scores as you work your way through the book" (page 6). Each test, then, would appear to be built upon knowledge divulged form prior tests so, presumably, the more tests the reader takes, the better he should score, assuming he's learned something along the way. This is an interesting approach that should exhibit merit, if it's properly structured and readers are sufficiently disciplined to complete each test, no matter how difficult or tricky the questions may seem. The book consists of four separate multiple choice tests of 20 questions each. We took the first three tests. Questions were answered strictly by looking at the diagrams without setting up the pieces on a board and the answers were not checked until after each test was completed. An average of about 75 minutes total was spent on each test - or approximately four minutes per question. Some questions required only a few seconds of contemplation, while others required considerably more time. About an additional one hour or so was used to review the solutions, most of which consist of relatively thorough discussions. Of the 60 questions covered on Tests 1, 2, and 3, a total of 39 involved endgames (or almost two-thirds of the material). The remainder of the questions were devoted to various middle game positions that generally focused on tactics. A handful of opening positions were also included. This writer, a 15-year USCF 2100 player (a little less, at present), found most of the questions to be challenging and many to be downright difficult. According to the scoring system provided by the authors, 60%-80% correct corresponds to an ELO 2000 rated player; we scored about 60% on each of the three tests. As much as one is tempted to complain about the accuracy of the scoring system, we must admit that endings have never been the strongest part of our game. Thus, it came as no surprise that we scored less than we probably should have on the endgame positions (the majority of the tests), but higher on the middle game questions. Obviously, readers who are well-drilled in endgame fundamentals, especially rook and minor piece endings, will score higher on those positions and may find the tests to be somewhat less challenging than we did. Here is one of those basic positions that caused us some consternation. (See Diagram) White: Kg1, Bd5 Black: Kg3, Rf2 It is white move - the reader is asked to choose the "correct statement" from the following choices: A. "White can draw, but only with 1 Bg8. B. White is lost. With a bishop against a rook, if the king is trapped in a corner, then to obtain the draw it must be a corner with an opposite colour to the bishop. C. Only the following moves lose for White: 1 Bh1, 1 Bg2, 1 Bf3, 1 Bf7, 1 Ba2 and 1 Ba8. D. Provided that the rook cannot be immediately pinned, skewered or forked, and is supported by the king, it will always defeat a king and bishop or king and knight. E. Barring immediately loss of material, once the defender is stuck in the corner, a king and major piece always defeats a king and minor piece." We found 1 Bg8 as the only move for White, but missed Black's winning line against it: 1...Rf8 2 Bh7 Rf7 3 Bg6 Rg7 4 Bd3 Rd7 5 Be2 Ra7 6 Bc4 Ra1+ 7 Bf1 Rb1. Thus, the correct answer for five points is "B". No credit was awarded for any of the other responses. Ward and Emms call Question #18 "arguably the hardest" in Test 1. We agree. (See Diagram) White: Kf8, Be8; pawn - g7 Black: Kf6, Ba2 Quoting the authors, "White is to move. What is the story behind this famous ending?" Here are the choices: A. "White's pawn is so near and yet so far from queening. Were Black's bishop on h7 instead of a2, then White would win by maneuvering his bishop onto the b1-h7 diagonal to act as a decoy. Alas it's not and Black can draw. B. White wins through an extravagant process involving pushing Black's bishop off its current diagonal, over to h7 and then decoying it from there. C. It transpires that this is the only defensive piece configuration whereby Black can achieve a draw. Obviously Black's king must be on f6 to prevent 1 Bf7, but with White to play, it's also absolutely critical that his bishop is on a2. D. Mr. Centurini discovered that this is the only situation of this type (i.e. with the attacker's king so aggressive) where a bishop versus a bishop (same colour) and pawn on the seventh rank is a draw. E. White decided not to beat about the bush. He played 1 g8R and, in a quickplay finish, later won on time!" A good 20 minutes of thinking was expended on this one. Since we had never heard of Centurini's position, we had to decide whether the given position was a draw. We thought it was and chose "A". Although we saw 1 Ba4, the "extravagant" winning process eluded us: 1 Ba4 Kg6 2 Bc2+ Kh6 3 Bf5 Bb3 4 Bd7 Kg6 5 Be8+ Kf6 6 Ba4 Ba2 7 Bc2 Kg5 8 Bh7 Kf6 9 Bg8 Bb1 10 Bb3 Bh7 11 Bc2. "B" is the correct response. Although one would have to consider most of the positions to be acceptable for a quiz book, that is, they reiterate what can be found in well-known instructional literature (i.e., Fine's "Basic Chess Endings"; Speelman, Tisdall and Wade's "Batsford Chess Endings"; "Secrets of Pawnless Endings" by Nunn, etc.), a few of the solutions left us with more questions than answers. For instance, the following position is given in Question #2 under Test 2: (See Diagram) White: Kb1, Qd2, Rd1, Rh1, Be3, Bf1, Ne2; pawns - a2, b2, c2, e4, f3, g5, h4; Black: Kg8, Qd8, Rc8, Rf8, Bb7, Be7, Nd7; pawns - a5, b4 d6, e6, f7, g7, h7 White's on the move. The authors ask "What would be a good idea?" The choices are: A. "1 g6, a pawn sacrifice to open lines on the kingside. After either 1 fxg6 or 1 hxg6 White will reply with 2 h5. B. 1 h5, intending g5-g6. C. 1 f4, with the idea of f4-f5, to open up the f-file for an attack on the black king. D. 1 Bg2, preparing f3-f4. E. 1 b3 to halt Black's attack and give the white king some breathing space." We were not taken with any of the options, but eventually settled on 1 Bg2 as the most palatable of the bunch. Clearly, 1 f4 (pitches a pawn) and 1 b3 (unnecessarily creates weaknesses) could be immediately dismissed. 1 h5 also hardly appeared appetizing after 1 Ne5 2 Nd4 b3 3 axb3 Nxf3 4 Nxf3 Bxe4 5 Be2 Bxc2+ 6 Qxc2 Qxc2 7 Kxc2, when Black certainly has no less than equality. 1 g6 was rejected since it was unclear what White had to show for his investment after 1 g6 fxg6 2 h5 Rxf3 3 Bg2 Rf6. The correct response or, at least, the answer as given by the authors, is either 1 g6 or 1 h5; five points for either "A" or "B". No analysis is presented for either move. 1 Bg2 is considered to be "too slow, gets in the way of attacking possibilities on the g-file and relinquishes potential control of what is often the key c4-square (e.g. ...Ne5-c4 could be awkward)". Well, about all that can be said at this point is that some discussion of 1 g6 and 1 h5 by the grandmaster authors would have been appreciated. Question #16 in Test 3 consists of the following position from the Yugoslav Attack variation of the Sicilian Dragon: (See Diagram) White: Ke1, Qd2, Ra1, Rh1, Be3, Nc3, Nd4; pawns - a2, b2, c2, e4, f3, g2, h2; Black: Kg8, Qd8, Ra8, Rf8, Bc8, Bg7, Nb3, Nf6; pawns - a7, b7, d6, e7, f7, g6, h7 White is to move and capture the knight on the b3 square (which has just captured a bishop). "Which way should White capture?" The options are: A. "With the a-pawn. B. With the c-pawn. C. With the knight. D. He could recapture with either pawn, both being of equal merit. E. It's entirely a matter of taste." The correct response is obviously "A", for various reasons, such as it achieves a half-open file, aids in gaining space on the queenside, etc. The authors, however, also award two points for option "D", stating that "as even if White chooses to castle queenside, the presence of an open c-file could be used to his advantage." Yet, they continue "Unfortunately in this question, 1 cxb3 isn't so good because of 1 d5! 2 e5 Ne8 3 f4 f6", which is virtually identical to Gufeld and Stetsko's analysis of this position in their treatise "The Complete Dragon" (see the review in the Archives section of The Chess Caf‚). The move cxb3 is a mistake here (G & S give it a "?") and the authors should clearly state such. To discuss any of its possible merits and assign it points, only serves to confuse the reader. How challenging one finds "Chess Choice Challenge" will depend on one's knowledge of endgame fundamentals. The better the reader's grasp of those principles, the higher the scoring should be on the tests. (Of course, the corollary is that the more knowledge the reader brings to the book, the less benefit will be derived from it.) While the book can be used by players of all skill levels, beginning or inexperienced players will probably not score well on the tests but, on the other hand, may learn the most from studying the solutions. Overall, this is one of the better quiz books. "Trick" questions have been kept to a minimum and most positions represent fundamentals that we all need to know to improve our play. In short, "Chess Choice Challenge" is worthy of a place on most anyone's bookshelf.