A fantastic book - (I would like to believe) a fantastic person
As a 15 year old, I was impressed (and liked the fact) about him dedicating the book to the memory of his wife. The book is also OUTSTANDING and just about THE ONLY WORTHWHILE book available in Spanish literature in those days.
I did not understand much of the really well explained examples; some must have been lost in translation and the Descriptive notation (kept in England and Spain until it was swept away) did not help.
I want to reproduce some examples; checking Dvoretsky Manual and Müller and Lamprecht and realising that in 195x he was explaining endings as well (if not better) than these acclaimed authors only enhances MY IMMENSE GRATITUDE towards him.
(A bit like Nikolai Grigoriev: One has to be thankful about his marvellous endgame studies…)
I did not understand much of the really well explained examples; some must have been lost in translation and the Descriptive notation (kept in England and Spain until it was swept away) did not help.
I want to reproduce some examples; checking Dvoretsky Manual and Müller and Lamprecht and realising that in 195x he was explaining endings as well (if not better) than these acclaimed authors only enhances MY IMMENSE GRATITUDE towards him.
(A bit like Nikolai Grigoriev: One has to be thankful about his marvellous endgame studies…)
- Paul Keres
Another Milestone
I watched the Bath 1983 tournament won by Miles, with Karpov, Kindermann, Browne, Hort, Chandler,… After it finished I purchased, on the library next to the Bath Abbey, a little book called Practical Chess endings (I wish it had been the Algebraic Edition!)
"I hope…. PRINCIPALLY to raise the average level of endgame technique among chess players EVERYWHERE" Paul Keres, Tallin, 1972
Those words motivated me; Keres came across as a nice guy… Besides, it was much needed, I kept on loosing endgames left, right and centre... - Maizelis : Opposition
Maizelis Homage to Maizelis: Introduction
Event:
Site:
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Date: White:
Black:
Result:Side to move:
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Next move:
- Rook endingsAnother great book that I could not study.. It was through Keres' Practical Endgame Play and Nunn Secrets of Rook Endings (Amazing I had the patience to go from cover to cover) that I learnt these.
I was also impressed by John Emms (almost ALL his books are excellent) The Survival Guide To Rook Endings, so much I bought two copies when the first one was misplaced/stolen…
John Watson was also impressed, see below...
Reviewed by John Watson John Emms' The Survival Guide to Rook Endings is back to the "fairly advanced" category. It has the same obligatory introductory comment: "I've tried not to fall into the same trap as some endgame books which, while being fascinating, tend to devote too much space to rare and impractical positions." At least he said "some!" Anyway, Emms does his usual excellent job, first presenting the basics at length. He isn't quite thorough enough on some useful R+P vs. R positions, but he makes the Vancura position easily comprehensible, which is no mean feat. Emms devotes most of the book to real examples, often drawn from his own play (20 of them). I think the fascinating thing about this book is that, with some exceptions in the last two chapters, Emms manages to stick with relatively simplified and simple-looking positions that, however, are terribly difficult to solve. In fact, the players involved, mostly grandmasters, tended to make multiple mistakes, regardless of how straightforward a position looked. What to say? I like this book a lot and recommend it to just about anyone who isn't having an easy time with Korchnoi's book! It is readable and reasonably comprehensive, but doesn't sacrifice complexity for easy answers. A trivial and inessential gripe: I wonder why Smyslov and Levenfish's Rook Endings isn't given in the Bibliography? Okay, the other books mentioned contain all or most of that material, but is it really fair not to give credit to such a classic?
