For over 100 years, the world's leading chess players and teachers have told their students to study the endgame. Now, for the first time, a revolutionary, richly instructive endgame book has been designed for players of all levels. This is the one and only endgame book you'll need as you move up the ladder from beginner to tournament player and master. Designed to "speak" to a player in a very personal way, Silman's book teaches the student everything he or she needs to know at his or her current rating level, and builds on that knowledge for each subsequent phase of the player's development. Starting at the beginner's level, all basic mates are clearly and painstakingly explained. After that, the critical building blocks that form the endgame foundation for all tournament hopefuls and experienced tournament competitors are explored in detail. Finally, advanced endgame secrets, based on concepts rather than memorization, are presented in a way that makes them easy to master. The basic keys to a well-rounded endgame education -- Opposition, the Lucena and Philidor Positions, Cat and Mouse, Trebuchet, Fox in the Chicken Coup, Triangulation, Building a Box, Square of a Pawn, Outflanking, the Principle of Two Weaknesses -- are vital. But equally important is creating a love of the endgame, which is addressed at the end of the book with a look at chess tactics, minor piece domination, and a discussion of the five greatest endgame players of all time -- all things that every fan of chess at every level can enjoy. If you have found the endgame to be a mystery, if you have found that your confidence plummets once you reach an endgame, if you have searched for an instructive endgame book that will turn your weakest link -- your endgame -- into your personal field of power, your search is over. The book is the key to a world of essential ideas, startling beauty, and stunning creativity.

The dazzlingly clever and always entertaining Raymond Smullyan takes an unorthodox approach to chess puzzles by treating them as mysteries—with Sherlock Holmes as guide and mentor. The key concept is retrograde analysis. Rather than figuring out how to achieve some end from a given arrangement of chess pieces, the game is to examine the board and deduce what has happened in the past: Which side is white? What were the previous moves? Prove that a promotion did or did not occur. Which piece has been replaced by a coin? These are just a few of the challenges Smullyan presents through the eyes of Holmes and Watson. He even manages about as passable an imitation of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's style as can be expected from a tongue-in-cheek presentation. To enjoy these problems you need only know how chess pieces move. The first puzzles in the book teach all the concepts you need to know to decipher the later ones; the process prepares you to join Holmes in solving a baffling double murder—the keys to which reside in a series of devilishly clever puzzles. The chess game is afoot, and it's almost too much fun!

In 1934, the Soviet Union was still a largely unknown factor in world chess circles. Botvinnik was making some noise, particularly with his repeated wins in the USSR Championship and his drawn match against Flohr (Botvinnik - Flohr Match (1933)). But the strength and depth of the country remained a mystery, until an international tournament was arranged in Leningrad from August 17-September 1, 1934 with outsiders Max Euwe and Hans Kmoch brought in to give the local boys a few tips. The entire group: Vladimir Alatortsev, Mikhail Botvinnik, Vitaly Chekhover, Max Euwe, Ilia Abramovich Kan, Hans Kmoch, Grigory Levenfish, Georgy Lisitsin, Ilya Leontievich Rabinovich, Nikolai Nikolaevich Riumin, Peter Arsenievich Romanovsky, Mikhail M Yudovich Sr.As sometimes happens, the tippers became the tippees. Both Euwe and Kmoch started well, and were tied for first place with Botvinnik and Romanovsky after six rounds. That's when things started to happen. Euwe was unable to win another game for the rest of the tournament, while Kmoch, after one more win, lost his last four in a row.Botvinnik's win should not have been a big surprise; he had shown his capabilities already. But having Euwe, fresh from an excellent showing at Zurich (1934), relegated to sixth place with an even score was an eye-opener. These guys would bear watching in the future.