SECRETS OF CHESS ENDGAME STRATEGY
Author: Lars Bo Hansen
223 pages
$25.95
Gambit Publishing (www.gambitbooks.com)

Reviewed by John Donaldson

SECRETS OF CHESS ENDGAME STRATEGY by the Danish GM Lars Bo Hansen deals with that part of endgame play that is less examined. It is well known that to play endgames properly you must have both concrete knowledge of basic positions and the ability to play those with more pieces on the board.
 
Dvoretsky's ENDGAME MANUAL is an example of a book that does a great job of teaching fundamental endgame theory. But what does one do before they reach Rook and Pawn versus Rook? How does one learn to play more complicated endgames, ones that often cannot be analyzed to a forced result?
 
SECRETS OF CHESS ENDGAME STRATEGY is not the first book to deal with this topic. The Belorussian writer Mikhail Shereshevsky has visited this territory on more than one occasion, but GM Hansen has his own way of presenting the material. A semi-pro, who still manages to keep his rating over 2550 despite the responsibilities of work and family, Hansen uses his excellent endgame abilities to help make up for the lack of sharpness in his opening repertoire. In SECRETS OF CHESS ENDGAME STRATEGY he tries to share some of his secrets.
 
This book is divided into three parts. The first, almost 40 pages, deals with general principles and covers many familiar topics such as the power of the two Bishops and the role of Rook activity in the endgame. The second, the meat of the book, over 140 pages, deals with the role of the pawns in the ending and then moves on to examine various material distributions. The final part of the book returns to a theme the author dealt with in his previous work, Foundations of Chess Strategy. Hansen uses his classification system (activists, reflectors, pragmatists and theorists) to show how equally strong GMs may not treat certain positions the same, that stylistic preference can extend to non-theoretical endgames.
 
SECRETS OF CHESS ENDGAME STRATEGY is a challenging book that cannot fail to improve the understanding of any player below 2400 FIDE. I can easily imagine a player jumping one rating class after studiously going through this book and Dvoretsky's ENDGAME MANUAL.
 
Recommended

Click if you would like to buy (or get more information about) SECRETS OF CHESS ENDGAME STRATEGY

Click if you would like to buy (or get more information about) DVORETSKY'S ENDGAME MANUAL (2nd EDITION)