Secrets of Pawnless Endings by Grandmaster John Nunn is an expanded edition of his groundbreaking 1994 book. This latest effort features a new, 50 plus page chapter on Six-Man Endings which reflects the advances that computers have made in the past eight years.

This is not the most practical book ever written. With the exception of Rook and Bishop versus Rook, which occurs fairly frequently, the reader is not likely to get any of the positions covered in this book in their practice. Having said this, I can remember GM Walter Browne playing with two Bishops versus Knight against Robert Rowley at a Western States Open in Reno, and if memory serves me right he had the same obscure ending a year or so before. So you never know!

This book, which features meticulous computer-generated analysis, benefits immensely from the explanation of Dr. Nunn. In some cases the winning process is so long and obtuse that without the good Doctor's guidance humankind wouldn't have a clue as to what was going on. In a few cases even he is at a loss. Turn to page 336 for the grand champion of difficulty, an ending of R+N vs. 2 Ns in which White to play wins in 243 moves with best play! Nunn writes about this ending: "This is a good candidate for the most difficult known win in chess. It seems almost impossible to explain such wins using general principles and in the end we may just have to admit that such positions can only be understood if you know the whole database, which effectively rules out human comprehension." That's a sobering thought.

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