Alwoodley Chess Club

Alwoodley Community Centre, The Avenue, Alwoodley, LS17 7NZ Multimap

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Dylan Morgan

LEARNING

International Master Richard Palliser has contributed some problems that will test, in situations from his own games, how well you can think out complex situations. Click here.

Richard is a prolific author of chess books. If you would like to see a list of his books click here

A Talk to the club by twice Yorkshire Champion Jim Burnett. Click here.

Recommended Books

Paul Hopwood

Secrets of Practical Chess by John Nunn, Gambit Chess (1998), is a book that I believe any aspiring player should read and GAMBIT have just released an updated edition (2007), which I look forward to seeing. Secondly, I would recommend
Sorceror's Apprentice by D.I. Bronshtein, Cadogan Chess Books (1995) - simply on the basis of sheer class!

more chess books....................more chess books.........................more chess books

Mike Evans

Endgame technique - theoretical positions
The following books deal with true endgames with very limited material, particularly pieces.

Silman's Complete Endgame Course - J. Silman, Siles Press, 2007, 530pp.
A unique book in that it is divided into 8 sections, from beginner to master, with each section giving essential knowledge for a player of that grade, rather than the conventional approach of dividing the content up by type of ending. It is much more approachable and readable than the standard heavyweight tomes. The downside is that it is far from comprehensive. For a club player who looking for an endgame book that will be read rather than gathering dust on the bookshelf, this is the one. Don't be put off by 500+ pages - the easy-to-follow layout results in a lot of white space!
Fundamental Chess Endings - Muller and Lamprecht, Gambit, 2001, 416 pp.
A comprehensive endgame encyclopedia that fills the gaps that Silman deems to be not absolutely essential. Muller is an acknowledged endgame expert who has also produced an excellent series of DVD's on the topic for Chessbase. This book is harder going than Silman, but it is a better book for those who have the time/inclination for some serious study.
Dvoretsky's Endgame Manual (2nd Edition) - M. Dvoretsky, Russell Enterprises, 2006, 402 pp.
Heavy duty analysis plus excellent explanations, albeit at a high level, of positions where at least one side has no more than one piece. Dvoretsky is an acclaimed teacher of players up to and including GM level. For the ambitious player this is a brilliant book, with essential knowledge of around 300 positions printed in blue to make them easy to identify (but hard to read, at least for your blind as a bat correspondent).

Complex endgames - no clear win/draw

Endgame Strategy - Shereshevsky, Pergamon, 1985, 218 pp. (out of print?)
A classic instructional book based on a collaboration between Shereshevsky and Dvoretsky (see above) that first introduced concepts such as 'the principle of two weaknesses' and 'do not hurry', at least to Western readers. It is heavily biased towards explanations, with only the absolute minimum of long complicated analysis, and consequently is easy to read. A more recent book with similar themes is Lars Bo Hansen's 'Secrets of Endgame Strategy'.
Learn From The Legends - M. Marin, Quality Chess, 2004, 332 pp.
Not strictly speaking an endgame book, but each of the 8 chapters deals with a particular aspect of play demonstrated by a world champion (or similar class) player with a heavy bias towards endings. Topics covered are Rubinstein - rook endings, Alekhine - Q+R v. Q+R ,Botvinnik - knight v. bishop, Tal - rook v. 2 minor pieces, Petrosian - exchange sacs, Fischer - bishop v. knight, Karpov - opposite coloured bishops and Korchnoi - converting a material advantage. This is a wonderfully written book to read for fun, with the huge added bonus of being a series of masterclasses. What more can you ask for?

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