The author’s aim in this volume is to improve the tournament chess player and professional alike in their ability to evaluate and execute crucial and hard-fought practical endgames – either in converting a winning position or holding a draw. This book will also sharpen the player’s overall cognitive competences in practical situations, where the normal laws of endgame theory have little or no value. Dreev accomplishes this by providing categorized and detailed examples with clear commentary from his own tournament games, as well as from other Grandmasters’ at the elite level.
I believe that the examples in this book are of very high value for both elite and aspiring chess players – even in the 21st century, a time of computer analysis and evaluation. The works themselves come from the highest level of tournament play, and many of the examples have an “etude” feel to them, where the solutions are often quite nonstandard, yet entirely practical from a critical over the board situation. The book before you engages the reader in useful calculations all the while expanding the player’s perception and confidence in a phase of the game where computer theory and preparation are of little value. ~ Alexander Hart
Alexey Dreev is a two-time world under-16 champion, world championship candidate, multiple Olympiad gold medal winner and remains in the top 100 players in the world. A trainer or assistant to two former world champions Kramnik and Ponomariov as well as numerous other top players, Alexey has won top tournaments including Wijk-aan-See and Biel and continues to have tournament successes. A fine writer at the height of his powers, this is Alexey’s eight book and second book for Thinkers Publishing in the series ‘Improve your Practical Play’. His first from 2018 becoming a bestseller ‘Improve your Practical lay in the Middlegame’.