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Full download The Chess Endgame Exercise Book - John Nunn John Nunn file pdf all chapter on 2024
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The Chess Endgame Exercise Book
John Nunn
Symbols
Introduction
1: Pawn Endings
2: Knight Endings
3: Bishop Endings
5: Rook Endings
7: Queen Endings
9: Endgame Tactics
Score-Table
Index of Games
Index of Composers
Copyright Information
By diagrams:
☆ easy
☆☆ fairly easy
☆☆☆ medium difficulty
☆☆☆☆ difficult
☆☆☆☆☆ very difficult
Introduction
While endgame theory books are helpful, active participation by the reader
is a great aid to learning. I hope that this book of endgame exercises will
encourage readers to put their brains in high gear, both to test themselves
and to learn more about the endgame. I have spent several months selecting
the 444 exercises in this book from what was initially a much larger
collection. Many positions were rejected as being insufficiently clear-cut or
not really making the point I was interested in showing. The final choice is
intended to be both instructive and entertaining. In addition to important
general principles, the exercises show that endgame positions should never
be approached mechanically and that imaginative solutions are required
more frequently than one might expect.
Each chapter starts with four positions illustrating key ideas which play an
important part in that chapter’s exercises. Then there are several ‘sets’ of
six exercises (in the printed book, these are all on one page). You should
certainly try to solve each position before peeking at the answer. Even if
you fail to solve the exercise, there is something to be learnt from each
position and you should play over the solution carefully.
The exercises vary in what the reader is being asked to achieve. In some
cases, it is just to find the first move of the solution, but in others a longer
winning line is required; others are of the multiple-choice type. The text
below the diagram should make it clear what is expected. Each exercise is
given a difficulty rating, from one star (easiest) up to five stars (hardest). In
each individual set of six exercises, the difficulty increases from easier to
harder, and every six exercises you will find a drop in difficulty, rather than
it simply increasing throughout each chapter. You do not have to tackle the
exercises in any order. Some may like to start at number one and go straight
through to the end, while others may prefer to tackle all the one-star
exercises first and work their way up the difficulty level. Each chapter ends
with a section of ‘Harder Exercises’, which start at the upper end of the
three-star range and go all the way up to five stars. I should make it clear
that some of the exercises are not easy; the four- and five-star exercises
would make even a grandmaster think hard. The ‘Harder Exercises’ are in
sets of four rather than six. The exercises have been carefully computer-
checked to ensure that the solution works and that it is essentially unique (if
there are alternative winning moves, these are mentioned in the solution).
The positions in the book derive from a variety of sources. The majority are
from over-the-board games, although in a few of these I have slightly
modified the position, generally to eliminate alternative solutions (in these
cases the solution has ‘Adapted from’ before the game reference). To avoid
repetitions with other books, all except one of the over-the-board references
are from games played in 2019 or 2020. Other positions are from endgame
studies; here I have generally given the position after any introductory play
to focus attention on the key point being made. If neither a game nor a
study source is given in the solution, that means I created the position
myself to illustrate a certain idea.
The game positions were taken from a wide range of tournaments and
feature players of many different standards. Some may be surprised to find
their games in a textbook, but interesting and educational positions can
arise at any level and in many cases players with modest ratings conducted
the endgame to a high standard. Although some of the game examples were
not handled perfectly by the players, the question marks are not intended to
be a comment on the skill of the players. Playing such tricky positions at 30
seconds per move, as most probably were, is a real challenge even for
grandmasters. Modern time-limits mean that there is little time for deep
calculation in the endgame, so it is essential to have a solid understanding
of the general principles, which can provide guidance with relatively little
thought.
The chess terminology used in this book is standard, but I will use one term
which may be unfamiliar to readers, reciprocal zugzwang.
White/Black to play
Here White wins by zugzwang. If Black is to play, he must move his king,
allowing White to take the pawn, with a win after 1...Kf8 2 Kxe6 Ke8 3 Kf6
Kf8 4 e6 Ke8 5 e7. However, the result does not depend on who is to move.
It’s still a win with White to play, as he can continue 1 Kd6 and Black must
still surrender the pawn.
White/Black to play
John Nunn
White to play
Pawn endings are the most fundamental type of ending. We start with four
of the key concepts in pawn endings. In the diagram, White’s king is better
positioned to attack the enemy pawns, but is his advantage enough to win?
There are several routes the king can use to reach f7, all taking six moves,
but not all lead to victory. The straight-line approach (or as near as you can
get on a chessboard!) doesn’t work: 1 Kd2? Kb3! 2 Kd3 Kb2! 3 Kd4 Kc2 4
Ke5 Kd3 5 Ke6 Ke3 6 Kf7 g5 7 Kg7 Kf2 8 g4 Kf3 is an easy draw.
1 Kc2!
This is the only move to win. The route to f7 also takes six moves via c2
and c3, but by using this route White can also hold the enemy king back, a
concept called shouldering away.
and White wins. By shouldering away the black king, White gained two
tempi over the direct approach (when White’s king was on f7, Black’s king
was on c3 rather than e3). This idea is useful in a wide range of endings.
White to play
1 Kg8! (1 Kg7? is wrong due to 1...Ka7!, gaining what is called the distant
opposition, when Black can just mirror the white king’s moves until the
key position arises with White to play; for example, 2 Kg6 Ka6! 3 Kg5
Ka5! 4 Kf6 Kb6 5 Kf7 Kb7 6 Ke7 Kc7 7 Ke6 Kc6 8 Ke5 Kc5) 1...Kb6
(1...Ka7 2 Kg7 Ka6 3 Kg6 Ka5 4 Kf7 and 1...Kb7 2 Kf7 Kb6 3 Kf6 Kb5 4
Ke7 are similar: White edges nearer e5 while all the time maintaining the
opposition) 2 Kf8 (this could be called ‘rectangular opposition’: the two
kings stand on same-coloured squares at opposite corners of a rectangle,
here b6-f6-f8-b8) 2...Kc6 (or 2...Kc7 3 Ke7) 3 Ke8! (now it starts to look
more familiar; in textbooks this is sometimes called diagonal opposition)
3...Kd6 4 Kf7 (this works because Black can only gain the opposition
temporarily; since d5 is out of bounds White easily regains it) 4...Kd7 5
Kf6 Kd6 6 Kf5 Kc6 7 Ke6 (the key position arises with Black to play)
7...Kc5 8 Kd7 Kb5 9 Kd6 Kc4 10 Kc6 and White wins.
White to play
Many king and pawn endings are decided by zugzwang and in these cases it
is extremely useful to have a spare pawn move, so that if you arrive at the
crucial position with the wrong player to move, you can use the spare move
to put your opponent in zugzwang. Such pawn moves, held back for when
they are needed, are called reserve tempi. In this position White can play
g4 to create the reserve tempo h3, but there is a finesse.
1 Kb5! (after 1 g4? Ka7! 2 Kb5 Kb7 3 h3 Kc7 White doesn’t win because 4
Ka6? Kc6 5 Ka7 b5 6 axb5+ Kxb5 7 Kb7 Kc4 is even losing for him; White
only wins if he can get his king to a6 without using the reserve tempo)
1...Ka7 (1...Kb7 2 g4! transposes) 2 g3! (this rather tricky move puts Black
in zugzwang; not 2 Kc6? g4! 3 Kb5 Kb7 4 g3 h5 with a draw) 2...Kb7
(2...g4 and 2...h5 both weaken the kingside pawns and allow White to win
by 3 a5 bxa5 4 Kxa5 Kb7 5 Kb5, etc.) 3 g4! (White secures his reserve
tempo at a moment when he can get his king to a6 without playing h3)
3...Kc7 (after 3...Ka7 4 Kc6 Ka6 5 h3 White wins the same way) 4 Ka6
Kc6 5 h3! (this is the right moment for the reserve tempo, as now White
gets his king behind the b-pawn) 5...Kc7 6 Ka7 Kc6 7 Kb8 b5 8 axb5+
Kxb5 9 Kc7 (White is a tempo ahead of the line given after 1 g4? and this
turns a loss into a win) 9...Kc5 10 Kd7 Kd5 11 Ke7 Ke5 12 Kf7 Kf4 13
Kg6 Kg3 14 Kxh6 Kh4 15 Kg6 and White wins.
White to play
answer
Exercise 2: White to play
☆☆
answer
Exercise 3: White to play
☆☆☆
answer
Exercise 4: White to play
☆☆☆
After 1 Kc3 Ke6 the players agreed to a draw. Could White have exploited
his extra pawn?
answer
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President in the Philippines sufficed fully, it was contended,
for every purpose of temporary or provisional government
there, except in its lack of ability to grant franchises and
to dispose of the public lands. Hence it was freely charged
that the controlling influences which pressed this measure on
the government came from capitalists and speculators who were
reaching after valuable franchises, mining rights and land
grants in the archipelago. Said Senator Daniel in the debate:
"So far as any legislation which looks forward to the opening
of the way to civil government may be involved to the
softening of the conditions which exist, to the amelioration
of the distresses which are upon the Philippine people, I
would give most cheerful acquiescence. But because we desire
to do these things in a good spirit, in a resolute and
patriotic spirit, let us not permit the provocation of
difficult conditions to lead us into enacting any kind of
provision of law that is not necessary to these ends. Let us
not undertake to give to the President of the United States
any power of disposing of the permanent assets of the
Philippine people; let us not put him in the attitude of being
a franchise giver or a franchise seller or a franchise lessor.
The franchises of those islands—their rivers, their ferries,
their streets, their roads, the thousand and one privileges
which are granted by public authority—are as important and as
valuable to that people and as permanently associated with
their happiness and their prosperity as are their fields or
their mines or their fisheries or anything else which belongs
to their country. … It is true there is the reservation of the
right to alter, amend, or repeal, but while that is legally
broad enough for any remedial legislation whatsoever to
follow, we know that practically it is of very small
consequence. If capital goes in and invests itself in
improvements which are in themselves of a permanent nature, if
railroads are constructed, telegraph lines run, telephones
established, ferries built, steamers and boats, gas
establishments, electrical establishments—if those things are
disposed of, the man who once gets in will never be gotten
out. In all such affairs possession is nine points of the law
before they get into court, where it is generally made the
tenth."
Senator Hoar called attention "to the fact that the report of
the Taft commission urges that power be given to sell the
public lands at once, as it is necessary for their
development, and a large amount of capital is there now
clamoring to be invested," and he remarked: "So I suppose that
one of the chief purposes of this is that the public lands in
the Philippine Islands may be sold before the people of the
islands have any chance whatever to have a voice in their
sale." He then quoted the following passages from the report
of the Taft commission:
Congressional Record,
February 25-March 1, 1901.
{402}
The new tariff for the Islands, which the Commission had been
long engaged in framing, was submitted, in March, to the
government at Washington for approval. "In his letter of
transmittal Judge Taft says that the proposed bill follows
largely the classification of the Cuban tariff, 'but has been
considerably expanded by the introduction of articles
requiring special treatment here by reason of different
surroundings and greater distance from the markets.' Judge
Taft says also that the disposition of the business interests
of the islands is to accept any tariff the commission
proposes, provided only that the duties are specific and not
ad valorem. The question of revenue was kept steadily in view
in the preparation of the schedules, but it was not the only
consideration. Raw materials of Philippine industries, tools,
implements and machinery of production, materials of
transportation, the producers and transmitters of power and
food products are taxed as lightly as possible. … Export
duties are levied on only six articles—hemp, indigo, rice,
sugar, cocoanuts, fresh or as copra, and tobacco. The free
list admits natural mineral waters, trees, shoots and plants,
gold, copper and silver ores, fresh fruits, garden produce,
eggs, milk, ice and fresh meat, except poultry and game. There
is also a list of articles conditionally free of duty. The
importation of explosives is prohibited, but that of firearms
is not."
It is announced from Washington that "Judge Taft and General
MacArthur have agreed upon July 1 as the date for the
establishment of civil government in the Philippines. The
military regime in the islands will therefore cease on June
30, when General Chaffee will relieve General MacArthur of the
command, and Governor Taft will be inaugurated the next day
with considerable ceremony."
{403}
PHŒNICIANS, The:
Modified estimates of their influence upon early
European civilization.
"As soon as the plague broke out at Hong Kong, the great
Japanese bacteriologist Kitasato and the French doctor Yersin,
who is well known for his work with Roux on the serum
treatment of diphtheria, were already on the spot. Yersin
obtained from the English authorities permission to erect a
small straw hut in the yard of the chief hospital, and there
he began his researches. Both Kitasato and Yersin had no
difficulty in ascertaining that the plague buboes teemed with
special bacteria, which had the shape of tiny microscopic
sticklets, thickened at their ends. To isolate these bacteria,
to cultivate them in artificial media, and to ascertain the
deadly effects of these cultures upon animals, was soon done
by such masters in bacteriology as Kitasato and Yersin. The
cause of the plague was thus discovered. It was evident that
infected rats and swine—especially swine with the Chinese, who
keep them in their houses—were spreading the disease, in
addition to men themselves. The same bacteria teemed in the
dead animals. As to men, the discharges from their buboes, and
even, in many cases, their expectorations, were full of plague
bacteria. Besides, Yersin soon noticed that in his
'laboratory,' where he was dissecting animals killed by the
plague, the flies died in numbers. He found that they were
infested with the same bacteria, and carried them about:
inoculations of bacteria obtained from the flies at once
provoked the plague in guinea-pigs. Ants, gnats, and other
insects may evidently spread infection in the same way, while
in and round the infested houses the soil is impregnated with
the same bacteria. As soon as the pest microbe became known,
experiments were begun, at the Paris Institut Pasteur, for
finding the means to combat it; and in July 1895 Yersin,
Calmette, and Borel could already announce that some very
promising results had been obtained."
P. Kropotkin,
Recent Science
(Nineteenth Century, July, 1897).
{404}
{405}
PLURAL VOTING.
PLYMOUTH COLONY:
Return of the manuscript of Bradford's History to