Scrabble XL

All through his career Jan Timman has been captivated by the mystery and splendour of endgame studies. Even during his most successful and busy years as a world class player, Timman continued to compose studies and admire those of others.

For him there has never been any doubt that the journeys in this magical world helped him to grow as a player.

In this fascinating book, Timman has collected a wide range of the finest endgame studies by other composers and explains in his lucid style how they inspired him to create dozens of brand-new studies himself.

As Timman writes in the preface: ‘Never before have I been so productive as an endgame study composer as in the seven months that I wrote this book. It was a sensational experience.’

The Art of the Endgame is a treasure-trove for the lovers of beauty in chess. But it is also of great value for competitive players. Solving endgame studies is a vital part of improving one’s endgame technique: it develops general understanding, calculation skills and resourcefulness.

Georgy Lisitsin (1909-72) was a respected Soviet master, theoretician and writer. In 1958 he published a revised edition of his most ambitious work, entitled Strategy and Tactics of Chess, which became one of the most legendary manuals in the Soviet chess school, and no doubt one of the books that motivated the young Bobby Fischer to learn Russian.

Lisitsin broke down Strategy and Tactics into their key constituent elements, enabling players of all levels to study chess systematically, learning from carefully selected game fragments and studies. Key Elements of Chess Tactics and its companion volume Key Elements of Chess Strategy are the first ever complete English translations of Lisitsin’s classic.

In Key Elements of Chess Tactics, Lisitsin illustrates key tactical concepts such as pinning, discovered attacks and checks, deflection, interference and many more, building a foundation before moving on to more complex and beautiful tactical themes. 392 pages

Superbe coffret chinois en bois et tuiles en os et bambou à l'aspect vieilli.

In my first book I wanted to enlighten the reader on those various lines that were

less explored, and those that have been almost forgotten but were nevertheless

interesting.

However this time the book is about cutting-edge lines, which is a very

modern approach to this fascinating opening. Moreover it is important to say that

when I was writing my first book a few years ago, surprisingly, some of these current

lines simply didn’t exist, or were only discussed in a very minor way.

It is true that the Grünfeld fits in very well with the engines’ way of playing chess,

and in that sense it’s almost the perfect opening with which to implement and generate

such ideas.

Let’s have a look now at what I mean and start reading my findings!

GM Milos Pavlovic, January 2024.