how to play chess endgames book

FOREWORD 9
may be assessed as 'slightly better for White' or 'clearly better for Black', endgame positions can
often be evaluated in more definite terms as 'win', 'draw' or 'loss'. Moreover, if something goes
mildly wrong in the middle game, there may still be a chance to play yourself back into the game,
but in an endgame this rarely happens; the first mistake in an endgame may very well be the last.
Reading this book brought home to me the close connection between the endgame and other
parts of chess. Many of the topics discussed, such as the bishop-pair (see Chapter 9) and the prevention
of counterplay (see Chapter 8) are also relevant in the middlegame and in fact these topics are
often more easily explained in an endgame situation, where the key points are not obscured by extraneous
details. Thus the study of the endgame not only benefits your play in that part of the game,
but promotes better general chess understanding in all phases of chess.
If you want to improve your endgame play, you can't do better than start with this book since
Muller and Pajeken deal with every aspect of endgame play, strategic, tactical and psychological.
After that, look at the classic games of the great endgame players; you may see them in a new light.
Go back over your own end games, especially where you feel that you may have given away a point
or half-point, seeking to understand where you went wrong. Finally, view the endgame with more
confidence in your future games. With the background gained from this book, the endgame should
be something to be embraced rather than feared.
John Nunn
Chertsey, November 2007