Fra innledningen i boka

The book has been designed to be read in order. Start at Chapter 1 and progress through the book. However, there will be many times where you encounter a point explained again, yet explained as if seen for the first time. This is intentional. Repetition is good. There is a lot of information in this book and as said, you do not have to read everything to benefit from it. And at times I presume you have not done so. However, I hope you will find the themes and explanations revealing and want to read on.

A few general truths about the endgame

Throughout this book you will be faced with a lot of thematic ideas: some known for a hundred years, some obvious, but never really written about, and perhaps a few that I have noticed first. Above them are some general truths about endgame play, which are well established.

Most games are won or lost incrementally

Throughout this book, you will find many examples where one side has a significant advantage already. Either they will win with accurate play, or the other side is facing their last chance(s) to save the game.

This is not how most endgames work. Usually, one side enters the endgame with a slight advantage. This simply means that the other side has more problems to solve. In the last few decades, defensive skills have increased, but the experience is still that a slightly better position will lead to more than average results.

A big part of modern chess is to play for this technical advantage. At the top level, the days of big novelties out of the opening leading to large advantages are behind us. If you get any advantage out of the opening, it is a cause for celebration. In my generation there were a lot of players who loved the opening more than anything else and dived deep, trying to win or draw straight from the opening. When I talk to these people today, some of them feel that chess has been played out to some extent, and all there is left is to attempt some “bluff”. Chess changes throughout the ages and in our age technique is more important than it has been for a while.

blunders come from poor positions. So, if you want to rely on luck, you need to create it. Throughout this book you will find examples where games are won slowly. One side manages to create a few problems for the opponent and keep up the pressure, until more mistakes occur.