Endgame essentials you need to know Vol. 1+2

ChessBase sin omtale

Vol. 1

In this video course, GM Surya Ganguly sits with IM Sagar Shah and, drawing from his colossal experience, shares some uncommon endgame wisdom. The material mostly features positions with rook against rook and a pawn and starts by covering the fundamentals

: Lucena, Philidor, and Vancura. But it quickly enters non-trivial territory apt to challenge even masters: the slippery theoretical nuances of dealing with doubled pawns and pawns on the f- and h-files.

Surya presents some ingenious rules of thumb to tackle these knotty endings and, at the same time, underscores the importance of actual calculation and understanding so as to not fall into some crude reductionist trap. Through this course, he promises somthing no instructor would ordinarily promise: uncertainty! The aim, he asserts, is not knowing everythingwhich is a chimaera that can only stem from naivety

but realising one can never know enough to be one hundred per cent failproof and, thus, being watchfully comfortable in the uncertainty this realisation affords.

• Video running time: 4 h 46 min

• Training with ChessBase apps - Play key positions against Fritz on various levels

• Database with annotations by the author

Vol. 2

The first volume of Endgame Essentials you need to know deals with the essentials of rook versus rook and pawn endings, covering topics like Lucena, Philidor, Vancura, and theoretical cases with rook against rook and pawns on f- and h-files. Grandmaster Surya Shekhar Ganguly presents several guideposts in it to navigate through the tricky waters of these theoretical endings.

In the present volume, he brings more positions - many from top-level Grandmaster games - to help you with (a): assessing your understanding of the concepts discussed in Volume 1 and (b): complementing that understanding. Thus, about 70% of the material discussed here is the application of ideas established previously, and the remaining comprises rich examples that do not yield directly to any known rule. Staying true to his philosophy that comprehension and confusion are two sides of the same coin, Surya reiterates the importance of staying alert and warns against the dangers of using theory as a crutch.

• Video running time: 3 hours 17 minutes

• Database with annotations by the author

Including download & stream for iPad, tablet etc: can be unlocked with imprinted key

Surya Shekhar Ganguly is one of the most decorated Grandmasters that India has produced. His best achievements include winning the National Championship a record six consecutive times from 2003 to 2008, the Asian Continental Championship in 2009, and suchmonumental open events as the Fujairah International Open in 2012 and the Belt and Road Open in 2019. He has also represented India in as many as six Olympiads and clinched individual golds at the World Teams Championship twice, in 2010 and 2019. Moreove, he has worked in the team of seconds that assisted Vishy Anand to victory in three World Championship Matches, against Kramnik, Topalov, and Gelfand, in 2008, 2010, and 2012, respectively.