Table of Contents
Introduction 9
Chapter 1 Pawn endings 22
Pattern 1 The distant passed pawn 22
Pattern 2 The protected passed pawn 26
Pattern 3 The quality of the pawn majorities 30
Pattern 4 King entry 35
Pattern 5 A useless central passed pawn 38
Pattern 6 The bodycheck 41
Pattern 7 The isolated pawn 43
Pattern 8 The breakthrough 49
Pattern 9 Separated passed pawns vs connected passed pawns 54
Pattern 10 The dominant king 56
Pattern 11 Reserve tempi 60
Pattern 12 The opposition and its variants 63
Pattern 13 Triangulation and corresponding squares 69
Pattern 14 Tactical tricks in the race to queen a pawn 72
Pattern 15 Doubled pawns 77
Chapter 2 Knight vs pawns 80
Pattern 16 Distant passed pawns 80
Pattern 17 The barrier 82
Pattern 18 Defence from a remote square 83
Pattern 19 Blockade 85
Pattern 20 The knight's problems with a single pawn 86
Chapter 3 Bishop vs pawns 90
Pattern 21 Bishop vs distant pawns 90
Pattern 22 The double function of the bishop 94
Pattern 23 Bishop vs three pawns close together 98
Pattern 24 The shortest diagonal 100
Pattern 25 When the pawn is more valuable than the bishop 102
Chapter 4 Rook vs pawns 105
Pattern 26 The unstoppable pawn 105
Pattern 27 The battle of the kings 108
Pattern 28 For and against the candidate pawn 113
Pattern 29 Rook vs three connected pawns 116
Pattern 30 The king trapped on the edge 120
Chapter 5 Queen vs pawns 123
Pattern 31 Obstacles to checks 123
Pattern 32 The struggle against a pawn mass 125
Chapter 6 Same-coloured bishops 130
Pattern 33 A very bad bishop 130
Pattern 34 The highway 135
Pattern 35 An isolated centre pawn 137
Pattern 36 A central passed pawn 142
Pattern 37 The king's entry 146
Pattern 38 Distant passed pawn 149
Chapter 7 Opposite-coloured bishops 156
Pattern 39 The blockade 157
Pattern 40 The fortress 159
Pattern 41 Zonal defence 163
Pattern 42 Lateral control 167
Pattern 43 Two distant passed pawns 170
Pattern 44 Two connected passed pawns 174
Pattern 45 The great detour 176
Pattern 46 The screen 179
Pattern 47 The useless pawn 181
Pattern 48 Sacrificing the bishop 185
Pattern 49 Pawns fixed on the colour of the enemy bishop 188
Chapter 8 Knight vs bishop 191
Pattern 50 The blockade 191
Pattern 51 The barrier 194
Pattern 52 Domination 198
Pattern 53 The bad bishop 202
Pattern 54 Counterattack by the king with the bad bishop 207
Pattern 55 The isolated pawn 211
Pattern 56 The distant passed pawn 216
Pattern 57 No central pawns 220
Pattern 58 A king stuck in front of the rook's pawn 225
Pattern 59 Making way for the rook's pawn 229
Chapter 9 Knight endings 233
Pattern 60 Deflection sacrifice 233
Pattern 61 Space advantage 236
Pattern 62 The distant passed pawn 238
Pattern 63 Protected passed pawn 241
Pattern 64 Problems with the rook's pawn 246
Chapter 10 Rook endings 252
Pattern 65 The umbrella 254
Pattern 66 The bridge 255
Pattern 67 Stalemate and the crazy rook 258
Pattern 68 The king supports the passed pawn 261
Pattern 69 The dominant king 266
Pattern 70 King on the edge 271
Pattern 71 The seventh rank 274
Pattern 72 Active rook vs passive rook 278
Pattern 73 Rook pushing the passed pawn 282
Pattern 74 A rook trapped in front of a pawn on the seventh 289
Pattern 75 Rook in front of the passed pawn 297
Pattern 76 Rook in front of a knight's pawn 303
Pattern 77 Vancura 307
Pattern 78 King cut off from the passed pawn 310
Chapter 11 Rook vs minor piece 315
Pattern 79 Making progress on one colour 315
Pattern 80 Two connected passed pawns 318
Pattern 81 The awkward rook's pawn 323
Pattern 82 Pawns on both wings 327
Pattern 83 Fortress 329
Pattern 84 Knight with passed pawns 333
Pattern 85 Pawns on both wings 336
Chapter 12 Queen endings 338
Pattern 86 Mate (in queen endings) 338
Pattern 87 Stalemate (in queen endings) 342
Pattern 88 Perpetual check 344
Pattern 89 Perpetual check as a strategy 348
Pattern 90 The shield 352
Pattern 91 A passed a-pawn 357
Pattern 92 A more advanced passed pawn 361
Pattern 93 Centralised queen 365
Chapter 13 Queen vs rook 372
Pattern 95 Far advanced passed pawns 377
Chapter 14 Queen vs two pieces 380
Pattern 96 Queen vs two pieces - the fortress 380
Pattern 97 Passed pawn 384
Chapter 15 Queen vs two rooks 387
Pattern 98 Two rooks + a passed pawn 387
Pattern 99 Attack on the king 389
Pattern 100 The uselessness of separated pawns 392
Chapter 16 Exercises 396
Solutions to the exercises 414
Index of names 458
Bibliography 463