Liquidation on the Chess Board New & Extended

Mastering the Transition into the Pawn Endgame

Joel Benjamin

• Publisher: New in Chess
• Year: 2019
• eBook ISBN:
  9789056918262
• Edition: 3

Pawn endings do not arise out of nowhere. Before emerging as endgames with just kings and pawns, they 'pre-existed' in positions that still contained any number of pieces. Liquidation is the purposeful transition into a pawn ending. It is a vital technique that is seldom taught. Strange, because knowing when and how to liquidate can help you win games or save draws. In this book, former US Chess Champion Joel Benjamin teaches you all you need to know about successfully liquidating into pawn endgames. He focuses on the practical aspects: what to aim for and how to get there. When to start trading pieces and how to recognize favourable and unfavourable liquidations. Enter a fascinating world of tempo play (triangulation, zugzwang and opposition), breakthroughs, king activity, passed pawn dynamics, sacrifices and counter-sacrifices. Exercises will test your growing skills. This is a ground-breaking, entertaining and instructive guide. The 2015 first edition of this book won the CJA Chess Journalists of America Best Book Award. This New and Extended 3rd edition presents 50 new examples, besides other additions and corrections..

Table of contents

• Copyright Page
• Contents
• Explanation of symbols
• Acknowledgments
• Prologue – The ABCs of chess
• Introduction
• Chapter 1: Queen endings
• Chapter 2: Rook endings
• Chapter 3: Bishop endings
• Chapter 4: Knight endings
• Chapter 5: Bishop versus knight endings
• Chapter 6: Rook & minor piece endings
• Chapter 7: Two minor piece endings
• Chapter 8: Major piece endings
• Chapter 9: Queen & minor piece endings
• Chapter 10: Three or more piece endings
• Chapter 11: Unbalanced material endings
• Chapter 12: Thematic positions
• Bibliography
• Glossary
• Index of players