M.1. SHERESHEVSKY ENDGAME STRATEGY By M. I. SHERESHEVSKY Translated by K. P. NEAT © PERGAMON PRESS. OXFORD + NEW YORK - TORONTO - SYDNEY - PARIS - FRANKFURT UK. USA. CANADA AUSTRALIA FRANCE FEDERAL REPUBLIC ‘OF GERMANY Pergamon Press Lid., Headingion Hill Hal, Oxford OX3 OBW, England Pergamon Press Ine., Maxwell House, Fairview Park, Blmsford, New York 10823, U.S.A. Pergamon Press Canada Lid., Suite 104, 150 Consumers Road, Wilowdale, Ontario M2J 1P9, Canada Pergamon Press (Aust) Ply. Lid. P.O. Box $48, Potts Point, N.S.W. 2011, Australi Pergamon Press SARL, 28 rue des Ecoles, 75240 Paris, Cedex 05, France Pergamon Press GmbH, Hammerwes 6, 16242 Kronberg-Taunus, Fedral Republic of Germany English translation copyright © 1985 K, P. Neat Alt Righs Reserved. No part of this publication mey be ‘reproduced, sored ina rteval system or ransmited it any form or by any means: electronic, elecrostatie, magnetic tape, ‘mechanical. photocopying, recording or otherwise, without permission in writing from the publishers First edition 1985 Library of Congress Cataloging In Publication Data Shereshewsky. MI. Endgame strategy (Pergamon Russian chess series) Includes indexes, Chess — End games, 1. Title, HM, Series. GVIESO.T SSE INKS MND $iLI902 British Libeary Catalogs Shereshewsky. M. I. tn Publication Data Endgame strategy. — (Pergamon Russian chess series) Chess — End games 1 Tile Test2s — GV14807 ISBN 0-08-029746-3 Hardsover ISBN (-08-129745-5 Flexicover This is @ tansation of the Russian edition, published in 1981 by Polimya, Minsk. Printed in Great Britain by A. Wheaton & Co. Lid, Exeter CONTENTS Foreword to the English edition (A. Yusupov) . . vii Introduction «2.0... .600seeeeseeeeee ix Basic principles of endgame play (S. Byelavyenets) i Centralization of the king ... 4 ‘The role of pawns in the endgame .....2....02e00 00+ 2 ‘The problem of exchanging “Do not hurry” .. ‘Schematic thinking The principle of two weaknesses... ‘The struggle for the initiative 80 ‘Suppressing the opponent's counter-play 96 Positions with an isolated d-pawn .. a snes |. The two bishops Penner es The 3-2 Queen-side pawn majority - 143 . Complex endings ... . 152 Index of players comin BE Index of material . . worst FOREWORD TO THE ENGLISH EDITION M. Shereshevsky’s book Endgame Strategy was published in the USSR in 1981 in an edition of $0,000 and was immediately sold out. ‘The author, one of the strongest players in Byelorussia, has recently been working as a trainer. In his lessons with young players Shereshevsky has made use of the end- game teaching methods of one of the country’s leading trainers, M. Dvoryetsky, and has worked out a definite system. This book contains an interesting selection of endings. Along with classic ex- amples there are endings both of leading modern grandmasters, as well as of less well known players. The author aims in the first instance to explain the course of the struggle, penetrate into the psychology of the players’ actions, and to focus the readers” attention on the turning points and characteristic mistakes. In contrast to the majority of works on the endgame, the book is divided into chapters not accord- ing to material, but according to the playing methods which are most characteristic of the given group of endings. The names of certain chapters have an unusual ring: “Do not hurry”, ‘The problem of exchanging”, “The principle of two weaknesses”, and so on. For this English edition the author has added a number of endings played in recent times, as well as endings from games by the strongest English players. The main value of the book, in my opinion, lies in the fact that it contains specific advice and recommendations on how to improve endgame technique, for which the practical player will sometimes search in vain when studying multi-volume reference books on the endgame. A. Yusupov International Grandmaster INTRODUCTION From the practical point of view, the endgame is the least well studied stage of chess. Chess literature contains very few works on the endgame, and in the main these are reference works, in which theoretical and not practical positions are analyzed. The present book is an attempt to study and systemize certain basic practical principles of the playing of chess endings. ‘The necessity for a systematic approach to the study of chess endings occurred to me mainly as a result of my teaching experience. It is no secret that, in the pre- paration of young players, many trainers and teachers devote most attention to the study of numerous opening systems and the forms of middlegame resulting from them. The endgame is always allotted very little time. Some trainers give their pupils the most elementary conceptions of the end- game, assuming that with the general development of a player his mastery of end- game play will also rise. Others demonstrate long and complex analyses from refer- ence books, although the probability of such positions being repeated in a practical game is slight. It is evident that both approaches are a long way from the truth: the mastery of a player is directly dependent not so much upon his amount of theo- retical knowledge, as upon his understanding of the general principles of conducting chess endings In 1976 I happened to be the second of international master Mark Dvoryetsky during the USSR Championship 1st League in Minsk. Dvoryetsky adjourned his game with grandmaster Taimanov in a superior position. In one of the lines of analysis a rook ending with f- and h-pawns was reached. Dvoryetsky referred to a book on rook endings, and began studying the appropriate chapter. I was surprised: after all, Dvoryetsky is a great expert on the endgame. To my question he replied that he knew the basic principles of playing such endings, but did not even attempt to remember lengthy concrete analyses. Later during the tournament we frequently discussed the question of how to study the endgame. Dvoryetsky considers it essential to know the classics, to analyze complicated practical rather than theo- retical endings, and to find general rules and principles of play in complex endings. ‘And in theoretical endings it is sufficient to know whether the ending is won or drawn, and to have a rough impression of the plan of play. Of course, every trainer has his own style of working, and his own system for preparing players. But it is worth recalling that Mark Dvoryetsky, an Honoured Trainer of the Russian Federal Republic, has prepared three Junior World Cham- pions. And all three — Valery Chekhov, Artur Yusupov and Sergey Dolmatov ~ are very strong in the endgame. Of course, the role of exact knowledge in the endgame should not be under- estimated. It'is no accident that Fizkultura i Sport has begun publishing a second edition of the multitome study of the endgame edited by grandmaster Yuri x INTRODUCTION ‘Averbakh*. And even so, in the introduction to this series it is emphasized that a sure indication of a strong player is good playing technique in complex endings. The present book studies such basic principles of play in complex endings as centralization of the king, schematic thinking, prophylaxis, and the principles of “do not hurry” and of two weaknesses. The majority of these were formulated with amazing precision and conciseness in an article by a talented Soviet master who was killed during the Second World War, Sergey Byelavyenets, an extract from which is given after this introduction. Also examined are typical endgame positions with the advantage of two bishops, an isolated d-pawn, and a 3-2 Q-side pawn majority. Some examples are given to study the problem of exchanging, and ways of battling for the initiative in the endgame. In conclusion we give a number of complex end- ings, in which the various principles expounded in the previous chapters are put into practice, The knowledge of many rules, and the choice of a specific plan based on them, is mainly of a psychological nature. Therefore in certain examples, especially where Byelorussian players are involved, I have laid particular emphasis on the competitive situation in which the game was played. OF course, the rules and recommendations given in the book cannot be regarded as unshakeable and universal endgame laws. Chess is too complex and diverse for that. Latent or manifest in each position are its rules, principles and regularities, many of which a player will often sense intuitively. Without pretending to offer universal recommendations, the author has aimed mainly to help players to be better oriented in endings, and to be more correct and accurate in taking the necessary decisions in practical play. ‘Comprebensve Chess Endings, is curently being published in five volumes by Pergamon Press. CHAPTER 1 BASIC PRINCIPLES OF ENDGAME PLAY S. BYELAVYENETS During the fierce battles of the middle- game, passions are aroused. Sacrifices and striking combinations are in the ai and each of the players watches intense- ly for tactical blows, clever traps, and subtle unexpected moves. Then sudden- ly, mass exchanges take place, the heated combinational skirmishes come to an end, and a prosaic endgame ensues, Sometimes the transition into the end- game occurs at the will of one of the players, who assumes that here it will be easier to exploit his advantage. In the endgame, technique becomes of primary importance. First of all a player must retune his thinking and his mood. One can virtually forget about ‘brilliancy’ and tactics. 1 would advise every player, if time on his clock permits, to spend several minutes on ‘calming the passions aroused in him’. Subsequently this loss of time will without fail be justified, since the player will be examining the position correctly, from the ‘endgame’ point of view. What does this mean? This question must be dwelt on in some detail, since multi-tome endgame books, with their countless examples and positions, do not devote sufficient attention to ‘the course of a player's thinking in the endgame. In the middlegame his thoughts are mainly occupied by the calculation of variations, which are subordinate to some aim. The main things that a player is occupied with in the middlegame are the checking of all kinds of tactical blows, and the calculation of combina- tions ‘and variations. In the endgame things are different. Only in rare, so- called combinational endings, must the attention be focused on calculation, on tactics. In the overwhelming majority of endings it is essential to think in terms of plans. Variations play a secondary role. ‘The main role belongs to schematic thinking, and the possibility of setting up this or that position is checked by calculating variations. We plan the de- ployment of our own pieces that we re- quire, taking account, of course, of what the opponent may do. Then we check by a calculation of variations whether it is possible to achieve this position. For example: in the following position from the game Capablanca—Ragozin, Moscow, 1936, White formulated his tasks very concisely. | ial 2 r Capablanca writes about his thoughts during the game: “White’s plan is to prevent the ad- vance of the c:pawn (after which the b- pawn could become weak) and to con- tol the entire board up to the fifth rank. Endgame Strategy This is achieved by moving the king to ¢3, and by placing the rook at c3, the knight at d4, and the pawns at b4 and £4. After he has attained such a position, White will be able to advance his Q-side pawns.” ‘As we see, variations did not interest Capablanca, and he was not even inte- rested in the time and speed with which the planned position would be attained, ‘The main thing was that the required type of position had been selected, and the subsequent play followed according to plan. 1 Not Rb7 2 bt Bd7 3 ft Ke7 4 Kf2 Ra? 5 Re3 Kd6 6 Rd3 Ke7 7 Ke3 Rat 8 Re3 Kd6 The setup planned by White is com- plete. He is now faced with a new problem — that of advancing his Q-side pawns. To do this he must first take his king to the aid of the pawns which are to be advanced. 9 Rd3 10 Re3 Ke7 Kd6 ‘A few words about repeating moves. A basic rule of the endgame is: do not ony Uf dete & a posstilny of duane ing a pawn two squares or one, advance it first one square, look carefully around, and only then advance it a further square. Of course, you should not hurry in quiet positions, whereas in combina- tional endings things are different. To many the rule of “do not hurry” may seem paradoxical, but in fact it is seen in practically all the endings of games by {great masters of the endgame. Look care- fully at the endings of Capablanca and Flohr, and you will see with what slow- ness, sometimes bordering on tedium, they realize an advantage. ‘The repetition of moves in the end- game plays an important role. Distegard- ing the fact that it gains time for think- ing, it can be mentioned that, by repeat- ing moves, the active side acquires certain psychological gains. The defender, whose position is inferior, often cannot stand it, and creates a further weakening which eases his opponent’s task. In addi- tion, repeating moves enables the posi- tion to be clarified to the maximum ex- tent. We know that many upholders of ‘pure’ chess will severely criticize us for this advice. But we cannot refrain from advising players: you should sometimes repeat moves in the endgame! In the struggle every chance has to be exploit- ed, and there is nothing ugly or unethical in repeating moves. 11 Nez #6 12 Rd3+ Ke6 13 Kd4 Ra6 14 Re3+ Kd6 15 Ne3 {5 16 bs ‘The pawns begin their advance and the white pieces are able to support them. It should be noted that Capa- blanca began advancing his pawns only when his pieces had occupied their strongest possible positions. Of course, now Black cannot capture on a3 due to 17 Net+. 16... Ra8 17 Ket Be6+ 18 Kbt 5+ 19 bxe6 Bgs 20 Nb5+ Kxe6 21 Rds White can now manage without the advance of his apawn, Black’s K-side pawns are weakened, and one of them falls,