Liquidation on the Chess Board New & Extended: Mastering the Transition into the Pawn Endgame

by Joel Benjamin

Overview

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..

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9789056918255
Publisher:	New in Chess
Publication date:	09/15/2019
Edition description:	3rd Edition
Pages:	304
Sales rank:	1,091,010
Product dimensions:	6.60(w) x 9.20(h) x 0.90(d)

About the Author

Joel Benjamin broke Bobby Fischer's record as the youngest ever US master, and this was followed by countless tournament successes. He won the US Championship three times and was the chess consultant for IBM's Deep Blue computer, which made history by beating World Champion Garry Kasparov. His bestselling Better Thinking, Better Chess (2018) is the first book to focus on optimizing your thought process.

Editorial Reviews

"Benjamin has managed to create an excellent guide to a difficult theme that has been badly served in chess literature. If you are really serious about improving your chess, you should work on your Benjamin!"

Magazine Schach - Frank Zeller

"The book is anything but dry. Benjamin is excellent at explaining not only the intricacies of specific positions, but also useful practical guidance for general endgame play. I felt that I gained a lot from these instructions."

Chess.com - David Smerdon

"I am not aware of any prior book which covered this subject, other than perhaps in passing. It takes only a moment's thought to realize that all king and pawn endings started out as endings with more pieces on the board, and therefore this is a subject worthy of its own manual. I feel that GM Benjamin really hit the mark with this book."

ChessIQ - Chris Wainscott

"I have, until now, never seen a collection of exercises on the theme of transition into the endgame, let alone with such precise solutions as Benjamin presents here."

Dennis Calder

"Entertainment is never far away. The material, which feels very fresh, provides an impressive series of easily digestible lessons."

CHESS Magazine - Sean Marsh

"Strongly recommended. In transitions into pawn endgames a lot can be gained and a lot can be lost."

Schach Magazine 64

"Well written and thoroughly researched. The selected examples have a strong practical value. This is an impressive work for players at any level above beginner - but it's not a dry endgame manual. The games contain some beautiful ideas and overall I found the book very interesting."

Daniel King

"The book works quite addictively. It's dealing with one of the big moments of uncertainty in practical chess."

Matthew Sadler

"A labour of love that has produced an outstanding book."

Chess Moves Magazine - Gary Lane

"An excellent new book. The theme of the right exchange is underrepresented in chess literature, and Joel Benjamin manages to highlight its importance by investigating the transition into a pawn endgame in deep detail."

Fundamental Chess Endings - Karsten Muller

"Engages itself with a theme on which there is not a lot of literature. It will doubtlessly enrich players with a new aspect of the art of playing chess."

Uwe Bekemann

"Very instructive are not only the many exercises at the end of each chapter, but in particular the last chapter where Benjamin once more summarizes every important motif in pawn endings, with examples and explications."

KARL Magazine - Harry Schaack

"Not much has been written about liquidation into the pawn endgame, an important motif. In endgame books it is often only indirectly touched upon. This book is therefore to be recommended."

Richard Vedder