100 Endgame Patterns You Must Know: Recognize Key Moves & Motifs and Avoid Typical Errors

by Jesus de la Villa

Overview

If you are aware of endgame patterns, you spot key moves quicker, analyse and calculate better, and memorize what you have studied more fully. Most of the patterns Jesus de la Villa presents in this new book are from the phase of the game just before a theoretical endgame turns up. Knowing these practical endgame fundamentals will enable you to fully reap the benefits of what you learned in De la Villa’s widely acclaimed classic 100 Endgames You Must Know.

Studying patterns only makes sense if you are going to encounter them frequently. De la Villa presents those with the greatest practical importance and explains and illustrates them with carefully selected examples. To show the patterns as clearly as possible, he mainly concentrates on positions in which the sides have just one piece. Presenting positions with more pieces risks blurring the picture and making motifs less straightforward.

The fact that players think in patterns has an important side-effect: their endgame errors tend to repeat themselves. That’s why De la Villa has not just included examples from games of elite GM’s but also of amateurs. Errors are extremely instructive and working with this book will seriously reduce the number of typical mistakes you are prone to make. The many practical exercises that De la Villa selected will help you improve and retain what you learned.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9789056919733
Publisher:	Continental Sales, Inc.
Publication date:	12/13/2021
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	416
File size:	23 MB
Note:	This product may take a few minutes to download.

About the Author

Jesus de la Villa (1958) is an International Grandmaster born in Spain. He has won the Spanish Championship twice and is a well-known chess coach. De la Villa is the author of the world famous bestsellers 100 Endgames You Must Know and The 100 Endgame You Must Know Workbook.

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