Secrets of Pawnless Endings (Secrets of Chess Endings)

It 's the best book on that subject.

This is the second book or 3-volumn set that Dr. John Nunn annotates from Dr. Ken Thompson's 4- and 5-piece endgame database. As the title suggests there is no pawn in this study. This book is the most interesting one among all three. There are lots of piece permutations.Unlike the Rook ending book, this one does not have the practical tips at the end of every sections. The reason is most of the presented positions are practical ones that could happen in real games, while the R ending contains many test and study positions. Nonetheless, after giving a short generalization of a position is "mostly" win or draw, Nunn provides us many standard set-ups to look for when we are the offensive or defensive ends. For examples: in the R vs. B ending, he categorizes the defending King position as: a) in the center, b) in good corner, c) in bad corner and d) on the edge of the board.The first 3 sections cover the 4-piece endings, a major piece versus the lesser piece. (R vs. B, R vs. N, and Q vs. R.) The two simple set-ups, Q vs. B and Q vs. N, are not presented because they are "simple", straightforward and covered in other books. Curiously, against an expert player about 2 years ago, I got a Q vs. her N; I could not force the win! I did not know how to position the K and Q; her N-fork was always a threat.The next 4 sections are the battles between the correspondent major pieces, where the strong side has the assistance of one minor piece. (Q vs. Q + B, Q vs. Q + N, R vs. R + B, and, R vs. R + N.)The next 5 sections are where the Q tries to outshine the combinations of 2 less pieces. (Q vs. R + B, Q vs. R + N, Q vs. B + N, Q vs. 2B, and Q vs. 2N.) The first two are generally drawn unless the Q can force checkmate or win unprotected pieces early. In the last three, normally the Q can win rather easily unless the defending side can force some tempi and build a fortress immediately. It's good to memorize these set-ups in case of emergency.The last thinly section covers two interesting endings. First is Q vs. 2 major pieces (Q vs. 2R, Q vs. Q + R, and Q vs. 2 Q.) The first type is usually drawn. In the last two, the weaker side could force stalemate if the stronger side is not careful. The next endgame type is the R vs. two pieces. (R vs. 2R, R vs. B + N, and R vs. 2B.) The 2R usually wins. The B + N combination sometimes could hold back the Q by building a fortress; therefore the R can win in only a very special case. On the defensive end, the R can always gives himself up for a minor piece to avoid any later regret. To end the book, Dr. Nunn gives a humorous position where both on the B's are on the same color, mutually protect each other. Usually, it means that the R can't take any B, but in this special case the R wins.

I would strongly recommend this book. Most of the more serious chess books discussing the endgame make for difficult reading and this is no exception. That's not meant as a criticism, just an observation. Having said that, I have made it a personal mission to solve the Q v. R endgame on Chessmaster and this book has the most detailed discussion of that particular endgame I could find. (It also contains R v. N, which is also in Chessmaster.) Indeed, whereas other books like Fundamental Chess Endings by Muller and Lamprecht or Dvoretsky's Endgame Manual might devote a page or two to that ending, Nunn devotes 30 pages. The book covers only 12 main endgames, but it covers them exceptionally well. For those endgames, I'd recommend this book over any other book I've seen. It has two additional chapters entitled "Other Five-Man Endings" and "Six-Man Endings" but these are nowhere near as thorough as the first twelve chapters.