Monday, February 16, 2009

Study the endgame

"Why Study the Endgame?" asked fellow-blogger Jonathan B last year. Especially "when there's so much of it," and "you never get one."

Good questions, but I'm guessing that his recent draw with me - when a pawn up in an endgame, with a much better bishop than my offside knight - in our rapidplay tournament may have convinced him that some study may just be worth it.

And lo, Jack Rudd's just posted an endgame test for us all to try out. It's white to move and, says Jack, the "time has come, ladies and gentlemen, for you to use the Comments Box to its full potential: evaluate the position, giving analysis as appropriate."

Ladies? And for that matter, Gentlemen? Never mind. Jack - already an IM and still improving - adds: "in a later post, I shall be giving the game, its significance, and my own take on what I think of this position. But for now, it's in your hands." That's certainly something to look forward to, so do head over and give your opinion. My breathtaking insights are already posted.

2 comments:

ejh said...

Anyway, tomorrow we'll be back to the openings.

But to link the two, I've just had the following insight - if you settle on an opening repetoire and don't change it all the time, this ought to free up time for studying the endgame...

Anonymous said...

Excellent point! That one's going into my notebook.

Caveat: true if you defend with the Breyer, less true if you defend with the Najdorf.