Synopsis
The Daunting Domain of Queen Endgames Explained!
Knowing the abilities and limitations of the powerful queen is very valuable for mastering the secrets of the royal game, and this can be studied best in the endgame.
Queen endgames are very difficult, if only for purely mathematical reasons – the queen is the most mobile peace in chess, and the amount of possible options is incomparably higher than in any other type of endgames.
This book follows a dual philosophy as in the three previous works by the same authors: Understanding Rook Endgames, Understanding Minor Piece Endgames and Understanding Rook vs. Minor Piece Endgames. The 7-piece endings are dealt with in great detail. They are often so complex that pre-tablebase analysis almost always contains errors. Many new discoveries are revealed here.
But to really understand the fight of a queen against a queen or minor pieces with rooks, these theoretical positions are of course not enough. So subchapters on the principles of each material configuration have been added.
All in all, this fantastic book is already on my (very short) "must study" list for chessplayers of different levels, including the top ten! I want to thank the authors for the courage which is required just to start working on such a complex topic, as well as for the very high quality of their work, which will endure for decades to come and will be very useful for many future generations of chessplayers.
– from the Foreword by Vladimir Kramnik,14th World Chess Champion
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About the Authors
German grandmaster Karsten Muller is one of the great endgame theoreticians in the world today. He has written numerous books on the study and practice of endings. He was responsible for revising the latest edition of Dvoretsky's Endgame Manual.
Yakov Konoval is a Russian programmer who has co-authored several books on the endgame
Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.
(A2) Knight Pawn
With a knight pawn, play is similar to a rook pawn, but the winning chances are better as the pawn provides better shelter. There is still a drawing zone in the farthest corner:
02.09 Negi â Postny
Helsingor 2009
[Diagram]
63...Kf1!? The king heads for the main drawing zone h1, g1, h2 and g2, in the southeast corner. After 63...Kd2? 64.b5, Black is mated in 91 moves as the king is cut off from the drawing zone.
64.b5 Qc7+ 65.Kd5 Qb7+ 66.Qc6 Qf7+ 67.Kd6 Qf4+ 68.Kd7 Qf7+ 69.Kc8 Qf8+ 70.Kb7 Qe7+ 71.Qc7 Qe4+ 72.Ka6 Qa4+ 73.Qa5 Qc4 74.Qa1+ Kg2
[Diagram]
Postny's king has reached the drawing zone. 75.Qb2+ Kh1 76.Qh8+ Kg1 77.Qg7+ Kh1 78.Qb7+ Kh2 79.Qc6 Qa2+ 80.Kb7 Kg1 81.Qc1+ Kf2 The king leaves the drawing zone for a moment, but it is no problem as it can come back. 82.Qc5+ Kf1 83.b6 Qg2+ 84.Ka6 Qa8+ 85.Kb5
[Diagram]
85...Qe8+! The king can't enter the drawing zone at this time. So the check is the only drawing move. 85...Qf3? is met by 86.Qc1+ Kf2 87.Qg5i and the king is cut off from the drawing zone. 86.Ka5 Qe1+ 87.Ka6 Qa1+ 88.Qa5 Qf6! 89.Qb5+ Kg1 90.Qc5+ Kh1 91.Ka7 Qa1+ 92.Kb7 Qg7+ 93.Qc7 Qf8 94.Qd7 Qf2 95.Qd5+ Kg1 96.Qg5+ Kh1 97.Kc6 Qc2+ 98.Kd6 Qh2+ 99.Qe5 Qh6+ 100.Kc5 Qc1+ 101.Kd5 Qd2+ 102.Qd4 Qg5+ 103.Kc4 Qc1+ 104.Qc3 Qf1+ 105.Kb4 Qb1+ 106.Qb3 Qe1+ 107.Kb5 Qe5+ 108.Ka6 Qa1+ 109.Kb7 Qg7+ 110.Kc6 Qf6+ 111.Kc5 Qe7+ 112.Kd4 Qf6+ 113.Kd3 Qf5+ 114.Kc3 Qe5+ 115.Kb4 Qe1+ 116.Qc3 Qb1+ 117.Ka5 Qa2+ 118.Kb5 Qd5+ 119.Qc5 Qd3+ 120.Kc6 Qg6+ 121.Kb7 Qf7+ 122.Ka6 Qa2+ 123.Qa5 Qe2+ 124.Ka7 Qf2 125.Qd5+ Kg1 126.Kb7 Qf8 127.Qd4+ Kh1 128.Qe4+ Kg1 129.Qe3+ Kh1 130.Ka7 Qf2!?
[Diagram]
A nice stalemate joke. 131.Qe4+ Kg1 132.Kb7 Qf7+ 133.Kc6 and after his fantastic defensive performance Postny probably claimed a draw as per the 50-move rule. ½-½
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