Secrets of Chess Endgame Strategy

A Gambit Classic Reissue: How to marshal your forces in the decisive phase of the game

A large proportion of chess games are decided in the endgame or in the transition to the endgame, but chess literature has provided relatively little guidance for players seeking to improve their skill in making the vital decisions in these phases of the game.

Building on the ideas introduced in his ground-breaking work Foundations of Chess Strategy, Lars Bo Hansen provides a thought-provoking and convincing treatise on general endgame strategy. He explains how players can maximize the practical problems for their opponents while emphasizing the strengths of their own position. Under his guidance, chess-players will more easily focus on the key elements in the position, devise plans for exploiting them to the full, and develop a better understanding of which pieces need to be exchanged, and which weaknesses really matter.

Part 1 of the book discusses the basic principles of endgame strategy and the thinking methods associated with them, and in Part 2 we see these principles in action in specific types of endings. In Part 3, Hansen investigates the impact of style on the handling of endgame strategy. Many of the examples are from top-level recent practice, and we repeatedly see how the great masters of chess can make difficult tasks appear simple, and in many cases bamboozle their opponents into self-destruction.

Lars Bo Hansen is a well-known grandmaster from Denmark. He has won the Danish Championship on two occasions, and represented his country in four olympiads, winning a bronze medal for his individual performance in 1990. His many tournament victories include first prize in the strong Copenhagen Open in both 1995 and 2000. Away from the board, he holds an MBA and lectures on business studies, with a particular focus on marketing, organization and strategy. This is his second book for Gambit.

"In the past I have played many international matches sitting alongside Lars Bo, and wondered to myself, how he won that equal ending, and also if, as he claims, it is exciting to play chess that way. The book gives a good answer to both matters. One takes as given that the author considers that [the ending] is a really fascinating side of playing chess. And more important is, that he is able to pass this on. ... The research is thorough, and the instructive examples are to a great degree from new material in comparison with earlier works." - GM Peter Heine Nielsen (Magnus Carlsen's trainer), Skakbladet

"takes a more holistic approach in general ... Most major material distributions are discussed." - IM John Watson, The Week in Chess

"One of the hardest things in chess writing is to make endgame education palatable, but this book succeeds where many others have failed." - John Saunders, British Chess Magazine

"Secrets of Chess Endgame Strategy is a challenging book that cannot fail to improve the understanding of any player below 2400 FIDE." - IM John Donaldson, Jeremy Silman's website