Analysing the Endgame: Practical Endings Studied in Depth

This book essentially consists of a series of endgames analysed in depth. For the most part the examples are taken from practical play or from other endgame books. The author has discovered some flaws in the analysis of some endgames in other books, in special in Fine`s work "Basic Chess Endings". (See my review of the edition revised by P. Benko of this book). As the author says in the preface, it is almost impossible in chess analysis of any kind to avoid some errors. In this respect I discovered a hole and omission in the analysis of the Steinitz-Gunsberg endgame (9th match game for the world title, 1890, page 49, diagram 65 of the 3rd revised edition). This endgame is evaluated as a win for black. In fact, it is a draw. If 3.Kh6 g5, instead of the losing 4.hg? white plays the extremely unobvious 4.Ra3! or 4.Ra8! and draws. The correct evaluation of this endgame (attributed to I. Zaitsev) appeared in the revised (by J.Estrin and I. Romanow) german edition (Schachverlag Rudi Schmaus, 1985, page 11) of the Levenfish and Smyslov book on rook endgames. I checked the correctness of Zaitsev's move Ra3! with the aid of Fritz and the Nalimov tablebases. In the process, I discovered the dual solution Ra8!. I contacted the author directly on ICC (Internet Chess Club). He was *very* responsive and he agreed with the previous analysis. He was not aware that the correct analysis had already been published. However, this omission is forgivable because the (rare) german edition of Levenfish's and Smyslov's work is probably the only with updated analysis and the author consulted only the english edition. I highly recommend this book for the intermediated to advanced player trying to improve her endgame play. It is a pity that this book is now out of print. Maybe it is time for a new updated edition! In the meantime, it would be useful for users of previous editions if Batsford and the author would maintain a webpage with updated analysis. In this case, the book would deserve 5 stars.