I have started recording my online classes, and since I missed out on the first 2, you can join these for only $5 each! This offer applies to these 2 classes only. The promotion classes will take place the next 2 Sundays:
- Interesting Endgames, Class 1: Rook endgames – why they are so difficult. Sunday, May 10 at 11-1pm (Eastern Time). Price: $5
- Interesting Endgames, Class 2: Rook vs. Bishop – the sharpest endgame? Sunday, May 17 at 11-1pm (Eastern Time). Price: $5
There will be 8 puzzles as handouts for both classes. We start out with 1 hour of presentation, then we go offline for 1/2 hour to solve the puzzles. At 12:30pm we go online again for feedback on the puzzles. Incidentally, the sample of 8 puzzles that I put on the blog is the ones for class 1 on rook endgames, so you can download them for free to get a sense of the level.
Payment details can be found in the PDF brochure for the regular program with classes 1-4.
Here is a brief description of the 2 promotion classes:
Class 1: Why are rook endgames so difficult? There are a couple of reasons for that, but the main one is the intermediate move with rooks that are so easy to miss – over the board and in the calculations. My own guideline is to never read a book on rook endgames without the help of a chess engine. At least not an older one, written before the 1990s. Not out of disrespect for old masters, but simply because the positions are so rich: it is easy to miss small tricks. In the class, I will show numerous examples of typical mistakes not picked up in books and try to explain why rook endgames are so difficult based on that.
Class 2: Once a pawn race gets going, both rooks and bishops can easily show their long-range abilities by supporting the own pawn while stopping the opponent’s. The rook is of course the stronger piece of the two, but the battle of configurations K + R + pawn vs. K + B + pawn can get close and make this endgame the sharpest of all. Paradoxically, the endgame can also be very dull, especially in positions where the bishop side is hopelessly weak on the opposite color of the bishop and has to confine in defense only. In that case, it’s a question of fortress or not. I will show examples of both and present the term Fortress-Like Position that I used in The Secret Life of Bad Bishops (Quality Chess, 2014). Often there is a fine line between the two scenarios.
