en Ai Co CU THE CHESS ENDGAME STUDY ‘Oy oe we esi: : pli m } H i} —_ i ea Introduction | y Second re fised edition | | fr eer ad NEY ge he esA.J. Royeroft THE CHESS ENDGAME STUDY A Comprehensive Introduction Classical Arab chessplayers called them mansuba, “arrangements”, to Renaissance Europeans they were “subtleties” or “stratagems”; today these refined chess composi- tions claim a discrete territory and nomenclature all their own: the endgame study. The endgame study, like the chess problem, eliminates over-the-board competition to concentrate on an invented endgame position carefully plotted to fox, bewilder, challenge and otherwise stimulate the solver. Unlike problems, studies do not stipulate the number of moves to the solution; they demand a greater knowledge of endgame theory, thus becoming useful tools for actual players, while giving “studyists” self- contained epiphanies of compositional art. A. J. Roycroft, founder of the Chess Endgame Study Circle and editor of its magazine EG, defines this kind of composition as using “the chessboard, chessmen and chess manoeuvres in much the same way the composer of music treats sound, instruments and sequences of notes.” Such harmony of aesthetics and science permeates this book, the only complete introduction in any language to the endgame study. The author has completely revised this second edition, incorporating new information and carefully up- dating commentary, studies and sources. Roycroft writes the history of the endgame study with its international roster of great theorists and composers, he directs an en- cyclopedic discourse to all varieties of chess lovers—casual solvers, “cook” hunters, composers and connoisseurs, analysts and judges; he gives over 400 endgame studies dating from 9th-century Arabia to the present. All studies, from the transparent to the endlessly complex, are annotated (many revised) with the genial wit and spirit evident throughout. Roycroft devotes much thought to definition, classification, and retrieval of published endgame studies, providing his own modification of the Guy-Blandford system; he investigates motivation and creativity, summing up with an apologia on chess as game, science and art. The Chess Endgame Study, wholly revised in this paperback edition, resumes its status as the classic exposition of the discipline. Every student, player, professional and amateur of chess will want it for constant reference; many readers will become zealous exponents of the endgame stratagem. Revised and expanded Dover (1981) republication of the work originally published by Faber & Faber Ltd., London, 1972, under the tide Test Tube Chess. Extensive revi- sions, new material and new author's note to the second edition. Bibliographies, dia- gram retrieval key, list of personalities, index. 370pp. 5% x 8%. Paperbound. Free Complete Dover Chess Catalog available upon request. ISBN 0-486-24186-6THE CHESS ENDGAME STUDY A Comprehensive Introduction