Since the world chess champions excel in all areas of the game it goes without saying that you
can learn the most not only from their skills in the opening and the middlegame but also from
their superb handling of the endgame. Regardless of whether they were renowned tacticians or
excellent positional players - regardless of whether they analyzed their openings in depth or
played them more intuitively: it is completely out of the question that any of them could have
reached the highest title without perfectly handling the endgame. In order to enable his
readers to learn from the world champions the author has concentrated on their individual
'specialities' - such as Petrosian's unmistakable instinct in questions of the right exchange
and his skills in the endgame rook+knight vs rook+bishop on Spassky's handling of the
initiative Fischer's precision in the so-called 'Fischer endgame' with rook+bishop vs
rook+knight on Karpov's dominance and restriction methods Kasparov's attacks on the king with
reduced material Kramnik's strategic power play especially on a weakened color complex on
Anand's unrelenting pressure play and - last but not least - Carlsen's technique in the
so-called 'Carlsen endgame' with rooks and same-colored bishops. In addition all sorts of
'evergreen classics' of the players are offered some of which appear in a new light thanks to
current analyzes. The reader is also given the ideal training opportunity of numerous exercises
to put himself in the shoes of the world champions and to look for solutions himself. Since the
model of the '4 types of players' (activist pragmatic theorist and reflector) is also
discussed in the margin additional information can be obtained about the importance of this
topic especially in the endgame. And with this in mind the Romanian GM and endgame expert
Mihail Marin invites you in his foreword not just to take a look at the most outstanding
endgame achievements of the world champions but also to enjoy them.
