Decision Making in Major Piece Endings

Grandmaster Boris Gelfand won the European Junior Championship in 1987 and reached No. 3 in the World in 1990. He has led the Israeli team to numerous medals at both European and Olympiad level. Gelfand won the 2009 World Cup and has participated in six Candidates cycles, winning it in 2011. He lost the 2012 World Championship match in the play-off. At 46 he is still winning tournaments ahead of the best players in the world, in many cases men half his own age.Grandmaster Jacob Aagaard is the most talented chess writer of his generation. He won the British Championship in 2007, but is mostly known for his multi-award-winning books and his work with students who have won club, state, national, continental and world championships, as well as Olympiad individual golds and team golds, the World Cup and Candidates tournament.

"Boris Gelfand gave me two wonderful books yesterday. This will not be a detailed review – I shall put it concisely: both 'Technical Decision Making in Chess' and 'Decision Making in Major Piece Endings' are not aimed at the general public. They are quite unsuitable for casual reading, for leafing through. There are no spoon-fed recipes, and wisdom is not scattered in handfuls to pick up at will.Instead Gelfand invites the reader to plunge into the intricacies of the game. He tells of his perceptions and shares his approach. He thoroughly examines defensive methods and demonstrates what resources are inherent in seemingly simple positions, which solutions are practical and which difficulties should be avoided. The analysis is extremely honest, and given from the standpoint of a great master, though without any narcissism.These books are meant for work. These are books that must be worked through slowly, a few pages a day, setting up the pieces and always thinking deeply. I don't promise that reading these books will give you pleasure, but I guarantee that you will benefit greatly from studying them." -- GM Emil Sutovsky