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The World's Most Boring Chess Book
The Isolated d-Pawn in the Endgame
272 Seiten, kartoniert, Russell Enterprises, 1. Auflage 2025
Chess, so the theory goes, takes 10,000 hours of practice to master. Clearly not all of those hours will be enjoyable and studying 80 endgames featuring a specific isolated pawn is definitely not in the fun category. This is where The World’s Most Boring Chess Book comes in.
What The World’s Most Boring Chess Book lacks in entertainment, it makes up in examples explaining how to push for a win in an endgame where one side is saddled with an isolated pawn, and how to defend against such efforts. The commentary which accompanies the deep analysis, makes the subject accessible but never easy: even the endgames with just kings and pawns are surprisingly challenging.
"Isolated pawns are one major type of technical position. One can find oneself in such a position from many different openings, or at the end of a middlegame or endgame battle. Hundreds of fascinating games have been played with an isolated pawn and Rogers and Hazai deeply analyse 80 of them in this book… [A] reader will learn which pieces it is better to exchange, when one can wait patiently, and when one needs to look for active counterplay… If you are not shy about working diligently and want to improve your technique, then this book is for you!" – From the Foreword by Boris Gelfand
Many chessplayers are uncomfortable in positions which have an isolated d-pawn. With the help of the authors, you will come to embrace these positions, whether on offence or defence. What excellent ennui!
Hungarian International Master Laszlo Hazai is a noted trainer and theoretician who has worked with elite Grandmasters such as Judit Polgar and Boris Gelfand and multiple World Junior Champions. Hazai is also a gold medal winning Olympic captain for Hungary. This is his first book for Russell Enterprises.
Ian Rogers is an Australian Grandmaster. He is commentator, trainer, and author who has tried to make the book accessible for players below a 2700 rating. His previous works for Russell Enterprises include two immensely enjoyable books, Oops! I Resigned Again! and Oops! I Resigned One More Time!.
What The World’s Most Boring Chess Book lacks in entertainment, it makes up in examples explaining how to push for a win in an endgame where one side is saddled with an isolated pawn, and how to defend against such efforts. The commentary which accompanies the deep analysis, makes the subject accessible but never easy: even the endgames with just kings and pawns are surprisingly challenging.
"Isolated pawns are one major type of technical position. One can find oneself in such a position from many different openings, or at the end of a middlegame or endgame battle. Hundreds of fascinating games have been played with an isolated pawn and Rogers and Hazai deeply analyse 80 of them in this book… [A] reader will learn which pieces it is better to exchange, when one can wait patiently, and when one needs to look for active counterplay… If you are not shy about working diligently and want to improve your technique, then this book is for you!" – From the Foreword by Boris Gelfand
Many chessplayers are uncomfortable in positions which have an isolated d-pawn. With the help of the authors, you will come to embrace these positions, whether on offence or defence. What excellent ennui!
Hungarian International Master Laszlo Hazai is a noted trainer and theoretician who has worked with elite Grandmasters such as Judit Polgar and Boris Gelfand and multiple World Junior Champions. Hazai is also a gold medal winning Olympic captain for Hungary. This is his first book for Russell Enterprises.
Ian Rogers is an Australian Grandmaster. He is commentator, trainer, and author who has tried to make the book accessible for players below a 2700 rating. His previous works for Russell Enterprises include two immensely enjoyable books, Oops! I Resigned Again! and Oops! I Resigned One More Time!.
| EAN | 9781963885019 |
|---|---|
| Gewicht | 360 g |
| Hersteller | Russell Enterprises |
| Breite | 15 cm |
| Höhe | 22,5 cm |
| Medium | Buch |
| Erscheinungsjahr | 2025 |
| Autor | Laszlo HazaiIan Rogers |
| Sprache | Englisch |
| Auflage | 1 |
| ISBN-13 | 978-1-963885-01-9 |
| Seiten | 272 |
| Einband | kartoniert |
| Name | Russell Enterprises |
|---|---|
| Adresse | 234 Depot Road Milford, CT 06460 USA |
| Internet | www.Russell-Enterprises.com |
| hwr@russell-enterprises.com |
Verantwortlicher Importeur:
| Name | Schachversand Niggemann |
|---|---|
| Adresse | Schadowstraße 5 48163 Münster Deutschland |
| info@schachversand.de | |
| Internet | www.schachversand.de |
004 Introduction
006 Foreword by Boris Gelfand
007 Chapter 1) Pawns
042 Chapter 2) Knights
053 Chapter 3) Bishops
072 Chapter 4) Knights and Bishops
098 Chapter 5) Rooks
124 Chapter 6) Major Pieces
147 Chapter 7) Single Rook and Minor Pieces
192 Chapter 8) Double Rooks and Minor Pieces
215 Chapter 9) Double Rooks and Multiple Minor Pieces
232 Chapter 10) Queens and Minor Pieces
242 Chapter 11) Major and Minor Pieces
272 About the Authors
006 Foreword by Boris Gelfand
007 Chapter 1) Pawns
042 Chapter 2) Knights
053 Chapter 3) Bishops
072 Chapter 4) Knights and Bishops
098 Chapter 5) Rooks
124 Chapter 6) Major Pieces
147 Chapter 7) Single Rook and Minor Pieces
192 Chapter 8) Double Rooks and Minor Pieces
215 Chapter 9) Double Rooks and Multiple Minor Pieces
232 Chapter 10) Queens and Minor Pieces
242 Chapter 11) Major and Minor Pieces
272 About the Authors
A Manual of Squeeze Play.
The title is a misnomer or intentionally ironic, for the book is not boring at all, far from it. It is, however, quite niche in subject matter, for Ian Rogers and Laszlo Hazai concern themselves solely with endgames (and in a few instances what I would describe as late middlegames) where one side has an isolated d-pawn and the other side is pressing for a win with (almost invariably) the draw in hand. There is only one position where, momentarily, all three results look possible.
You need to have an established understanding of the simpler (well not simpler, exactly: more fundamental, those with fewer pieces) endgames to start with, because the more complicated endgames will often lead in their direction. So we have early chapters covering pure pawn endgames, endgames where each side has only a knight, bishop or rook (also bishop versus knight and knight versus bishop). Then come endgames with rooks and minor pieces in various combinations, followed by those with queens and minor pieces, and queens and rooks. Finally, we have positions with queens, rooks and minor pieces. These positions often having a distinct middlegame character. (Perhaps because they are middlegames?) However, quite often pieces are soon exchanged. There are no pure queen and pawn endings, curiously enough.
If you have a penchant for positional or endgame play, you will relish the detailed, in-depth examination of some 80 positions, many taken from games played at the highest level. There are two heavyweight Karpov-Korchnoi duels, a pithy Carlsen-Adams encounter and Fischer’s elegant win against Filip. Flohr and Andersson show exquisite technique in the positions given here (don’t they always?), players of this ilk being in their element. As you work through book, you learn much about positional play in the endgame and how to foster a slight advantage into something tangible and substantial, perhaps even a win. Nor are the defender’s resources overlooked. The authors’ clear aim is to arrive at the truth of each position.
Nonetheless, I did notice a certain curious feature (or, dare I say it, even a bias?) when it came to the authors’ selection of bishop endings (see chapter 3 and positions 48, 56 and 64), which is that the isolated d-pawn player’s bishop is always bad, of the same colour as the isolated d-pawn, that pawn being fixed in place. This gives the player without the isolated d-pawn additional advantages, such as the possibility of blockading the pawn with the king and infiltrating along weak squares of one colour, say e5 or c5 where the isolani stands on …d5 and king is on d4 (W: Kd4, Bf3, Pe3 B: Kd6 Bc6, Pd5, with other pawns elsewhere). There is only one position, as far as I could see, where the isolated d-pawn player has a bishop of a different colour to the isolated pawn. In that instance (it is position 63 and not a pure bishop ending) Beliavsky makes a draw against Aronian with active play, as only he can.
I feel also that it might have been salutary to include at least one or two double-edged positions where the player without the isolated d-pawn over-presses and meets a grisly end (position 42 comes close to seeing this happen, but Lane doesn’t quite manage to turn the tables on Sadler), if only by way of a warning: a kind of memento mori for the player who would rely on technique alone. But because the book is about how to play against the isolated d-pawn, the authors have selected positions that are intended to illustrate model or typical play. Still, an element of jeopardy is largely absent.
As I say at the start of this review, in no way at all can this book be fairly described as boring: the positions are immersive and instructive and the play often beautiful. Plaskett sacrificing a pawn against Zak (position 16), in order to bring about Zugzwang, being one neat example. It is a useful book as well, because the isolated d-pawn can arise from a number of different openings. The value of The World’s Most Boring Chess Book to me is as a classy manual of squeeze play, albeit in a very specific strategic context.
Paul Kane
https://thecaissakid.wordpress.com/2025/09/10/the-worlds-most-boring-chess-book/
The title is a misnomer or intentionally ironic, for the book is not boring at all, far from it. It is, however, quite niche in subject matter, for Ian Rogers and Laszlo Hazai concern themselves solely with endgames (and in a few instances what I would describe as late middlegames) where one side has an isolated d-pawn and the other side is pressing for a win with (almost invariably) the draw in hand. There is only one position where, momentarily, all three results look possible.
You need to have an established understanding of the simpler (well not simpler, exactly: more fundamental, those with fewer pieces) endgames to start with, because the more complicated endgames will often lead in their direction. So we have early chapters covering pure pawn endgames, endgames where each side has only a knight, bishop or rook (also bishop versus knight and knight versus bishop). Then come endgames with rooks and minor pieces in various combinations, followed by those with queens and minor pieces, and queens and rooks. Finally, we have positions with queens, rooks and minor pieces. These positions often having a distinct middlegame character. (Perhaps because they are middlegames?) However, quite often pieces are soon exchanged. There are no pure queen and pawn endings, curiously enough.
If you have a penchant for positional or endgame play, you will relish the detailed, in-depth examination of some 80 positions, many taken from games played at the highest level. There are two heavyweight Karpov-Korchnoi duels, a pithy Carlsen-Adams encounter and Fischer’s elegant win against Filip. Flohr and Andersson show exquisite technique in the positions given here (don’t they always?), players of this ilk being in their element. As you work through book, you learn much about positional play in the endgame and how to foster a slight advantage into something tangible and substantial, perhaps even a win. Nor are the defender’s resources overlooked. The authors’ clear aim is to arrive at the truth of each position.
Nonetheless, I did notice a certain curious feature (or, dare I say it, even a bias?) when it came to the authors’ selection of bishop endings (see chapter 3 and positions 48, 56 and 64), which is that the isolated d-pawn player’s bishop is always bad, of the same colour as the isolated d-pawn, that pawn being fixed in place. This gives the player without the isolated d-pawn additional advantages, such as the possibility of blockading the pawn with the king and infiltrating along weak squares of one colour, say e5 or c5 where the isolani stands on …d5 and king is on d4 (W: Kd4, Bf3, Pe3 B: Kd6 Bc6, Pd5, with other pawns elsewhere). There is only one position, as far as I could see, where the isolated d-pawn player has a bishop of a different colour to the isolated pawn. In that instance (it is position 63 and not a pure bishop ending) Beliavsky makes a draw against Aronian with active play, as only he can.
I feel also that it might have been salutary to include at least one or two double-edged positions where the player without the isolated d-pawn over-presses and meets a grisly end (position 42 comes close to seeing this happen, but Lane doesn’t quite manage to turn the tables on Sadler), if only by way of a warning: a kind of memento mori for the player who would rely on technique alone. But because the book is about how to play against the isolated d-pawn, the authors have selected positions that are intended to illustrate model or typical play. Still, an element of jeopardy is largely absent.
As I say at the start of this review, in no way at all can this book be fairly described as boring: the positions are immersive and instructive and the play often beautiful. Plaskett sacrificing a pawn against Zak (position 16), in order to bring about Zugzwang, being one neat example. It is a useful book as well, because the isolated d-pawn can arise from a number of different openings. The value of The World’s Most Boring Chess Book to me is as a classy manual of squeeze play, albeit in a very specific strategic context.
Paul Kane
https://thecaissakid.wordpress.com/2025/09/10/the-worlds-most-boring-chess-book/
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