Chess Movies represents a new idea in the Pandolfini Chess Library series. It offers instructional material with every single move diagrammed and explained. Thus a chessboard and pieces are not needed to follow through. This makes it possible to rely solely on the book itself, as one would with a text on tactics and problems, without having to set up the positions. It's almost as if one is sitting in a movie theater, watching the film roll by, with the narrative carried along by subtitles. But whereas a film seen in the theater just keeps going, here you can "stop" the action and take time thinking about what you're seeing and what's being explained to you, as if you were home watching on your own DVD.
In this second volume of the Chess Movies series, The Means and Ends , the enthusiast is presented with an assortment of 64 precisely finessed and well-executed endgames from the oeuvres of the world's foremost chess gladiators. Lasker, Rubinstein, Capablanca, Karpov, Fischer, Anand and other chess gods, offered in stratagem, maneuver, and insightful simplification, provide the subject matter for this newest collection of chess cinema. Taking off from volume 1 of the Chess Movies series, the present volume shows the other end of successful chess play, the actual final moves of winning endgames. Read and watch on, and may all of you play happily ever after.
About the author
Chess Master Bruce Pandolfini has been one of the most popular chess writers in the world for more than four decades. He has written on all aspects of the game and is also considered one of the premier chess instructors in the United States.
**********
Introduction
In the first book of the Chess Movies® series, the opening was featured. The material consisted of games finishing in nine moves or fewer. The games hinged on traps or surprising ways to exploit blunders and inexact moves. In this second offering of the series, the focus is on the endgame. Like in Chess Movies® 1: Quick Tricks , all the examples in Chess Movies® 2: The Means and Ends are drawn from actual play. But there's more to it.
Arranged in chronological order from 1789 to 2007, the endings contained herein are not merely the conclusions of real games. Each illustration terminates in a position that is checkmate or on the verge of checkmate. Additionally intriguing are the players responsible for the victories. For the most part the games have been played by the best players in the world, often against each other. Here we can relive the final moves of some of the most exciting battles of all time. Indeed, among the inclusions are positions drawn from classic world championship matches. They underscore a great truth: that even the very best players can fall for checkmate. We can watch, for instance, how Alekhine cornered Capablanca in a hopeless pin (example 18) or the way Smyslov set up Botvinnik, luring him into a devilish snare where checkmate could not be averted (example 27).
Although such examples, some drawn from rapid contests, often revolve around tactical play, we still get to see strategic endgame principles put to good use. Whether the win is achieved by a rook on the seventh rank, the better positioned king, the advance of a dangerous passed pawn, or the constrictive power of a more centralized queen, most of the wins accomplished herein are brought about by the timely interplay of strategy and tactics. But judge for yourself, and while you're at it, sit back and enjoy the show.
Bruce Pandolfini
New York, NY
April 2011
Content:
005 Introduction
006 (1) Philidor vs. Wilson, 1789
009 (2) LaBourdonnais vs. McDonnell, 1834
012 (3) McDonnell vs. LaBourdonnais, 1834
015 (4) Staunton vs. Cochrane, 1842
018 (5) Staunton vs. Williams, 1851
021 (6) Morphy vs. Thompson, 1859
024 (7) Zukertort vs. Anderssen, 1866
027 (8) Steinitz vs. Anderssen, 1866
030 (9) Steinitz vs. Zukertort, 1872
033 (10) Lasker vs. Schiffers, 1896
036 (11) Spielmann vs. Nimzowitsch, 1905
039 (12) Rubinstein vs. Chigorin, 1906
042 (13) Rubinstein vs. Salwe, 1906
045 (14) Lasker vs. Tarrasch, 1908
048 (15) Janowski vs. Capablanca, 1916
051 (16) Euwe vs. Von Hartingsvelt, 1922
054 (17) Filipcic vs. Lasker, 1924
057 (18) Capablanca vs. Alekhine, 1927
060 (19) Bolgoljubow vs. Alekhine, 1929
063 (20) Levinfish vs. Romanovsky, 1933
066 (21) Keres vs. Stahlberg, 1939
069 (22) Botvinnik vs. Bronstein, 1951
071 (23) Smyslov vs. Keres, 1953
073 (24) Borisenko vs. Simagin, 1955
076 (25) Geller vs. Radulescu, 1956
079 (26) Petrosian vs. Trifunovic, 1957
082 (27) Smyslov vs. Botvinnik, 1958
085 (28) Mednis vs. Fischer, 1958
088 (29) Botvinnik vs. Dueckstein, 1958
091 (30) Botvinnik vs. Raizman, 1958
094 (31) Polugaevsky vs. Szilagyi, 1960
097 (32) Fischer vs. Petrosian, 1961
100 (33) Reshevsky vs. Fischer, 1964
102 (34) Fischer vs. Witczek, 1964
105 (35) Botvinnik vs. Smyslov, 1964
107 (36) Fischer vs. Durao, 1966
110 (37) Letelier vs. Smyslov, 1967
113 (38) Karpov vs. Byrne, 1971
116 (39) Larsen vs. Fischer, 1971
119 (40) Karpov vs. Mecking, 1971
122 (41) Hamann vs. Gligoric, 1972
125 (42) Karpov vs. Pomar, 1974
128 (43) Beliavsky vs. Sveshnikov, 1974
131 (44) Rizvonov vs. Kasparov, 1975
134 (45) Kortschnoi vs. Karpov, 1978
137 (46) Arnasson vs. Kasparov, 1980
140 (47) Larsen vs. Kasparov, 1983
143 (48) Rogers vs. Kortschnoi, 1986
146 (49) Ivanchuk vs. Ivanovic, 1988
149 (50) Beliavsky vs. Adams, 1989
152 (51) Anand vs. Kamsky, 1990
155 (52) Adams vs. Anand, 1992
158 (53) Van Wely vs. Anand, 1992
161 (54) Kamsky vs. Kramnik, 1992
164 (55) Topalov vs. Kasparov, 1994
167 (56) Krasenkow vs. Anand, 1996
170 (57) Kramnik vs. Van Wely, 1998
173 (58) Topalov vs. Piket, 1998
176 (59) Karpov vs. Anand, 1998
179 (60) Petursson vs. Anand, 2000
182 (61) Kasparov vs. Shirov, 2001
185 (62) Carlsen vs. Trygstad, 2003
188 (63) Anand vs. Morozevich, 2007
191 (64) Carlsen vs. Shirov, 2008
194 Some Endgame Advice and Observations
198 Type of Mate or Principal Forces
199 Player Index
200 Concept Themes | 
