Vasily Smyslov: Endgame Virtuoso

See Complex Endgames through the Eyes of a World Champion

Former World Champion Vasily Smyslov is widely regarded as one of the best endgame players of all time.

In fact, his uncanny feel for where to place his pieces in even the most complex positions earned him the nickname “The Hand.”

With this course, authored by Smyslov himself, you too can learn to make sense of complex endgame positions and train your methodology and intuition for handling such positions.

These aren’t your typical “book” theoretical endgames like you might find in an endgame manual. These are much more practical, strategic endgames like you’ll regularly encounter in real games.

Through a combination of trainable lines, annotated games, and puzzle exercises, Chessable brings new life to this classic book for the 21st century. Topics covered include:

♜King and pawn endgames - learn counterintuitive tricks to win these subtly complicated endgames. Sometimes even giving your opponent a passed pawn is the winning secret!

♜Rook endgames - Smyslov shows how rook activity and king activity are more important than anything in this most common of endings…even material at times

♜Minor piece endgames - learn how to coordinate your minor pieces - also together with rooks - and (often more importantly) keep your opponents’ out of the game!

♜Endgame studies - test your calculation skills against difficult endgame tactics puzzle Smyslov created himself - and practice harmonious piece coordination in the process

♜Full annotated games - Smyslov presents dozens of games - many of his own - starting at the opening, then showing how he steered the middlegame into a favorable ending and converted his advantage for a win

And more. Smyslov’s wide coverage of topics will arm you well for the real world of complex endgames that tend to pop up more often than not.

And with Chessable’s 2022 edition of this classic text, you’ll be able to ingrain these techniques into your endgame skill set. Before you know it, your hand, like Smyslov’s, will instinctively find the right move!