Endgame Virtuoso Anatoly Karpov: The Exceptional Endgame Skills of the 12th World Champion

I feel overwhelmingly under-qualified to give this book a review, but I guess someone has to step up. I bought "Endgame Virtuoso Anatoly Karpov" first, to enjoy the artistry one of my favorite players ever. And secondly, to eventually augment my Endgame understanding. And that is the author's intent. This is a work dedicated to Karpov's magnificent Endgame skills. In 2007, ChessToday said this is "by far the best work on Karpov's chess to date." The Guardian awarded it their 2007 Chess Book Of The Year. There are many "My Greatest Game's Ever" or "100 Greatest Games of..." books of Champions and Grandmasters. But those encompass an entire game, from Opening to Win. And usually those games selected are dramatic affairs, with brilliant combinations and forced wins in the Middlegame or soon after. But rarer is a tome focusing solely on the astonishing Endgame wins of a single Master. That's a whole different ballgame. I can only recall this honor done for Capablanca ("Capablanca's Best Chess Endings: 60 Complete Games"), and Smyslov ("Vasily Smyslov: Endgame Virtuoso"). Fitting, since it has been said by a lot of Grandmasters that in the strict arena of Endgame, in his prime Karpov was probably the greatest Endgame player ever. I want to state this is not one of those "how to" Endgame manuals in the traditional sense. And definitely not for a Club player just starting out. If you are looking to learn the Endgame in step-by-step form, for beginner's you start with "Silman's Complete Endgame Course". After Silman, you graduate to either "Dvoretsky's Endgame Manual" or "Fundamental Chess Endings" by Karsten Muller & Frank Lamprecht. Do that, in that order, and then I believe you will probably get the most out of "Endgame Virtuoso Anatoly Karpov". At minimum, this book is definitely best absorbed by someone at least at the level of an advanced Club player, 1600 ELO and above. And that might be pushing it. As for the layout of this book itself, it covers 105 selected Endgame wins for Karpov from 1961 to 1990. From his beginnings, his rise to the top, to World Champion, thru to the last stage of his years as Kasparov's only real rival. And, yes, there are 8 games with Kasparov in the book. Each game starts off with the notation going 20 to 30-or-so moves deep before the analysis begins. At that point, a diagram is given, the analysis starts. And the analysis is comprehensive. It's common that there is a paragraph of analysis dedicated to almost every pair of moves. At some key points, sometimes you get almost a full page for a move! There are 3 to 4 diagrams per game. Aside from an index in the back on who Karpov played, the really useful reference is the table in the back called Endgame Classification. That table points to which of the 105 games you can find 12 Endgame Types (Opposite Colored Bishops....Knights...Two Pieces vs. Rook, etc.) and 27 kinds of Endgame themes (Open File...Pawns on one side...King maneuver, etc.). The writing is clear and understood easily. No problems with language and grammatical form (probably due in large measure to English co-author Nick Aplin). I'm waiting for some patzer to get on here eventually and post a 1 to 2 star rating, saying the book is a waste, or too confusing. Regard that person for the amateur that they always will be. Or the other kind of troll; the pretentious wonk armed with an Engine and false-sense of accomplishment. They load up their current version of Fritz and they take the +/- the computer spits out as gospel. Engines are fantastic, but even today's versions of Rybka, Fritz, Shredder, Stockfish, and HIARCS can miss a positional subtlety that IM's and GM's grasp. And Engine analysis can easily be a problematic approach with Karpov. More than any of the greats, Karpov was noted as the master in the endgame of the seemingly innocuous, "quiet" Pawn move that didn't seem to doing much. But after the game was over, the smoke cleared, a win for Karpov, deep analysis found that puzzling move 7 or 13 moves back was the key point in pulling a win from a sure draw. So, yes, your Engine can rightly point out something that has been mis-analyzed by an author. But I would like to point out this isn't Eric Schiller; its IM Tibor Karolyi. A man who helped train Peter Leko in his junior years. As well as some of the Polgar sisters. Unless you're armed with Rybka Cluster, I'll opt to trust Karolyi's analysis to any objections. I am really looking forward to Karolyi's long delayed, two-volume "Karpov's Strategic Wins", hopefully sometime here in 2011. After many unworthy efforts, I'm betting it will finally be the 1st truly correct, dead-on, analytical game collection that has eluded Karpov aficionados all these many years. "Endgame Virtuoso Anatoly Karpov" is definitely recommended to advanced Endgame players, and a must for Karpov fans.

A must for all chess enthusiasts! The book was a surprise. It said “very good”, but it was brand new!!! What a wonderful seller! Thanks 😊

This is a wonderful study/analysis of Karpov's endgame technique and a worthwhile glimpse into the thought processes of a former World Champion. The book has Four major chapters: The early years, Rise to the Top, World Champion and The Later years and covers various ending themes....minor piece endings, rook vs. minor piece endinds, king vs. pawn endings etc. The book is THICK, with a nice tight binding and lays open easily to play through games with chessboard. I love the authors' writing style (T. Karolyi and N. Aplin) and appreciate their in depth analyses, organization, diagram layout and comments on the games in this book. I recommend this book and Karpov's Strategic Wins VOL I and II by the same authors as a great read and study. GET THE HARDCOVER versions if possible (this book is published by NIC, the others by Quality Press) for longevity....Just a thought!

I would have liked to have read this book but the latest printing (as of 2020) is terrible as all the left hand pages are barely legible due to faded ink or a book printing mishap. New In Chess publishers are usually much better than this.

Very interesting book.

Great endgame skills

Un livre d'une grande clarté. À ne pas rater comme livre.

Tema excelente y muy bien desarrollado, el final!

Karolyi picked 105 endgames Karpov played between 1961 and 1990 and analyzes them thoroughly. Some of them are highly technical and highlight endgame theory, but most of them are close to equal endgames played out. The presentation is based on loads of concrete variations, however after some dozen endgames the reader starts to feel what’s going on. Karpov creates harmony, doesn’t rush unless necessary, is aware of the nuances, increases pressure and is very resourceful. Sooner or later his opponents play some second best moves, feel unhappy, take some dubious decisions and finally crack. The result is, Karpov outplays his mighty opponents in equal endgames time after time and wins! Karpov’s play is simply great, 105 games are plenty, the analysis is of high quality - what a joy!