Book Notice: *One Knight Saves the Day* and *One Pawn Saves the Day*
The new chess publisher Elk and Ruby, which put out the books on David Bronstein and Mikhail Tal that I recently reviewed (here and here), has also released a couple of small but fun books written - or maybe more accurately, compiled - by Sergei Tkachenko. Tkachenko is a Ukranian composer of endgame studies, and in these volumes he has collected 100 of his favorites in which White winds up with either nothing but a knight after his final move (in the one volume) or nothing but a pawn (in the other) - excluding the king, of course.
The format of both books is the same: a diagram with the starting position and the task on the odd-numbered page, with the solution given on the next page, overleaf. The studies aren't especially long - the solutions typically run from 5-7 moves - so they are manageable. One need not be a world champion solver to work these out. But don't be fooled! Even though the solutions aren't monstrously long and you even know that at the end White will have only one knight left (again, at least as of his last move; it might be captured by Black in reply, creating some sort of draw - most likely stalemate) or only one pawn left (depending on which book it is), the positions will still be challenging for most readers. (When I didn't give a puzzle my full attention, I would regularly miss something. When I did give it my full attention I'd manage to get it right, but sometimes it took a while.) It's a good workout, and the book's small size and well-chosen puzzles makes it a handy and enjoyable way to pick up some practice not just at home but when you've got a few minutes on the go.
The book's Amazon pages are here and here, and you can find some examples in the "Look Inside" feature. $11.99 seems a little bit much, given the book's small size, but I do like them, and think either would make a nice stocking stuffer for your chess friends this Christmas.