Studies for Practical Players Book 2

Develop Imaginative and Preventive Thinking
Nowadays, chessplayers spend almost all their free time preparing openings, and rarely spend the time necessary to perfect the vitally important technique of calculating. Regular training in solving and playing out endgames studies is a good recipe for eliminating that shortcoming.
This book – the sequel to Studies for Practical Players released over a decade ago – is mostly aimed at practical players who wish to improve their chess skills by developing imaginative and preventive thinking, while perfecting calculation of variations and knowledge of basic endings. In addition, this work will certainly be appreciated by every lover of beauty, logic and paradoxicality of the game.
The creative collaboration between a famous trainer with a world-renowned name and a study composer who has earned the title of International Grandmaster of Composition will give chessplayers the best of both worlds: The elegance of endgame studies and the practical application of endgame theory.
[Endgame studies] are an excellent training tool ... everything is as close to battlefield conditions as can be. Of course, the contents of the book are not nearly limited to studies by one author. It also includes wonderfully annotated creative works of many outstanding chess study composers and practical players. Outstanding! – From the Foreword by Garry Kasparov

A book of astounding studies.
Whilst it is true, of course, that practical importance is not the only criterion to use when evaluating a study, or even the most important factor in the great scheme of things, for a chessplayer or coach it is undoubtedly a significant one. You are, as always, looking for ideas that you might be able to apply in your own games. And of greatest value, in this regard, are studies that have a combative quality, where white is not the only active or creative party and where black has knotty opportunities, pressing counterplay, imaginative ways to resist. Just as in an actual game.
Such studies, and there are many of them in this book, possess what Tartakower called a ‘triple-edged’ quality. The great man was describing situations where the play is fraught with danger, precarious in the extreme, and where each side might easily win, lose or draw. Though in truth that is not quite the case here. We know beforehand (alas) that it is white to win or draw and, no matter how risky the course white embarks upon, he is in no danger of losing.
The first two chapters here, ‘Study-Like Ideas and Combinations’ and ‘The Foresight Effect’, include a mix of studies and game positions, the themes explored being many and various: domination, zugzwang, smothered mate, promotion and under-promotion, fortresses formidable and fragile. In some games the combination given was not actually played on the board, it being too well hidden, whereas many of the studies are quite spectacular: take the case of Costeff’s elaborate path towards checkmate. 
With chapter 3 there are 36 studies to solve, of varying levels of difficulty, with very detailed solutions to follow. What is special about them is that all were composed by strong, indeed in some cases world-class grandmasters (such as Timman, Benko and Reti), including even a world champion (Smyslov). For chapter 4 there are a selection of the best studies composed for the Dvoretsky Memorial Chess Composition Contest, held to honour the late, great chessplayer and coach (Mark Dvoretsky sadly died in September 2016). The studies here appear with detailed commentary and extensive analysis.
As for the final chapter, ‘A Tale of Three Studies’, it is written solely by Oleg Pervakov and is a fascinating foray into the creative process of a top-notch study composer. Pervakov takes great pains to relate the background behind three of his compositions, from initial inception to final product. While this is a single chapter only, it put me in mind of Kasparyan’s great book on his own creative process. And here the last study, born in Malakhovka, is a feral gem.
It is well known that Diaghelev would say to his troupe of choreographers and dancers, ‘Astound me!’ That there is so much compelling drama to be found in the studies assembled here, such a sharp dynamic of cut and thrust, an excess of  extravagant beauty, is truly astounding. Studies for Practical Players, Book 2: Improving Important Endgame Concepts is an astounding book.

Paul Kane
https://thecaissakid.wordpress.com/2024/07/25/studies-for-practical-players-book-2/