My Gift to Chess Players

If you follow my blog closely, you'll have seen that yesterday I announced my first chess mastermind, The Chess Improvement Group.

However, today's post is about my group Chess Endgame Studies and Compositions, which is free for anyone to join (provided they answer the questions, and follow the simple rules). 

In fact, this group was the idea of my co-founder, IM Cyrus Lakdawala (pictured below), who has a dream of sharing with the world the importance and value of endgame studies and composed chess problems in becoming better at chess. He didn't know how to create the Facebook group, so I did that for him  


We were surprised by how quickly our group grew in size, and it's turned into a wonderful, supportive community for sharing, solving and discussing chess problems. 

Not everyone knows what an endgame study or a chess problem is, and some confuse these with general endgame study or chess puzzles overall. 

I will quote the definition of an endgame study from Wikipedia:

In the game of chess, an endgame study, or just study, is a composed position—that is, one that has been made up rather than one from an actual game—presented as a sort of puzzle, in which the aim of the solver is to find the essentially unique way for one side (usually White) to win or draw, as stipulated, against any moves the other side plays. There is no limit to the number of moves which are allowed to achieve the win; this distinguishes studies from the genre of direct mate problems (e.g. "mate in 2"). Such problems also differ qualitatively from the very common genre of tactical puzzles based around the middlegame, often based on an actual game, where a decisive tactic must be found.

Now for the definition of a chess problem, again quoted from Wikipedia:

A chess problem, also called a chess composition, is apuzzleset by the composer usingchess pieceson achessboard, which presents the solver with a particular task. For instance, a position may be given with the instruction that White is to move first, and checkmate Black in two moves against any possible defence. A chess problem fundamentally differs from over-the-board play in that the latter involves a struggle between black and white, whereas the former involves a competition between the composer and the solver. Most positions which occur in a chess problem are 'unrealistic' in the sense that they are very unlikely to occur in over-the-board play.

An Interesting Problem, by Adolphe Alexandre Lesrel

So, the position below, for example, would not be a chess study or composition:

My play improved when I started solving endgame studies seriously in 2016, and I'd say that not solving them deliberately from a young age definitely held back my overall chess development. After all, nearly all the world's top chess players solve endgame studies as part of their training - and those that don't are generally surpassed by their competitors. 

Cyrus would be the best person to extol the values of solving endgame studies and composed problems to you, as he spends most of his time with his students on endgame studies. And he's observed that his most improved students all spent the most time on solving endgame studies and composed problems outside of their lessons. 

I would do the same in my lessons, except I don't need to - because of the many great studies and problems posted every day in Chess Endgame Studies and Compositions. And there's something for everyone here - from easier/shorter studies for the many relative 'novices' in our group, to very hard puzzles for the most experienced solvers (we have many of them in our group too!), to everything in between. 

I really want you to be a part of our chess community, and to give you this gift of easy access to thousands of quality chess studies and problems, that are different from the tactics you're already solving on other websites. That's why I'll share testimonials about my and Cyrus's Facebook group, from some of our members:

...This is one of the best chess related Facebook groups I'm on. Haven't seen a single instance of nastiness, and it's all about problem solving which also helps people develop their skills." 

Vishnu Sreekumar

"Thank you so much! This is a great group for novice players like me... Unlike most groups, this one is free of any toxic or non-chess content"

Himank Ghosh

"This is pretty much the cleanest chess group in the whole facebook, where there's no such problems as trolling, stupid questions and off-topic posts. Thanks everyone!"

Nilo Neto

"Thanks for the efforts this is the best chess group ever!"

Lachtiou Issam

If you're wondering why people say this about the group...it's because of my great team of admins, consisting of Cyrus Lakdawala, Satanick Mukhuty (of ChessBase India), Steven Dowd, Owen Rees, and Paul Edwin Littlewood. They're the ones doing the work behind the scenes, accepting new members, deleting unrelated posts, and removing members that consistently break the rules. 

No less importantly, it's also because of the people in the group, who create a friendly, welcoming atmosphere. We have many discussions in the group about the different chess puzzles, and sometimes also discuss chess questions relating to chess endgame studies or problems. 

I've met a lot of wonderful people in the chess community through this group, and I'm sure that you will too, once you join! 

Click here to join the Chess Endgame Studies and Compositions Facebook group. 

I will see you there, chess friends