Book recommendation on zugzwang

Question

I am looking for a book recommendation on endgames. More specifically, I want to know how to avoid zugzwang, and what to do in case it arises.

If you know of any book which has in-depth case study on endgames which end up in zugzwang, please give a suggestion.

It's not really clear what you are asking. I would suggest you use the search functiopn on this site. There are already many questions on this topic, e.g. - https://chess.stackexchange.com/questions/14530/endgame-books-or-web-sources?s=1|52.9291, https://chess.stackexchange.com/questions/14824/which-of-these-two-endgame-books?s=2|48.1351, https://chess.stackexchange.com/questions/12554/endgame-improvement-books?s=3|44.6238 — Brian Towers, Nov 13 '17 at 19:06
I haven't seen a book specifically themed on zugzwang, but more often is a part of other themes. Here is a compilation of examples though: http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chesscollection?cid=1001725 — Ywapom, Nov 13 '17 at 19:53
Also, the sorts of positions where this can happen tend to be tight, restricted positions. Try studying games of Tigran Petrosian (the 1960s player) and Anatoly Karpov to see positional masters in action. — Tony Ennis, Nov 14 '17 at 02:51
Leonid Verkhovsky Zugzwang -> it may be out of print, but I remember it being good. Wish I could be of greater assistance :( — AlwaysLearningNewStuff, Nov 17 '17 at 17:45

score 3 · Answer 1 · answered Nov 13 '17 at 21:44

If you are in Zugzwang, by definition, there is nothing you can do, because any possible move leads to a disadvantage.

Most typically Zugzwang appears in endgames with few pieces, particularly in pawn only endgames where is is used as a very common technique. I believe that if you study pawn endgames you should encounter it very often and get very familiar with it, so that you can keep it at the back of your mind when doing calculations.

I would not focus my endgame on avoiding Zugzwang as there are usually other things to take into account as well.

score 2 · Accepted Answer · answered Nov 13 '17 at 22:11

I don't know any book that has a chapter or even a long section devoted specifically to zugzwang (of course that doesn't mean one doesn't exist) but the concept is pervasive throughout any book about endgames. I think any good endgame book would help; there are books for different levels and tastes, but just to give one example that I have handy, Fundamental Chess Endings by Müller and Lamprecht mentions zugzwang 283 times!

Book recommendation on zugzwang

2 Answers2