CHESSCHATOLOGY
There is no more pernicious heresy in chess than the view that the end-game is dull; sour players even carry it to the extent of regarding it as unsporting to exchange queens—like pottinfl the opponent's ball or bowling outside the leg stump. To pursue (slightly irrelevantly) the question of the queen exchange, it is a further heresy to suppose that the ending begins when the queens come off; there have been mag exciting middle-games without queens—f°r; example the famous Lasker/Napier game. So a you are the stronger player do not go out of your way to avoid queen (and other) exchanges' you will still have plenty of scope for showing your superiority, and unnatural manoeuvres ta avoid exchanges will merely get you int° unnecessary trouble.
To return to the end-game: this is both as interesting and as difficult as the middle-gaMe, the reduction of material does not reduce the difficulty, it merely alters its nature. It OW becomes possible to calculate much further ahead than earlier in the game and great opPor" tunities exist for finesse and far-sighted con'v native play. Rook endings are particularlY important, being both the most frequent and the most difficult of all and it might perhaps he worth inserting a piece of advice which I have found of the greatest practical value; try if Yd° possibly can to get an active rather than passive position—this is much more important in rook than in minor piece endings and it IS often better to let a pawn go than accept a purely defensive position.
If you want to raise the level of your garlic study the endings and play as many as you can —if you are a club player avoid adjudications and play games out, whenever possible; and, hY coming to realise the depth and beauty of the end-game, you will not only improve your Plg but greatly enlarge your enjoyment as well.
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