Understanding before Moving 235: Endgame studies

by ChessBase
6/22/2025 – Herman Grooten is an International Master, a renowned trainer, and the author of several highly acclaimed books on chess training and strategy. In episode 235 of his "Understanding before Moving" show, Herman presents his favourite endgame studies. | Photo: Pascal Simon

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Chess History in a Nutshell 117 – My Favourite Endgame Studies

Endgames—and in particular, endgame studies—have been a constant thread in my life as both a chess player and a trainer. As a young player, I realized that a solid knowledge of endgames was essential for making progress. Fortunately, I was surrounded by people who helped instill in me a love for the endgame, and I began to devote myself seriously to studying it.

Along the way, I discovered that knowledge alone isn’t enough—you also need the practical skills to apply that knowledge successfully. Back in the 1980s and 1990s, during the peak of my playing career, games could still be adjourned. This practice has since disappeared with the rise of powerful chess engines, beginning with the famous Fritz and now dominated by Stockfish.

In adjourned games, after four hours of play, one player would seal their next move—writing it down and placing it in an envelope—at the time control. When play resumed (typically two hours later), the arbiter would open the envelope and make the move on the board, and the game would continue. I experienced many such adjournments, and they gave me the opportunity to significantly improve my analytical and endgame skills. I often had help from others in analyzing these positions—assistance that sometimes proved invaluable.

In this video, I’ll present two examples from my own practice where chaotic, even ‘mad’ endgame scenes unfolded in the struggle to win. But before diving into those, I’d like to share some endgame studies that made a deep impression on me. These studies played an important role in my development as a trainer and convinced me of their value as training tools.

Solving studies has many benefits that can help players improve their overall game. I tend to focus on studies that resemble “normal” game positions—ones that could plausibly occur in practical play. While more fantastical studies (with triple pawns or bizarre material imbalances) can be beautiful, they tend to offer less practical value for tournament players.

One effective training method is to set up a study on a real chessboard, mimic a game situation by putting a clock next to it, and give yourself a time limit to solve it. It’s important to write down everything you discover during your thought process. What do you gain from this approach?

  • You learn how to build an analysis tree systematically

  • You practice visualizing positions several moves ahead

  • You learn to eliminate variations logically

  • You develop creativity in finding combinational ideas

  • You sharpen your ability to detect defenses—including hidden, prophylactic resources

Over the years, I’ve worked through hundreds of endgame studies, often organized by theme. This has been made possible thanks to a real goldmine: the endgame study database created by Dutch chess player and scientist Harold van der Heijden. He began compiling this collection early on, meticulously entering all the variations and details of each composer’s work. This Herculean effort has resulted in a database of about 10,000 studies—an extraordinary achievement.

One particularly remarkable figure in the world of study composition is former Dutch top grandmaster Jan Timman. He has devoted much of his time over the past two decades to composing studies. In several cases, he’s taken beautiful ideas that occurred to him during games and transformed them into studies. Many of his works are featured in the database, and I’ve chosen one of them to include in this video.

But first, I’d like to begin with a classic study I regularly use when teaching. It perfectly illustrates the dominance of a knight over a bishop.

In the diagram position, it looks as if Black is about to force a draw. However, White has a brilliant move available—one that forces immediate resignation from Black.

Can you find the move?

R. Réti, Hastings and St. Leonards Post 1922
White to move and win

In this two-part course the emphasis will be on typical pawn-structures.

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