http://www.samsloan.com/palbenko.htm

Pal Benko's Endgame Laboratory

Pal Benko is one of the world's leading grandmasters of chess. He was
once ranked in the top ten players in the world and is now the world's
leading authority on chess endgames.

This book contains 72 of his endgame columns which were originally
published in Chess Life magazine.

Everybody who has seen this book likes it, including, most
importantly, Pal Benko himself.

Sam Sloan

(Dealer Discounts are available for Large Orders)

On Oct 6, 2:19 pm, samsloan wrote:

http://www.samsloan.com/palbenko.htm

Pal Benko's Endgame Laboratory

Pal Benko is one of the world's leading grandmasters of chess.

PB *was* one of the world's leading grandmasters of
chess. Today, his rating is around 2400 or so.


He was
once ranked in the top ten players in the world

After noting the boo-boo at top, I tried to check this at
both the FIDE and USCF Web sites, but to no avail.
Heck, I don't know if FIDE even had rankings back when
GM Benko was at his peak.


Here is what chessmetrics has for GM Benko:

Best world ranking: #17
Highest CM rating: 2687
Best performance: 2724 (at the Stockholm Interzonal, 1962)

Chessmetrics shows three 2700+ performances for GM
Benko (and whaddayaknow -- in every one another strong
American player was present at the scene. No, it wasn't
Sam Sloan. I mean *really* strong!)


and is now the world's
leading authority on chess endgames.

Er, right. GM Benko has his column at Chess Life,
but that is hardly the same thing as being the world's
leading authority (as if anyone were) on the endgame.

Some monster endgame manuals were probably
written in Russian or German and not translated into
English, so folks like SS will pretend they don't exist.
(Offhand, there are books by GMs Smyslov and
Averbakh which are far more substantive.)


This book contains 72 of his endgame columns which were originally
published in Chess Life magazine.

Everybody who has seen this book likes it, including, most
importantly, Pal Benko himself.

This book (or its predecessor) got rave reviews:

http://www.jeremysilman.com/book_rev...e_lessons.html

The review by John Watson was equally enthusiastic,
but it should be noted that neither of these reviews
even remotely resembles one of their "normal" critical
book reviews in which an authors' openings analysis
is actually examined for quality. It seems these guys
won't touch the endgame with a ten foot pole! (I have
rarely seen reviews on the IM Silman site so short, so
shallow.)

There is also a thick/expensive autobiography by
GM Benko, covering a much wider range of topics.

But the compilation of Chess Life columns will make
for much easier reading. JS: What book would you
want to have on a desert island? Dr. Nunn: How to
Build a Boat. That aside... JS said he would like to
have this book by GM Benko.

-- help bot

On Oct 7, 1:41 am, help bot wrote:
On Oct 6, 2:19 pm, samsloan wrote:

and is now the world's
leading authority on chess endgames.

Er, right. GM Benko has his column at Chess Life,
but that is hardly the same thing as being the world's
leading authority (as if anyone were) on the endgame.


In addition the the GM title, Benko also has an IM title for Chess
Composition, which makes for an impressive combination of credentials.

"Many famous composers of pure endgame studies were weak players
working in splendid isolation who rarely competed in tournaments" --
Larry Evans

On Oct 7, 1:31 am, wrote:

In addition the the GM title, Benko also has an IM title for Chess
Composition, which makes for an impressive combination of credentials.

What are the titles for endgame composition, and
who doles them out?


Much of what I have seen over the years related to
a relative few composers, whose prolific work is just
repeated, over and over. One such fellow, I suppose,
was named Mr. Cook, as in "I cooked Benko's 207th
endgame problem, by finding a duplicate solution".

Many problemists created positions which bear
almost no resemblance to real-world chess play,
while others proclaimed a mate-in-257-moves with
absolutely no way to back it up. (Me, I have trouble
seeing more than about a hundred-fifty moves ahead,
unless it's just Queens or Rooks on the board).


-- help bot

On Oct 7, 3:47 am, help bot wrote:
On Oct 7, 1:31 am, wrote:

In addition to the GM title, Benko also has an IM title for Chess
Composition, which makes for an impressive combination of credentials.

What are the titles for endgame composition, and
who doles them out?


Organization is FIDE for Chess Compositions:
http://www.saunalahti.fi/~stniekat/pccc/general.htm

Titles for composer and solvers:
http://www.saunalahti.fi/~stniekat/pccc/titles.htm

"Theoretical and tactical endgames -- the majority of which are known
as studies -- are fascinating and every player should devote all of
his life to them, or at least as much of it as he can spare..." -
Jacob Aagaard

On Oct 7, 1:31 am, wrote:

"Many famous composers of pure endgame studies were weak players
working in splendid isolation who rarely competed in tournaments" --
Larry Evans

Yes, the ever-consistent Evans, who in last month's CL and R featured
such a "weak player's" compositions in his "column" - Smyslov.

Chess composition is a fascinating world and those, like helpbot, who
don't partake - I figure it is just more for me. Anyone who can't
appreciate problems such as Hans Vetter's effort in a 1975 Schach
Echo:

FEN: 8/1pR5/pP6/8/PpB5/kPp5/2P5/1K6 w - - 0 1 #5 R sac, B sac,
Phoenix.

let them fester in their little world of "practical" chess. As to me,
I like all forms of chess - not just one person's stylized version.

On Oct 7, 2:47 am, help bot wrote:


Many problemists created positions which bear
almost no resemblance to real-world chess play,
while others proclaimed a mate-in-257-moves with
absolutely no way to back it up. (Me, I have trouble
seeing more than about a hundred-fifty moves ahead,
unless it's just Queens or Rooks on the board).

Maybe that is why you don't see any way to back it up. Sometimes
composers spend years doing the gritty analysis for such problems, and
they can "back it up." I've seen long problems often accompanied with
20-30 pages of analysis, or the length of one of your favorite comic
books (or is that "graphic novel?")There are more things in chess,
helpbot, than you apparently have room for in your "philosophy."

On Oct 7, 3:15 am, wrote:

What are the titles for endgame composition, and
who doles them out?

Organization is FIDE for Chess Compositions:http://www.saunalahti.fi/~stniekat/pccc/general.htm


What's this -- they did not give GM Benko a title
until 1995, and then misspelled his name?

"Paul Benko"??!


-- help bot

On Oct 7, 6:26 am, help bot wrote:
On Oct 7, 3:15 am, wrote:

What are the titles for endgame composition, and
who doles them out?

Organization is FIDE for Chess Compositions:http://www.saunalahti.fi/~stniekat/pccc/general.htm

What's this -- they did not give GM Benko a title
until 1995, and then misspelled his name?

"Paul Benko"??!

-- help bot

They did not mis-spell his name. His name really is Paul. It is
spelled Pal in Hungarian with a umlaut over the a as in ä.

Take a close look at the cover of my book. Notice the two little dots
over the letter a. That is the correct spelling of his name.

http://www.samsloan.com/palbenko.htm

Sam Sloan

samsloan írta:
On Oct 7, 6:26 am, help bot wrote:
On Oct 7, 3:15 am, wrote:

What are the titles for endgame composition, and
who doles them out?
Organization is FIDE for Chess Compositions:http://www.saunalahti.fi/~stniekat/pccc/general.htm
What's this -- they did not give GM Benko a title
until 1995, and then misspelled his name?

"Paul Benko"??!

-- help bot

They did not mis-spell his name. His name really is Paul. It is
spelled Pal in Hungarian with a umlaut over the a as in ä.

Take a close look at the cover of my book. Notice the two little dots
over the letter a. That is the correct spelling of his name.

In Hungarian there's an accent on the 'a': Pál. That is the correct
spelling of his name.

http://www.samsloan.com/palbenko.htm

Sam Sloan