EG Magazine

EG Magazine

It's no secret that I harbor a certain fondness for endgame studies. I have to admit to sitting down every Saturday morning with 3-4 studies, and working my way through them. I've found, that like tactical exercises, they have a certain addictive quality to them. They hold appeal to me because I've always liked "solve from the diagram" types of exercises, and studies are especially rich in many different tactical ideas and themes. Many people consider that studying the endgame can be somewhat dry, but I find that studies are the "painless" way to approach the problem.

While I consider myself a fan of the genre, I am by no means an expert. However, there are those for whom studies have been a passion. One of these people is the well known author John Roycroft, who originally made me aware of EG magazine. Indeed, the publication was started in 1965 by John, and he is now its chief editor (with the help of others). In 1987, the Dutch organization ARVES  took over publication, and has been putting out the magazine ever since.

Each issue contains a collection of studies taken from tourneys around the world, as well as contributed works. It also contains news from the world of endgame studies, book reviews, recent discoveries (usually employing tablebase data) and obituaries. This publication is clearly a labor of love, and provides valuable coverage on all the aforementioned topics.

The magazine is not suitable for beginners, but is valuable for aficionados of the genre, as well as composers. For back issues of EG, see this page, many of these articles were painstakingly scanned and put online by Lewis Stiller and Gady Costeff.

To subscribe, 25 euros or the equivalent in USD may be sent to Marcel van Herck, Brialmontlei 66 B 2018 Antwerpen, Belgium arves@skynet.be Payment is also possible via Paypal to the aforementioned e-mail address.