Thanks to the Historical Currency Convertor and The Big Book Of World Chess Championships by Andre Schulz, we find a realistic historical comparison in prize funds of World Championships, converted to today’s money value. HT: Anish Giri

Absolute leader is Garry Kasparov, with the top prize fund figure being the Kasparov – Karpov World Chess Championship of 1990 with 5,7 million USD. Kasparov holds the second and third positions as well. Kasparov – Short from 1993 stands at 4,7 million USD, while his 1987 World Chess Championship match with Karpov stands at 3,5 million USD.

However, the real unparalleled achievement on this list is the one of Bobby Fischer. His match with Spassky from 1972 achieved a whole order of magnitude increase to prize funds. Until then money for matches were maximum in the hundreds of thousands, while he brought the figure above 1 million USD (1,6 million, to be precise). To achieve the same success, someone has to bring the prize funds for World Championships from millions to tens of millions USD.

One thing author GM Alex Colovic found when creating this course was how ahead of his time Fischer was. He had engine-like foresight which led him to calculate endgames like a human tablebase. And he wants to teach you how to play the endgame with the same precision Bobby Fischer did. He does so by giving you exercises and posing questions so that you can gradually learn to think like Fischer, with the aggressive and straightforward play Fischer was known for. And by studying these endgames, you will sharpen your overall play to be a force to be reckoned with over the board.

Get your copy of The Master’s Hand: Fischer’s Endgame Technique here

In this course, Colovic gives you five separate chapters exploring:

♞ Fischer’s technique– An introduction to Fischer’s unique style featuring three of his most exemplary games

♞ Bishop dominates knight– Learn how to find your opponent’s “bad bishop” and trade it off, while you take advantage of your opponent’s color weaknesses

♞ Knight dominates bishop– improve your calculation by envisioning possible knight moves several moves in advance and finding the most dangerous squares for your knight

♞ Concrete endgames– Learn to play the endgame by going full throttle just like Fischer, for example, instead of retreating an attacked piece, create an attack yourself, open lines and fight for the initiative

♞ Endgames with rooks and opposite-colored bishops– avoid theoretical draws and maximize the potential of your rook and bishop by keeping them on the board thereby creating mating threats