EXTRACTING INFORMATION FROM ENDGAME DATABASES

The present paper categorizes the uses of endgame databases as tools, stressing their services to human users. A characterization is given of their use for checking and correcting extant endgame theory, for the analysis of over-the-board endings ex post facto, for interactive exploration of endgames to extend theory (where mutual zugzwang positions have a key role), for discovering such general rules as may be of wide though not universal application and, finally, for reducing (simple) positions to a form which a human researcher might memorize. Endgame studies are also discussed as among the results capable of being generated by suitable human exploration of available databases.