High Quality Content by WIKIPEDIA articles! Basic Chess Endings (abbreviated BCE) is a book on chess endgames which was written by Grandmaster Reuben Fine and originally published in 1941. It is considered the first systematic book in English on the endgame phase of the game of chess. It is the best-known endgame book in English and is a classic piece of chess endgame literature. The book is dedicated to World Champion Emanuel Lasker, who died in 1941 (the year the book was published). It was revised in 2003 by Pal Benko.