@mldavis617 If you want endgame studies in pgn format, you can purchase from http://www.hhdbiv.nl/
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Endgame books
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roi_g11 wrote:
mldavis617 wrote:
One book that Watson liked was Van Perlo's Endgame Tactics, but the price is outrageous and the book generally unavailable.
I've been waiting for this book to be re-printed. Can't find it anywhere and it sells on Amazon for like a grand. Ridiculous.
It's not quite that expensive, for the cheapest copies anyway.
Just before Christmas, I thought I had lucked out. I found one seller that had the book for a little over $30. I ordered it, got an e-mail saying it had shipped, and then the next day got an e-mail from the seller saying he actually didn't have it in stock anymore. :(
I wonder why thy haven't done a new printing of it yet. I'm sure there is sufficient interest in the book and they could do very well. I would buy one.
I too like the Mueller. But my greatest advance in endgame came from books of endgame studies such as American Chess Art and from the Best Chess Endings of Capablanca.
roi_g11 wrote:
Just found Van Perlo used online for $20!
I ordered one a few days ago for $16 with shipping. I should receive it sometime this coming week.
It pays to keep searching and sometimes you can get a good deal. Hopefully this time, I actually get it.
Hey Martin. Would you mind updating on Van Perlo's once you go through it a bit? That is an award winning book and I am considering studying after I am done with Dvoretsky's. Thanks.
I'll try and do that. I'm working through another book right now, actually going through it a second time for a more thorough study and then I'll probably take a crack at this one. Though, I have a bunch of other books to get to also :D
The fate of the chess player. Check this book, check that book. (pun intended). Cheers.
Yep. Though I have promised myself that I'm going to finish 2 books before buying a new one. This book was my exception since it has been so hard to find. I saw they have a reprint of Soltis' Pawn Structure Chess and I was good and just put it on my wish list for now.
My favourite endgame book is Paul Keres' Practical Chess Endings. He tries to formulate general rules that cover a range of situations, and is very good at explaining things. Both fun and instructive.
Seirawan's books are usually written so that they can be understood by beginners, so if you find advanced books difficult, that's one option. I have Silman's book, and young developing players seem to like that one too.
I really like John Nunn's books. Understanding Chess Endgames is supposed to provide the basics that every player should know, while Nunn's Chess Endings volumes 1 and 2 are an effort to come up with fresh new generalizations that haven't been seen in other endgame textbooks.
Dvoretsky's book on endgames is more accessible than some of his other books. "The final word" though is probably not Dvoretsky at all, but rather Yuri Averbakh's 4 volume Comprehensive Chess Endings series.
Muller and Lamprecht is a good book too, maybe a bit more advanced than Silman, but more accessible than Dvoretsky.
very easy answer
for beginners: silman book
for advance players : dvoretsky book
thans for the tip
I have the endgame courses of jeremy silman and I find it very good!
I got an used copy of Euwe's A GUIDE TO CHESS ENDINGS in a local used book store. I don't know if there's such a thing as a beginner or advanced end game book, but it has lots of info. It's in the old descriptive notation but it's in really good shape and only cost me $4.00US. A good resource is
powells.com This is a huge bookstore here in Portland, Oregon. They have more books on chess than any other book store I've ever seen.
I hope this helps.
Two other good one volume reference endgame works which haven't been mentioned in this thread :
- Averbach's Essential endgame knowledge (look for the 2nd edition)
And a third one, which I haven't read, but has many rave reviews on the Internet :
- Howell's Essential Chess endings
Many endgame books are simply positional encyclopedias. You can find many (Polgar's "Chess" for example) that give a position and the solution but not the explanation or philosophy for continuation. Others such as the venerable "Basic Chess Endings" by Fine and, even more so, Silman explain the objective as well as the solution. Dvoretsky is perhaps the most advanced but I don't have that one so can't comment on his writing, except that often the very advanced writers take for granted your depth of understanding and skip over some things you really should know.
I have a laptop, but I am no lover of tablets and iPads because of their cramped space and tiny print. Most of my work is done by inputting PGN files of games or positions into a UCI (Fritz 13) and using that as I read the book. I normally use a dual screen monitor (24" and 19" respectively) to keep text (.PDF, etc.) on one screen and the UCI on the other as I read. Alternately, I'll have a book on my lap (if no digital copy) and the game on screen.
When working on endgame studies, it is a pain to manually set a board up with pieces or alternately to set up positions on the UCI. So all else being equal, I suppose a book for which FEN or PGN files are available would be helpful but by no means necessary. The quality of the book trumps all else.