Hi all,

Please ignore my rating and what is appropriate for my level.

I am looking for the most comprehensive and up-to-date endgame reference currently in existence, either in print or on computer.

The 3 candidates I have seen so far include:

• Averbakh's volumes --> Older.  Also, I heard these volumes are out of print but Convekta has a CD...is this CD updated and incorporates computer analysis/endgame tablebases?
• Nunn's Endings (3 volumes) --> relatively comprehensive, but the most comprehensive?
• Encyclopedia of Chess Endings --> this seems to be the number 1 candidate but like Averbakh's series, is much older.  Somewhere online I saw a rumor about Chess Informant publishing new volumes of this series.  On the Chess Informant site, all it said was the volumes I and II were sold out but made no reference to new updated editions.

Thanks all.  I am obsessed with having a comprehensive collection of endgame positions.

Here is another that I really find helpfull:

Silman's Complete Endgame Course from Beginner to Master by IM Jeremy Silman.

Perhaps you should consider either:

Ruben Fines Basic Chess Endings, which is very comprehensive, if somewhat dated.

Dvortskey's Endgame manual, which is also comprehensive, and is more of an endgame reference book, than an actual manual.

I have that too, but it isn't a reference type of book, which is what he seems to be looking for.

My suggestion are Glen Flear's 2 books, Practical chess endings, in 2 volumes: "Learning the Basics", and "Beyond the Basics." For example, If you look up Rook and Bishop vs. Rook and knight in the beyond the basics volume, there are about 50 examples.

Perhaps Harold van der Heijden's study database is interesting for you: http://www.hhdbiv.nl/

The most comprehensive database of studies there is.

That...is...awesome. 

Looks like we have a clear winner.  Thanks for the link and everyone else for the suggestions.  

I hope these guys accept my worthless U.S. dollars (price only given in Euros), although I don't think the Euro is doing that much better these days.

Better buy it now, anyway 

Yes, you are correct.  

Can you vouch for that?  I am always sceptical over purchasing software like this.  No samples, no real idea of what you are buying...

@BorgQueen : Harold van der Heijden is a very well-known International Studies Judge and a well-known figure in chess composition. His studies database has been around for years and is the absolute worldwide reference in this field. 

You can look for various articles on the (chess) web that will confirm that. 

It's famous.

It's also just a PGN file with studies, you need to use other software to look at them, search through them, et cetera. It's raw data. It's also only what it is, a vast collection of endgame studies. It's not a collection of endgame lessons or instructional endgame positions and specifically lacks typical theoretical endgame positions since they wouldn't make for original studies.

One more vote for Silman's endgame book.

Yes!  That book may not be what he is looking for, but it has helped me greatly.

As for sheer reference, here is probably the most comprehensive.

Thanks for the details :-)

Fundamental Chess Endings by Muller and Lamprecht is good and covers a lot of endings.

All the books you mentioned are way too deep for a beginner! (Yeah I know you don't care about that minor detail) I have Averbakh's books and they are encyclopedic and I've read that computer analysis has found them to be chock full of errors, but I suppose they'd be useful if you could read them, say on a full-time basis (40 hrs/wk) for a minimum of several wks, probably more like several months.  Maybe, possibly, perhaps. Do you want to actually learn how to play endgames, or do you prefer being a librarian?

Get one or more of these books, used if possible from amazon, eBay or a used bookstore:

Basic Chess Endings by GM Fine - if you only own one endgame book get this one! 

Practical Chess Endings by Irving Chernev

Practical Chess Endings by GM Keres

A Guide to Chess Endings by GM Euwe & David Hooper

I learned endgames from Fine.  Not as easy a read as Silman, but lots of information.

Good list. Thanks.

Endgames are concrete and analytical, therefore with a catalog of endgame positions, one ought to be able to progress through several similar type endgame positions, working from simple to complex and therefore vastly improve not only one's endgame play, but also one's overall chess strength.  This works because endgame knowledge is essentially immutable (compared to openings and middlegames).

In doing this, several commonly known principles are sure to redemonstrate themselves (opposition, triangulation, zugzwang, how to use a passed pawn on the opposite side of the board, how to use a king and bishop to blockade enemy pawns, lucena/philidor, rooks behind passed pawn, etc.), however you'd have the concrete analysis (automatically covering "exceptions), rather than having to "intuit" how to play certain more complicated endgames based on general principles, which isn't going to work for most of us who are not GM's.    

But in reality, I can't "train" 76,000+ positions...I just want my own comprehensive endgame collection.