Endgames

Hey all, 

Up until just a few days ago, I thought my endgame was the strongest point in my game. Then a GM told me it was the part that needed the most work. I was a bit surprised by that, and don't really know where to begin. I am looking for some book suggestions, as well as someone to possibly work with to improve my endgames. I know the basic mates (including B+N+K vs. K), pawn endgames, and the lucena and philidor, but besides that, I am pretty much out there on endgame theory. If any of you could volunteer some time to help me improve, I would really appreciate it :) 

Thanks again,

Pawnpusher3

Id like to know by the end of this weekend if someone could help or suggest any books, that way I have time to study them :)

The Mammoth Book of Chess by Graham Burgess.

I already suggested this to you, now you have two votes. I can pick that book up and not put it down for hours. Other than that, get the Auerbach series and work with those.

yes, you did, NM aww-rats. Ill try and get it, when I see it that is. I haven't really seen it except on amazon, and I don't want to wait a week if I have a whole weekend to study. 

Do have the scotch endgame down as white and black?

No, never heard of it. It might be known by a different name though...

Thats a great book there are some other ones too 

Mednis has some middlegame - endgame books that are quite good.

As a note endgames can consume a great deal of time so its important to know some critical endgame positions but dont over do it. at the master level endgames are important because the number of mistakes made during the middlegame are very small so conversion of a small edge in the endgame is more critical. This doesnt occur though until you have mastered tactics and have a solid opening.

I read somewhere that most masters studied endgames as part of a natural process during adjournments of a game. They knew he basics but most serious study was done helping players figure out positons during this break in the game. Something that no longer exists but the point is that positions you study should be something that appear naturally in your games. working on memorizing all the material in dvoersky endgame manual is beneficial but to really learn something you need to apply it and practice it often enough to keep it in your memory. That is one reason I like Silman's endgame course. it breaks things down my rating so that you can work ahead of the curve if you want but not waste time on unnecessary knowledge.

Rosen also has a great book on endgame training that i like because it gives an incremental development and study of key positions.