Finding The Best Endgame Courses On Chessable

If you're looking to get better at chess, the material on Chessable and the equivalent Chess.com Courses are some of the best educational resources you can find. Chessable is well-known for its huge variety of opening courses, but its endgame content is amazing as well. Here are some of the best courses to learn from to improve your endgame play.

The Best-Seller: 100 Endgames You Must Know

100 Endgames You Must Know, by GM Jesus de la Villa, is a classic book on endgame play and benefits greatly from its presentation by IM John Bartholomew and Chessable's move trainer. You learn all of the important endings that are likely to come up in your games. It will develop your ability to convert advantages into wins and to hold bad positions. Check out this master-level game, where the losing side would have held the draw with a bit more understanding of important endgame positions, like those discussed in the course.

The Endgame Bible: Dvoretsky's Endgame Manual 

The late IM Mark Dvoretsky was widely regarded as the world's leading chess trainer. He coached many top grandmasters and wrote the definitive endgame guide for the modern era. This course, presented by GM Ewin L'Ami, covers the book that world champion Vladimir Kramnik once described this way: "An absolute must for every chess professional, and no less important even for a club player. Learn the endgame principles in this book well... your rating and your tournament performances will surely improve."

Dvoretsky's work is a must for aspiring chess stars, and L'Ami's coverage helps to make it accessible for us, mere mortals, as well!

The New Classics: Theoretical Rook Endgames and Conceptual Rook Endgames 

While most of today's top players grew up studying Dvoretsky's Endgame Manual, there's a good chance that the top players of the next generation will have been studying the works of two current authors, GM Sam Shankland and GM Jacob Aagaard. Shankland is a super grandmaster, who has a US Championship title, and Aagard has written many books and runs the New In Chess Group, a collection of publishing companies.

Between the two of them, Shankland and Aagaard have written definitive works on the most important theoretical rook endgames to master, and another on general rook endgame strategy. Because rook endgames are the most common ending in chess, learning these ideas will pay off frequently in your games.

See if you can spot the brilliant winning idea for White, covered in Aagaard's course.

The Most Accessible: Silman's Complete Endgame Course

IM Jeremy Silman was beloved by chess fans for his ability to make complicated concepts clear for players of all levels, beginner through master. In this course, presented enthusiastically by IM Alex Banzea, Silman breaks endgames down to the essential knowledge for each rating level. This way ,you won't be overwhelmed by the complexities of the game, but can focus on what's going to give you an edge against players of your rating level. 

Check out a discussion about Silman's book and his contributions to the game below. I would also encourage anyone interested to check out the many years of his Chess.com column.

Challenge Yourself: Endgame Studies 101

For active learners who want to practice their calculation skills while learning, I recommend IM Kostya Kavutskiy's Endgame Studies 101. It's a collection of beautiful chess positions, where it takes work to find the solution, but Kavutskiy teaches you along the way. Working your way through these studies will improve your calculation skills and also help you solve practical problems in your own games! 

Can you get started by finding White's winning idea here?

Learn From Your Heroes: The Masters Hand, Fischer and Capablana

Many chess players learn best from real-world examples, so GM Aleksandar Colovic's courses on the best endgames of some great world champions are exceptionally useful. Both champions, Bobby Fischer and Jose Raul Capablanca, were the greatest endgame players of their day, and their play still holds up remarkably well today. This game, where Capablanca smoothly won a pawn-down rook endgame, made a big impression on me as a young player.

These endgame courses and many more are all available on Chessable.com and Chess.com/courses. Check them out!

Which endgame courses are your favorite? Let us know in the comments!