A Study In Endgame Strategy And Some Thoughts On Getting Good At Chess.
Get better at chess and gain rating points. How many blogs on this site promise you miracles in that regard??!! Take your game to the next level and become a master by clicking a mouse button. Ahh! If only it was that simple!! 
Recently a friend of mine elsewhere posted one of his endgames from an online blitz game and I commented that understanding endgames is a huge ratings gainer and points winner in blitz. You are down to a minute plus increment with an endgame on the board. The player who knows what he is doing wins, almost regardless of the merits of the position!
I was lucky when I developed chess player. I studied Reti, Tartakower and Keres who all loved endgames, and for me it was just a part of chess. No less important than studying openings, tactic, strategy, etc.
As I developed, I quickly realised that I was way stronger than my rivals in the endgame, and that fact was winning me games.
One book that I always recommend to those looking to improve is this one.
It's an unusual book! Very little concrete endgame theory, and very few variations. Instead you get lots of practical advice and general thinking and understanding. I think it's a great book!!
Too many authors present you with lists of processes that are absurdly impossible to go through whilst playing a real game over the board. Shereshevsky
gives you sensible, practical, real world, advice.
I love Rubinstein - a real GOAT in terms of playing endgames over the board, so here's a game from the book with Shereshevsky's notes. I have added some comments up to the point where he starts.
It was played during the Budapest 1926 tournament, and we are lucky to have some images from that event. The group photo - wish I had a key, but I can recognise 4-5 of the players.
A picture with the two players a few years later -
And now you get a bonus!! G.M. Serper has just posted a very nice article looking at a common - and important - endgame theme, sometimes called 'the Pawn square'. I have known the idea since I was - in chess terms - a child, and have been able to use it a number of times. Most memorably it helped me to get a draw against the then World number 12. Happy days!!
I have very few of my own games, but one I do still have contains the idea. It also demonstrates why playing endgames well is important. You can know your opening theory, spot the tactics and calculate the combinations quite deeply and accurately, and all the reward you get is a slightly better endgame!
A tiny clip of film from the Budapest tournament - I think it is Takacs standing over the board.
That's all you get today guys. Have a great weekend!
