Shereshevsky's "Endgame Strategy" is essential reading, and... no, this isn't solely an endgame book!
Absolutely. Buy this book, it's only about 200 pages. Will move your endgame knowledge from about USCF C Class into the "A Class." Great read too.
The example above has about 15 wasted queen moves. Sorry.
What planet do your hail from, Brainiac ??
In what way wasted? I hail from Earth, appearantly adjacent to yours.
If you don't know, you (too) need a good endgame book. Sorry.
Try Jeremy Silman, Essential Chess Endings Explained Move by Move, (1988).
In what way wasted? I hail from Earth, appearantly adjacent to yours.
you missed mate in one and you should have taken the g pawn first
I think 22. Qf2# might be a one move improvement. 
The little trick at the start is good though; everyone needs to know that.
I think 22. Qf2# might be a one move improvement.
The little trick at the start is good though; everyone needs to know that.
There's a very similar trick in this type of position:
I think 22. Qf2# might be a one move improvement.
The little trick at the start is good though; everyone needs to know that.
I see. Last time I checked, Queens can't move like Knights.
I collected 100 practical endgames with lots of notes and annotations. In pgn format. Download them from the download section. I am building up a database of practical endgames and have found that 90 percent of grandmasters have made mistakes, missing best moves to win or draw, in their own endgames.
... have found that 90 percent of grandmasters have made mistakes, missing best moves to win or draw, in their own endgames.
GMs Epishin and Ushenina would agree.
Only if you're level-headed. Compare post #23.
You don't actually read your thread, do you @Dpnorman ?? Good luck with that.
Silman's book is great: great explanations, material ordered basing on your strength, plus Silman's writing style make all enjoying.
It sounds like you're trying to learn endgames the same way you learn opening theory--by memorizing moves. That won't work for endgames, because as you said, they're all slightly different. You need to understand techniques that you can apply in various situations. You also need to learn to spot those situations, and even how to create them in advance. One of the best tools I have to win games is to see what kind of endgame I can transition to from the middlegame, and know whether it's advantageous, or how to make it advantageous, by which pieces to trade and how to alter the structure before we get there.
You have to know your basic king and pawn endgames, and then branch out from there so that when you look at an endgame position, you can identify the relevant features, who they favor, and how to take advantage of them.
In my own chess development... such as it was... I found that I got a lot more useful tips by playing over exceptionally good master endgames than by abstract study.
Here are a few: http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chesscollection?cid=1024701