Paul Keres's Practical Chess Endings is accessible, and has a lot of useful tips and ideas. It's probably my favourite endgame book. Also you might want to take a peek at this thread on a similar theme:
http://www.chess.com/forum/view/chess-equipment/endgame-dvoretsky-or-silman
If you like to learn directly from games, you might try Irving Chernev's "Capablanca's Best Chess Endings", which is a cheap Dover paperback. Algebraic notation with good commentary.
The above book is excellent and cheap. If you want to learn the very basics I would reccomend Just the Facts by Lev Alburt or SIlman's Complete Endgame Course, by Jeremy Silman. Both are Excellent.
Just the Facts has the best introduction to basics of pawn endings that I have ever seen and Silman's book is awesome in that the book is broken down by rating. In other words it has endgames you should know in the 1200-1399 rating range and endgames you should know when you are 1400-1599 etc...all the way to Master 2200-2399.
Hope this helps.
Silmans for the weaker player.
Karsten Mullers for the typical club player
Fines chess endings for reference
*This is only an opinion*
Silmans for the weaker player.
*This is only an opinion*
Glad, because Silman's Complete Endgame Course has a good portion devoted to players 2000+, and even 2200+! It definately incorporates the things needed for a weaker player, but builds up and up until you or I would not have a clue what was going on.
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Here's a clip from Silman's own review of Dvoretsky's book... DVORETSKY'S ENDGAME MANUAL |
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Author: Mark Dvoretsky Reviewed by Jeremy Silman Silman's Rating: 9.5 |
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In the last few years there has been an explosion of endgame books. Some are run of the mill efforts, and others have enriched the literature on the subject (the revised edition of BASIC CHESS ENDINGS and FUNDAMENTAL CHESS ENDINGS are just two of many). Some have been for advanced players (FINAL COUNTDOWN or ENDGAME SECRETS), while others have attempted to disseminate endgame skills to the masses (CHESS ENDGAME TRAINING, WINNING CHESS ENDINGS). Though all the books just mentioned are excellent, none have impressed me more than DVORETSKY'S ENDGAME MANUAL.... ------------------- Give it up to Mr. Silman, he's reviewing his main competitor and he still has the backbone to say: This is great stuff.Dvoretsky has written some training books that really are only for Experts and above who are determined to become Masters and above! ... this endgame manual isn't one of those... it's accessible to the ordinary chess player. I was looking at it last week and I was very impressed. I think _any_ hardworking serious chess player can get a lot from it. I intend to. I think it's my next purchase. Check it out in the bookstore and see if you are into it, or not. Hey there's also...chess.com Mentor and Video lessons |
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Now I want to ask the Chess.com comunity to help me decide on a new endgame book. Do you have any suggestions? Please I know this is kind of random but this could mean win or lose for me. Remember I'm not good with endgames.
Since you don't say what level you're at or I don't how to figure it out, I'm going to point you to a highly rated book on Amazon.com with 58 reviews to give you an idea about the book. Please don't let the name throw you. The name is "The Complete Idiot's Guide to Chess". You can get it for about $10 depending what kind of copy you want. It has a nice section with detailed explained endgames which is based on knowing the previous sections on middle games which may be a help to you also. The book has 428 pages with lots of good stuff with a good index and a good table of contents. The games are well explained with one diagram per move in most cases. At least look at the Amazon.com reviews to get an idea about the book.
Might be the answer to your prayers, it is for me. It's my basic book the others build on.
Hey chessbob... sorry to be schizo, I know I just posted Silman's review of Dvoretsky's Endgame book -- but I was just in the bookstore day before yestiddy, and I was checking out Silman's endgame book, and I'll be damnd but it's really good too. I don't think you can go wrong with either Dvoretsky or Silman. The very nice thing about the silman book is that it is structured to be learned from front to back, it starts with basics and gets more advanced. Whereas Dvoretsky is grouped by theme (rook endings, Queen + pawn, etc.) I think having seen both books I'm gonna reverse course and suggest that Silman is probalby best for you... but I haven't worked thru either book... I think if at all possible you should try to get a look for yourself inside both books, and see which appeals to you more.
Now I want to ask the Chess.com comunity to help me decide on a new endgame book. Do you have any suggestions? Please I know this is kind of random but this could mean win or lose for me. Remember I'm not good with endgames.
Since you don't say what level you're at or I don't how to figure it out, I'm going to point you to a highly rated book on Amazon.com with 58 reviews to give you an idea about the book. Please don't let the name throw you. The name is "The Complete Idiot's Guide to Chess". You can get it for about $10 depending what kind of copy you want. It has a nice section with detailed explained endgames which is based on knowing the previous sections on middle games which may be a help to you also. The book has 428 pages with lots of good stuff with a good index and a good table of contents. The games are well explained with one diagram per move in most cases. At least look at the Amazon.com reviews to get an idea about the book. Might be the answer to your prayers, it is for me. It's my basic book the others build on.
I already have that book by the way I am a low median player
If Dvoretsky wrote it, it's great but decidely not particularly useful for novices or even lower club players.
there's a great software program out called pocket chess endings. At a pocket pc place(forget which one) you can get it for about 10 bucks whereas chess stores it sells much higher. Excellent program.
I reccommend Pandolifini's endgame course which shows many positions in endgames and they are sorted according to the position's characteristics.( ex. King and pawn endings, rook and queen ending, elementary checkmates, etc.)
Now I want to ask the Chess.com community to help me decide on a new endgame book. Do you have any suggestions? Please I know this is kind of random but this could mean win or lose for me. Remember I'm not good with endgames.
I'm not very good at endgames either. In fact I just got my first real not surprise checkmate tonight. Well today I broke down and bought "How to Beat Your Dad at Chess". I plan to study it in depth. I'll let you know how it comes out. I know it sounds like a joke, but it is a serious book on chess. Particularly getting checkmate. Bon e appetite.
thanks u guys u helped alot
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Now I want to ask the Chess.com comunity to help me decide on a new endgame book. Do you have any suggestions? Please I know this is kind of random but this could mean win or lose for me. Remember I'm not good with endgames.