My personal opinion is that Silman's book, which is targeted at the average club player, will probably suit you better than the Dvoretsky book (which may be more comprehensive, but might not be as easy to understand).
Endgame book: Dvoretsky or Silman?
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Aug 13, 2012
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#3
The de la Villa book is really not that good. At your level, I'd definitely suggest Silman's Endgame Manual over Dvoretsky's. In my opinion, the other book is MUCH better with TONS more information, but until you're 2200+, you probably won't understand some of the concepts without having completed Silman's book first.
As a warning, though Silman's may look big, it contains a lot of easy stuff at the beginning, as it is designed to take you from unrated to 2400 as far as endgame skill is concerned. In my opinion, though, forget the ratings. Start at the first page that contains material you didn't know, and work your way up until you don't understand it anymore. Then, once your rating goes up some, progress further.
Thanks guys!
Neither.
I'd vote for Essential Chess Endings by James Howell, or Chess School 4 by Sarhan Guliev.
I should mention that I also own both the Dvoretsky book and the Silman book, but am not a fan of either.
Agree silman is much better and buy it as e+chess e book. It's the future of chess books....
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Dvoretsky's endgame manual
Aug 17, 2012
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#9
I'm just starting Dvoretsky's endgame manual (after going 0-1-3 in rook endgames where I had 2 theoretical wins and 2 draws in my last 10 OTB games) and it is a bit hard to understand. But that is why you do the analysis, analyze on your own, and take it at your own pace. It will help your endgame knowledge and calculation in all phases of the game. If you just glance over it and read it casually, however, you will not get anything out of the book and will be confused.
Aug 17, 2012
0
#10
Silman's book will be all you need until your rating starts with a "2".
AnthonyCG wrote:
Dvoretsky is really not for class players. There are GMs that have trouble reading it.
Example ?
The silman book is the most educative. Technically fundamental chess endings by muller and lamprecht is a real masterwork. Dvoretsky is a great trainer it seems but his books are not very reader friendly.
Ruben Fines BCE? I heard that it had a lot of errors in it, maybe there are newer editions?
The nice thing about Dvoretsky's book is you can look up a type of endgame you want to study with ease while Silman's is broken up into ratings. Also if you want to make a comprehensive study but aren't sure you're ready to go too deeply into openings, he divides the material of each section into blue and black inked diagrams. The blue ink is considered must know by the author, so you can read through the book that way, and come back to the black diagrams later.
waffllemaster wrote:
Ruben Fines BCE? I heard that it had a lot of errors in it, maybe there are newer editions?
The nice thing about Dvoretsky's book is you can look up a type of endgame you want to study with ease while Silman's is broken up into ratings. Also if you want to make a comprehensive study but aren't sure you're ready to go too deeply into openings, he divides the material of each section into blue and black inked diagrams. The blue ink is considered must know by the author, so you can read through the book that way, and come back to the black diagrams later.
Pal Benko did a new edition of BCE around 2003. It is quite good, and comprehensive, but not my favorite. It's very good for studying examples of complex material correlations.
Once again, I think Essential Chess Endings and Chess School 4 are the way to go. Of course, Shereshevsky's Endgame Strategy is required reading for strategic endgames.
Try "Fundamental chess endings" by Dr. Mueller.
Agree with Parekh on FCE. Great book.
I don't own many chess books, but happen to own both of these! I find Silman's book to be much more basic, making it very suitable for a class player without much time to study looking to get a broad coverage of the endgame. Dvoretsky's book is very dense, it's a much more complete book but requires a much larger commitment of time and energy. As pelik says, completing 3 pages in one sitting is quite an accomplishment.
I recommend you read Silman's book first, and if your appetite for endgames is not satisfied, move on to Dvoretsky's book second.
since dvoretskys book take like 50 times the time the silmanbook takes to learn, do the silman book first in a few weeks and then spend a large chunk of your life on the dvoretsky book
joeydvivre wrote:
AnthonyCG wrote:
joeydvivre wrote:
OK, I bought Dvoretsky today (which cost me all of $15 which is not very much money) and I think it is inferior to Reuben Fine's great book. In particular, these "Tragicomedies" seem smug and inappropriate to me. Always good to have multiple endgame books around so I'm sure I will use it.
If your brain explodes can I have your doritos?
Sure, but honestly why is there this undercurrent that this book is difficult? It's a nice book with adequate explanations and seems like a competent endgame book. I do not see any mind-blowing concepts here. In fact, I don't see any concepts that Danny couldn't do a video on.
Edit: I really like Danny's videos. I actually think Danny is funny. Me, Danny, and Danny's Mom.
I think it has a reputation as hard to read because it's a dry subject and the book itself is more like a reference manual.
As for the concepts, I tend to agree, but there are some exceptions. In rook and pawns on one side of the board he stacks on some pages of theory now and again which gets too advanced for my taste/ability.
pfren wrote:
IMHO the best start for new players into the endgame world is the Keres book (thinner than Fine's, but more consistent and easy to read and absorbe, and also shockingly short of errors), and right after that, the monumental "Endgame Strategy" by Shereshevsky, which is simply a masterpiece (and yes, that second one has many computational errors, but they do not matter at all).
Agree that Shereshevsky's book is a masterpiece...one of the best books ever, full stop. But would you really recommend it as a second endgame book? This is intriguing to me, because I wouldn't recommend it to anyone below 1700.
I have heard a lot of good things about the Keres book, but I don't have it. Maybe I will check it out.
I'm looking for a decent end game book. I know these two come well recommended - I only have the budget (and time) to do one of these at the moment: which do people prefer and why?
Thanks!