Essential Chess Engames Explained Move by Move, by J. Silman
Chess Endings, Essential Knowledge, by Y. Averbakh.
Indeed, lots of good endgame books are available. GM John Nunn's many books are recommended --
http://www.amazon.com/Understanding-Chess-Endgames-John-Nunn/dp/1906454116
I would be interested to know what the forum considers to be the absolute essential endgame knowledge for a club player. I have read on this site that some consider it to be around 200 positions (Dvoretsky?) while books I have read state that its around two dozen (Andrew Soltis)
Peter Lalic's youtube videos cover the absolute basics, for free.
I disagree completely.
I hope I'm wrong and you do well at your tournament :)
I see you say you'll be going through a few books. At least you're not doing tactics exclusively!
They are all books on tactics though haha.
Oh no! 
I would be interested to know what the forum considers to be the absolute essential endgame knowledge for a club player. I have read on this site that some consider it to be around 200 positions (Dvoretsky?) while books I have read state that its around two dozen (Andrew Soltis)
Hard to say because for some you don't really need to know more than the ideas (as a club player). For others you'd want to know some specific positions and move orders.
You might say 200 ideas, and two dozen positions ;)
Like R+3 vs R+4 is often a draw while R+5 vs R+4 is often a win. Then see the Capa-Yates game. No need to go for in depth analysis, just to have seen the game and have that general knowledge.
Then in the mid game you're a better judge of which trades and pawn moves enhance or diminish your winning chances. Once you reach your desired position you won't play it perfectly... but neither will your club-level opponent.
Pandolfini's endgame book covers almost all of these. I don't like the format, but you can def play them out against the computer. I've played out almost all the pawn and rook ones you mentioned, have played out a bunch simple Q endgames, but have a ways to go on the Ns and Bs.
Most of those endgames are easy enough to setup on your own, anyway - the books help with the critical sidelines that the computer might never play but a human would likely play.
The Dvoretsky book is TERRIBLE for basic stuff like this. He skips almost all of it, assuming that you know it all already, and pretty well, and goes right into complex problems. (Ok, he'll give you like ONE simple example problem but that's it!) On the bright side, even if you're an endgame patzer like myself, you can have the computer pummel you into learning what features of the position are critical (like that passed pawn you were ignoring..)
"... I believe that Jeremy Silman's Silman’s Complete Endgame Course (subtitled From Beginner to Master) deserved strong consideration for the 2007 ECF Book of the Year award; ... Instead of merely making the examples increasingly complex, he defines what he thinks is necessary to know at specific rating levels. ..." - IM John Watson (2007)
http://theweekinchess.com/john-watson-reviews/theres-an-end-to-it-all
I second ylblai2. Im not a fan of Silman's middlegame books. But his endgame book was really good. Each chapter is what is essential for each level of players.
All I want to say is that one thing worth asking here is who studies endgames. I find that many young prodigies and kids who gain lots of rating points do so because they study tactics, middlegames, and openings, and rarely spend a huge amount of time on endgames. They probably analyze their own games to death, and probably with coaches who can show them the right moves in their endgames, but are they reading through Silman's or Dvoretsky's books? Hell no. The only people who are likely to be doing those things are older players...and older players don't actually gain elo rating (actually most people lose elo past a certain age). Many young players make 2200 without a great understanding of the endgame, frankly because usually someone has a big advantage going into the endgames and so they rarely require advanced technique.
All I want to say is that one thing worth asking here is who studies endgames. I find that many young prodigies and kids who gain lots of rating points do so because they study tactics, middlegames, and openings, and rarely spend a huge amount of time on endgames. They probably analyze their own games to death, and probably with coaches who can show them the right moves in their endgames, but are they reading through Silman's or Dvoretsky's books? Hell no. The only people who are likely to be doing those things are older players...and older players don't actually gain elo rating (actually most people lose elo past a certain age). Many young players make 2200 without a great understanding of the endgame, frankly because usually someone has a big advantage going into the endgames and so they rarely require advanced technique.
The kids in my club have classes where endgames is an important part of their studies.
And I am an old man who is going to increase 200 elo soon. Maybe during this year.
You are an "old man who is going to increase 200 elo soon"?
With all due respect, what you're "going to" do is never evidence of anything. If you actually accomplish your goal, then we'll talk.
All I want to say is that one thing worth asking here is who studies endgames. I find that many young prodigies and kids who gain lots of rating points do so because they study tactics, middlegames, and openings, and rarely spend a huge amount of time on endgames. They probably analyze their own games to death, and probably with coaches who can show them the right moves in their endgames, but are they reading through Silman's or Dvoretsky's books? Hell no. The only people who are likely to be doing those things are older players...and older players don't actually gain elo rating (actually most people lose elo past a certain age). Many young players make 2200 without a great understanding of the endgame, frankly because usually someone has a big advantage going into the endgames and so they rarely require advanced technique.
"All I want to say is that one thing worth asking here is who studies endgames."
Chess players that want to improve, thats who.
Most children don't spend much time studying endgames, and most chessplayers who aren't children never improve.
Most children don't spend much time studying endgames, and most chessplayers who aren't children never improve.
I start all my students off with Opening Principles, and endgames.
@Diakonia you have students?
Let's see how they do I guess
What i do know is that the ones that start with opening principles and ending knowledge advance faster than the ones that want to learn openings first.
When I was seventeen I bought Basic Chess Endings and used to read it a great deal. When I was nineteen I bought Capablanca's endgame book, then bought a bunch of specialized books by Levy. Devoted several weeks to R+P, Q+P, BvK, etc.
The best endgame book ever written, however, is "Domination in 2,545 Endgame Studies." You learn how to trap pieces by netting off their squares.
I am 14 and trying to improve asap.
I am already busy with the following books:
(I read and study in order then move on to the next)
My System
Chess praxis
New York 1924
Silmans endgame
Dvoretskys endgame
as well as some opening books I read at the same time (I think studying both middlegames and openings at the same time is OK)
Should I read that book also? Seems like it would take a long time.
You are an "old man who is going to increase 200 elo soon"?
With all due respect, what you're "going to" do is never evidence of anything. If you actually accomplish your goal, then we'll talk.
+1
But you don't hope to improve, you choose to improve.
And despite what Capa said, it's fraught with danger to assume that what one of the most talented players of ALL TIME for whom almost everything in chess came completely naturally, will work for you.
Capa pretty much never had to struggle with losing a lot of games at patzer level (us) in the opening and middlegame, so of course he would advocate mastering the endgame.
Go look at games of any player here <1300, and they're making so many mistakes before the endgame and often losing games right out of the opening that you better at least fix most of those glaring errors before even touching the endgame.
I do think all players need to learn the basic checkmates, basic pawn opposition things, but studying the endgame gets difficult - FAST and is NOT for beginners. Something as simple looking as 2 pawns vs 1 pawn is hard enough in certain common setups that IMs have screwed it up in serious tournament play.
I hear this quote from Capa all the time, and I was one of those who took it to heart and tried studying the endgame when I was a 1100 level player here. It was some of the worst advice ever - I still lost ALL my games well before the endgame, and my rating went nowhere.
I'm stronger now, but I'm JUST starting to get to the point where 'real' endgame study is making a difference in my game. That's like 1500+ blitz level. If you're under that, you'll be making game-losing errors well before the endgame in most cases. Heck, even now, when I play 10-min+ games, the (vast) majority of the games are decided well before the endgame. At my level (1550 blitz, which is about 1700ish UCSF equivalent per the 2015 ratings survey) I can see how at this level endgame study will likely be the big factor in advancing my rating from here, but I definitely would say it would NOT be the case in my ratings under this level.
This is coming from someone who adores endgame study - I've been doing Dvoretsky's Endgame manual pretty seriously now, playing out EVERY position against the engine (it's slow going- gonna take me years to get through the book, and I'm sure I'll forget a lot of it on the way!)
All those Russian trainers who like Capa, say 'master the endgame first' are almost all training players talented enough to have a baseline of 2000+, on talent alone. Those players don't struggle like we do in losing games in the opening/middlegame, nor did Capa. You're fooling yourself if you think most people of middling patzer level talent (like myself) can follow the same road and just focus on the endgame at the cost of the opening/middlegame where they're losing the vast majority of their games.
I would be interested to know what the forum considers to be the absolute essential endgame knowledge for a club player. I have read on this site that some consider it to be around 200 positions (Dvoretsky?) while books I have read state that its around two dozen (Andrew Soltis)