Jonathan Speelman's new endgame column in British Chess Magazine is, not surprisingly, quite a mine of information. He mentioned recently that the endgame tablebases (i.e. perfect play for any position with 5 - is it? - pieces or fewer) are freely available on shredderchess.com. He also mentioned Znosko-Borovsky's How to Play Chess Endings (Dover reprint 1974), which is indeed a fascinating and instructive book if you don't mind the descriptive notation. One advantage of studying old examples of endings is - in those days the players had enough time to play them properly! Admittedly you could probably find plenty of analytical mistakes with a computer. In the pre-silicon age, I learnt from Hooper's Pocket Guide to Chess Endings (and an audio cassette delivered in Hooper's gravelly tones), then progressed to Keres's Practical Chess Endings, with Chernev, 'Capablanca's Best Chess Endings' for light relief (what Chernev lacks in analytical rigour, he makes up for in charm...). That dates me, doesn't it?!
I really like Speelman and Livshits' book of studies, but I didn't get far enough to encounter serious problems with the typos...
I once reviewed a couple of collections of Cecil Purdy's writings on the endgame. Again, very worthwhile, some unusual material, analysis of practical games, good prose...

Dvoretsky's Endgame Manual is indispensible, I think.

Anyone tried the new series of endgame books by Pinter - 50,000,000 queen endings, etc? Are they interesting?

Fernando Semprun wrote on 01/08/08 at 20:34:28:


I wholeheartedly agree! Several years ago I worked through some of the exercises with a group of friends and it was great fun, but when I tried to buy it for myself I couldn't find any bookstore who had it  

I also attended a training session with a GM who warmly recommended the book, but I had to inform him it was out of print.

Makarov recent book is VERY good.

Beljiavsky & Mikhalchsin books, although OK, are full of analytical errors. In fact, the second book in the series mentioned some of these...(of the first)

Karsten Muller book on pawn endings was EXCELLENT, 13/10, although the acclaimed Fundamental chess Endings has omissions in analysis (some IMPORTANT ONES) and sometimes just mentioned other books to avoid covering certain topics. A pity they did not carry out with minor piece endings, rook endings, etc.., as was surely intended instead of producing the 'Fundamental tome' (Around that time NCO was produced too... )

Emms books are excellent also, although he sometimes lacks the clarity of explanation other authors have achieved.

Dvoretsky is awesome in some places and pedantic beyond redemption in others. He also gives exercises which are solvable mixed with studies that are very difficult, leaving you confused and baffled.

That's typical of him. It costed me dearly to solve a 'simple exercise' of rook vs pawn (leaving me feeling like a patzer) until I discovered that 2 GM's where unable to solve it. A simple exercise, Mr. Dvoretsky?

I have Just the Facts Second Edition and I think it's pretty instructive as well as easy to follow.

Although not books but DVDs I would recommend the two

Romans' Lab : Mastering Chess Series
Volume 8 : Comprehensive Chess Endings , Part 1
Volume 9 : Comprehensive Chess Endings , Part 2

by Roman Dzindzichashvili

as very enjoyable

Also, The DVD series from Susan Polgar give excellent coverage and are well produced.

John

Senna,

Presuming that your arthritis is age related, I would strongly recommend the Dvoretsky book.  Aside from opening rather easily, it has colorful diagrams and notes that makes the important stuff really pop out.

The key differences between these two books is that Muller and Lamprecht's Fundamental Chess Endings tries to be encyclopaedic.  Dvoretsky's Endgame Manual is more pedagogical.  There are fewer examples in the Dvoretsky book, but they tend to be more precious.

If I had to choose between the two (and I didn't) I would buy Dvoretsky's book.  Dvoretsky's book is generally more readable, and is certainly more digestible.

Which ever book you get, I hope you devour it!  

By the way, I bought Dvoretsky on CD a while back but it always crashes. Does anyone else have that problem?