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Hot Topic (More than 10 Replies) Which endgame books to go from Beginner to Master? (Read 32967 times)
Stigma
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Re: Which endgame books to go from Beginner to Master?
Reply #9 - 05/10/11 at 20:31:52
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LostTactic wrote on 05/08/11 at 19:09:35:
Thank you all for your advice, I think I might just follow Stigma's advice and buy the books he recommended.


Maybe I shouldn't have suggested as many as four books, then! The two Soltis book are enough strategic endgames for a year or more. The others I mentioned expand on when to exchange pieces, especially queens (the Mednis book) and some things Soltis doesn't cover deeply, like the fight between bishop and knight, the bishop pair, the value of a space advantage in the endgame, and the importance of pawn weaknesses (LB Hansen, but also covered in other good books by Speelman, Gelfer, Müller/Pajeken, etc.).

Btw. you should compare "Essential Chess Endings" and "100 Endgames You Must Know"; I suspect they also have too much overlap. You could replace one of them with "Rate Your Endgame".
  
Improvement begins at the edge of your comfort zone. -Jonathan Rowson
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ErictheRed
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Re: Which endgame books to go from Beginner to Master?
Reply #8 - 05/10/11 at 20:14:56
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I agree that your list looks overloaded.  However, I think you should make room for Rate Your Endgame by Mednis and Crouch, which is perhaps the best chess improvement book of any type I've ever read!  I can't recommend it highly enough.
  
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Fllg
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Re: Which endgame books to go from Beginner to Master?
Reply #7 - 05/10/11 at 19:55:12
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Indeed he has already a good compilation of books which should be sufficient for quite some hours of study. Therefore I don´t understand the desire to buy more and more books.  Huh

I really think this is case of "less is more".  Wink
  
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Stigma
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Re: Which endgame books to go from Beginner to Master?
Reply #6 - 05/10/11 at 12:07:03
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emary wrote on 05/10/11 at 07:00:39:
There has been a very thin book written by Averbach, german title: 
" Was der Amateur vom Endspiel wissen muss" 

It contains the absolute minimum a serious player has to know about the endgame. 
If you see a used copy you should have a look at this book, I think you will like it. If you have a perfect working knowledge of this little book you  will be already very strong, maybe near master level in technical and elementary endgames.  

And in fact, the original poster already has "Chess Endings: Essential Knowledge" by Averbakh. Did you consider, what are the odds that this is the same book?  Smiley
  
Improvement begins at the edge of your comfort zone. -Jonathan Rowson
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emary
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Re: Which endgame books to go from Beginner to Master?
Reply #5 - 05/10/11 at 07:00:39
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There has been a very thin book written by Averbach, german title: 
" Was der Amateur vom Endspiel wissen muss" 

It contains the absolute minimum a serious player has to know about the endgame. 
If you see a used copy you should have a look at this book, I think you will like it. If you have a perfect working knowledge of this little book you  will be already very strong, maybe near master level in technical and elementary endgames.  

I like Shereshevski's book on endgame-strategy, it is good to learn how to play endgames in praxis, it is not too complicated. 

I think the main problem with the endgame is to integrate passive knowledge into your working knowledge. You must be able to play technical and elementary endgames under serious timetrouble (Quick-Play-Finish, ...)
Recently I had to defend K+R vs K+N with two minutes left. With some luck I made the draw, but it would have been much easier if I had defended this one against a strong engine a few times.
  
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LostTactic
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Re: Which endgame books to go from Beginner to Master?
Reply #4 - 05/08/11 at 19:09:35
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Thank you all for your advice, I think I might just follow Stigma's advice and buy the books he recommended.
  
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Re: Which endgame books to go from Beginner to Master?
Reply #3 - 05/08/11 at 16:22:33
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I agree with Stigma. Your list looks totally overloaded. A book like "100 Endgames you must know" should be more than sufficient to get you to master level and perhaps even above. I don´t have this but the comparable tome by Nunn "Understanding chess endgames". 

A key to improvement might be to not just simply study the material but to try to come to conclusions on your own before looking at the actual analysis. This way you may develop very good skills how to handle the endgame. That looks like a better method than just accumulating knowledge which in case you get a certain position on the board you may have already forgotten.

From my own experience I can say it´s not necessary to study 12 (!) books to get to FM-level. I even believe it will more hurt than help. It´s better to study the endgames closely which had already arisen in your own games.
  
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Stigma
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Re: Which endgame books to go from Beginner to Master?
Reply #2 - 05/08/11 at 12:52:22
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@LostTactic

You don't need 12 endgame books to reach master level. It's better to read a few good ones really thoroughly so you know the theory you should by heart and have the strategic concepts mastered so they become second nature.

On technical endgames (concrete positons) you already have enough to reach IM level. Read Averbakh, De la Villa and eventually Dvoretsky's Endgame Manual in that order. You don't need to get Silman and Fundamental Chess Endings if you're happy with the three you have, there will just be too much overlap. Silman's Manual has one big advantage though: It presents the endgames in order of difficulty/rating level, not in the normal order based on material.
Flear's "Beyond the Basics" book could be considered after Dvoretsky's Endgame Manual.

On strategic endgames all the books you list are probably good; I think Flear: Improve Your Endgame Play is the easiest one on your list. Endgame Analysis, How to Play Chess Endgames, Endgame Strategy and Learn from the Legends are all supposed to be great, but they're also quite advanced. I don't know your level of course, but I started with some easier books on strategic endgames that have served me well:

Soltis: GM Secrets: Endings
Soltis: Turning Advantage into Victory in Chess
Mednis: From the Middlegame Into the Endgame
LB Hansen: Secrets of Chess Endgame Strategy

I'm probably still just expert level in strategic endgames, so I should move on to Shereshevsky and Marin soon.
  
Improvement begins at the edge of your comfort zone. -Jonathan Rowson
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Re: Which endgame books to go from Beginner to Master?
Reply #1 - 05/08/11 at 12:03:03
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You can consider "Just the facts", I am reading it right now and it looks very good so far.

Also Korchnois "Practical rook endgames" can be considered.

It can be interesting to see what others have to say about books since I will dedicate my summer towards endgames studies so I will defently follow this thread.
  
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LostTactic
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Which endgame books to go from Beginner to Master?
05/08/11 at 10:15:22
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Basically I'm trying to get together all the endgame books I would need to go from beginner to master strength (endgame-wise).

These are the current books I own on the endgame:

Improve your endgame play - Flear
Chess endings: essential knowledge - Averbakh
100 Endgames you must know - Jesus de la Villa
Dvoretsky's Endgame Manual - Dvoretsky
School of Chess Excellence 1: Endgame Analysis - Dvoretsky

And these are the ones I'm considering buying after reading various recommendations on this forum:

Silman's Complete Endgame Course
Fundamental Chess Endings
Practical Endgame Play - Beyond the Basics - Flear
How to Play Chess Endgames
Capablanca's Best Chess Endings
Endgame Strategy
Learn from the Legends

If anyone knows, based on the books I already have is there any from this list that I don't necessarily need? Or is there any books I'm missing? Really I'm just looking for the essential endgame books to get me up to master strength, as this is the part of my game seriously letting me down atm.

Thanks for reading and any advice would be appreciated.
  
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