Dvoretsky's Endgame Manual

I would appreciate some advice regarding ones approach to reading this book. Do you think it is necessary to read the book from cover to cover or can you pick and choose based on your interest and needs, specific chapters?

I was goimg to say it is too advanced but with your 1800 rating you will be fine eh?

I would play my games here and when I reached an endgame I would go to the section in the book that covers that type of endgame eh?

Going through that book cover to cover would be a second job.
That is a lot of work and it might be so much that you dont absorb it all in eh?

@rickgarel said
I would appreciate some advice regarding ones approach to reading this book. Do you think it is necessary to read the book from cover to cover or can you pick and choose based on your interest and needs, specific chapters?

Just some general advice since I don't own this book:

Take the time and go through it all the way. It may seem a bit stale at times, but in the heat of competition, you may very well need a lesson you once thought to be obscure. Endgames are dangerous, and there is not often time to calculate all the variations in our tournament time control.

This goes double for myself as well! 🙂

@rickgarel
I haven't read the book, so this is a general take. It depends on your objectives, if you're trying to get a chess title then read it from front to back and study it avidly, if you want to see what you could have done in particular games then dipping in is the way forward. If you're a recreational player who would like to become better use the book in the way that gives you most pleasure. So I suggest starting to read it linearly and if it feels like a total chore stop doing that and just read what you're interested in at the time you're interested in a particular aspect.

@rickgarel said
I would appreciate some advice regarding ones approach to reading this book. Do you think it is necessary to read the book from cover to cover or can you pick and choose based on your interest and needs, specific chapters?

I own the book in multiple formats, and I tend to disagree with the posters who think you need to be relatively advanced to benefit from the book. It starts with the very basics of endgame theory, and then builds from there.

If you know how the pieces move, have some general idea of openings and simple tactics, know how to castle and apply the en passant rule, you can benefit hugely from the book.

The trick to the book is that the material is already separated. The basic material is printed in a blue font. If this is your first pass at endgame study, ONLY READ THE BLUE PRINT. That alone will be very worthwhile.

After doing so, and then playing, you can go back to the individual sections as needed, and dive into the more detailed material. Or you may just do it for fun!

I think this is in line with your question, which in itself dovetails nicely with how the book was written and structured. Dvoretsky's goal was to write a manual, not an advanced treatise, and he succeeded admirably.