Just got a copy of Mark Dvoretskys 'End Game Manual'. Wow, this is the second book i have by this author (the first is 'Opening preperation', also an excellent course in chess!) and i have to say, he explains chess in such an agreeable way. I lost an OTB Match the other day after blundering away an advantage and landing up in a totally even end game. I made a couple of over sites and lost 😠. I've been reading this book for 30 minutes and i have already found the correct techniques i needed to secure a win from the position in question. I intend to make the end game my battleground from now on!
Originally posted by LordOfTheChessboardI think right behind tactics tactics tactics, endgame, endgame, endgame is the best way to improve your play. Opening traps etc might gain you quick points, but the endgame will teach you how to play.
another great endgame manual is "fundamental chess endings" by karsten mullen and frank lamprecht. Using chess progs they have been able to state the absolute truth on a lot of endgames where before this was not possible.
Originally posted by LordOfTheChessboard
another great endgame manual is "fundamental chess endings" by karsten mullen and frank lamprecht. Using chess progs they have been able to state the absolute truth on a lot of endgames where before this was not possible.
I have this book.... it's not for the "casual" chess weekender. These guys did indeed present indisputable truth about certain endgame piece combination (along with giving the reader a statistics chart about win/loss/draw %'s with certain pieces).
Honestly, I'm finding it difficult to set aside time to tackle this book (even in small increments). I guess maybe it's a bit of laziness on my part mixed with the fear of such a large mountain of info ahead of me. Sometimes it's just more fun to grab a handful of pieces both black/white and place them randomly around the board --then try to "solve" the game for one or the other color (making sure that there's a pretty even material count from the start of the exercise). This can be a fun alternative to reading variation after variation of fritz-crunched endgame play.
best, steely
i really rate Pandolfini's Endgame book as a first read for endgame play. the only problem is the number of errors in the book. there is an errata on the web though. What i like about this book is that there is one endgame scenario per page and you are not bombed with tons of variations and dry language.
Originally posted by steelydanyes you are right tactics are most important, i also found that when you study tactics you shoud never study composed ones because they include a lot of combinational motivs that will never arise in real games. They will still improve your calculating but not your recognising of possible tactics. So its better to study problem from actual games.
I have this book.... it's not for the "casual" chess weekender. These guys did indeed present indisputable truth about certain endgame piece combination (along with giving the reader a statistics chart about win/loss/draw %'s with certain pieces).
Honestly, I'm finding it difficult to set aside time to tackle this book (even in small incremen ...[text shortened]... rnative to reading variation after variation of fritz-crunched endgame play.
best, steely
like these
http://www.wtharvey.com/prodex.html