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Posted by ssisyphus play-chess-online.com 4/24/2008 02:34:54 Play online chess	Subject: Endgame Book Message: Does anyone know a good book on endgames? Thanks in advance.
Posted by torre_tinorete play-chess-online.com 4/24/2008 04:04:42 Play online chess	Silman Endgame Book Message: If there is an endgame book that I will recommend, it would be Silman's "Complete Endgame Book". This book is different from other endgame books in terms of presentation. Other endgame books categorize endings accoring to pieces i.e., rook endings, bishop endings etc. However, Silman divided the material according to rating. This has its benefits. For one, you only need to learn endgames within your rating range. Once you go over your rating, then its time you learn other "advance" endgames. Still, there is no harm in reading the book in its entirely. For me, its easy to read and comprehend. Hope this helps
Posted by torre_tinorete play-chess-online.com 4/24/2008 04:07:31 Play online chess	Title Silman endgame book Message: Made a slight error. The correct title of the endgame book of Silman is "Silman's Complete Endgame Book" ——— Chess: Why resign with two queens? — Despite the extra queen, Howell was in trouble and when he missed a miracle defence Kramnik seized his chance. This is the final position of the chess game we considered last week. Kramnik has just played his rook to c8 and Howell promptly resigned. Why? RB: Yes, why did Black resign? With two queens on the board you'd think he'd be fine. But what are his options here? I can see two. The first doesn't seem to help Black: 1â€¦Rxc8 2 Qxc8+ Kh7 3 a8=Q when, with the threat of mate on h8, Black has to continue 3â€¦Qxa8 and after the recapture White is a knight and a pawn up. The alternative is 1â€¦Qxb8 2 axb8=Q Rxc8 3 Qxc8+ Kh7 4 Qf5+, when White is again a knight and pawn to ...
Posted by marinvukusic play-chess-online.com 4/24/2008 07:35:30 Play online chess	The only book I ever used Message: Keres: "Practical chess endings" Great for a practical player. Books on endgames tend to be huge and not exactly practical, this one has everything that is needed. Silman's concept sounds good and if the book is really well written you can give it a go. ——— Making the Case for, and Against, Chess as an Olympic Sport — Could chess be an Olympic sport? Such an idea may seem absurd to some people, but the World Chess Federation has been lobbying the International Olympic Committee for years to include chess in the Games. As part of its efforts, the federation even instituted drug testing to bring chess into compliance with the committeeâ€™s rules. (Players have grumbled about this, pointing out that aside from caffeine, there are no drugs that can plausibly help them play better.) In making a case for chess, Kirsan Ilyumzhinov, the president of the federation, has said that curling is essentially â€œchess on ice.â€ The Olympic committee has granted the federation status as a Recognized International Sports Federation, but ...
Posted by lighttotheright play-chess-online.com 4/24/2008 10:37:16 Play online chess	Message: Silman's endgame book is the best one that I've seen in years. I highly recommend it. I would have bought it myself, if I wasn't already so familiar with the material. ——— On Chess: Game is brainy mix of theory, practice — The frequent emphasis on rote learning is decried by critics of formal education. Learning is often reduced to reproducible sound bites amenable to multiple-choice testing. The result can be a learned incapacity in making complex decisions demanding fluid thinking and purposeful action. We often hear from those who use chess as an educational tool that â€œChess makes kids smarter.â€ But why? Chess, like other games, is a testing ground that combines theory and action. It is no accident that the best performers in sports are often effective men and women who achieve new successes when their athletic careers are over. Playing chess involves a continuous mental process of applying and modifying concepts to ...
Posted by jstack play-chess-online.com 4/24/2008 13:36:17 Play online chess	Dvoretsky's book Message: I would say Dvoretsky's end game manual is the best end game book I have seen since I started playing chess. I have not seen Silman's book. ——— Vlad Kramnik sweeps past Englishmen en route to winning London Chess Classic — Beating up the Brits was the key for Russia's Vlad Kramnik, who won this week's London Chess Classic narrowly from the US No1 Hikaru Nakamura and the world No1 Magnus Carlsen. Kramnik made a clean sweep of the four Englishmen. His key game was in the penultimate round against Luke McShane who till then was a contender for the â‚¬50,000 first prize and still finished a strong â‚¬15,000 richer fourth. Carlsen was only third, yet the combined elite chess events at Moscow last month and London boosted the 21-year-old Norwegian's status as top dog, second only to the retired Garry Kasparov on the all-time ratings. Carlsen was unbeaten in both chess tournaments, whereas Kramnik and ...
Posted by thaumaturgy play-chess-online.com 4/24/2008 14:34:59 Play online chess	Silamn's book Message: Silman's book is definitely worth the investment. It is the best endgame book money can buy. If you're just starting out, you can learn basic endgame strategies and theory. If you're already an accomplished player, then you can study advanced/expert endgame concepts all the way to master level play. Definitely a tremendous book! ——— Second place finish for Nakamura in London — St. Louis resident Hikaru Nakamura captured second place in the recently finished London Chess Classic. This stellar result catapults Hikaru back in the top 10 after his less-than stellar performance in the Tal Memorial in Moscow, where he finished in last place. Another chess player, Vladimir Kramnik, had a similar turnaround. Kramnik finished next to last in Moscow, but he came back to win the London Chess Classic. Hikaru Nakamura secured second place with a sharp tactical victory over Michael Adams in the final round of the London Chess Classic. Adams is England's highest-rated chess player. The tournament in London had a fantastic format, and it featured a little twist in scoring as well. Typically, a win is ...
Posted by longbow57 play-chess-online.com 4/24/2008 14:41:08 Play online chess	Basic Chess Endings Message: The book I like is Reuben Fines Basic Chess Endings, written in 1941 I have been playing Chess over 40 years,that was the only book we had on endgames, boy times have changed so has the World, now we have the internet for openings and end games and to study chess, for the better I hope. Thanks
Posted by taufiq play-chess-online.com 4/26/2008 01:28:09 Play online chess	Endgame Message: Someone told me, this would be a great book for studying endgames (I haven't got the book, but I'm willing to purchase it) --> "Chess: 5334 Problems, Combinations & Games", written by father Polgar.. --> www.chesshouse.com
Posted by wschmidt play-chess-online.com 4/28/2008 13:00:13 Play online chess	No, Message: The Polgar book isn't an endgame book. It's mainly a collection of mating combinations - one, two and three move checkmates. It's great for that, but it definitely isn't an endgame book.
Posted by taufiq play-chess-online.com 4/29/2008 01:59:12 Play online chess	Message: Ah, ok wschmidt ; I didn't knew that :) Sorry for posting it :) Take care !
Posted by heinzkat play-chess-online.com 4/29/2008 02:06:50 Play online chess	Well, Message: László Polgár has compiled another book called 'Chess Endgames', which contains (a 'dump' of) 4,560 positions (they are categorized though). Done in the same way as the 5,334 problems, combinations & games, I suppose. What I didn't like about it, is that nothing is explained, only the positions are given with a very 'dry' solution section (no commentary, just moves with +- evaluations). But it IS a very thorough book, and I definitely should do more from it (compared to the 'nothing' now!)
Posted by ionadowman play-chess-online.com 4/29/2008 14:08:31 Play online chess	A few centurries ago... Message: ... Batsford put out a series of endgame books each specialising in types of material involved: Rook endings, Queen endings, minor piece endings and the like. I bought just two of them: Levenfish & Smyslov's "Rook Endings" and Averbakh's "Queen and Pawn Endings". I don't know whether these books were specially commissioned by Batsford, or whether they were tranlations of Russian/Soviet publications. It seems that Paul Keres's "Practical Chess Endings" is from the same stable. I have found both the volumes that I own useful and informative, beginning with "schoolboy" theory to begin with then gradually becoming more advanced and complicated. Most of the endings are taken from actual games, but a few studies are also presented. And they have helped in endings on GK. In a game ionadowman vs sranderson a year or so back, I found myself a pawn down in a Q+Ps ending, with a completely passive position , but fortunately the enemy didn't have a passed pawn. Averbakh's book at least gave me some clues what to strive for and what to avoid, though I have to admit, the idea of sacrificing my Q-side pawns to activate my game was largely my own. When my opponent timed out (I noticed he was cutting things more and more finely), he was still a pawn ahead, but I still had the means to set problems, and was starting to think I might yet hold out for a draw... A particularly interesting and difficult R+Ps ending occurred in agmac vs ionadowman, again with my having the pawn less. Now, I've had quite a lot of R+Ps endgames on GK, and have thereby built up a fund of experience in them, but this one was quite complicated as there were a lot of pawns. Gradually reducing material I finally got to a point where a known drawn position was in sight - identified by Levenfish & Smyslov as such - which I managed to steer for and obtain. A limitation, perhaps, of such books, is that they aren't always comprehensive in their analysis of such positions, so, when agmac, having arrived at the "drawn" position, deviated almost at once from the "main" line, I had still some work to do to secure the half-point. Which was probably just as well, as it gave me further insights into how such endings work. You could do worse than to get hold of these books if you can. Cheers, Ion
Posted by doctor_knight play-chess-online.com 4/29/2008 20:54:50 Play online chess	Message: I don't know what your particular needs are, but I really liked Purdy's "On the Endgame". Very good writing with clear explanations. It basically has two sections: the first is an endgame course to teach you what Purdy would consider everything you need to know about endgames to start off. The second section is mainly endgame studies. The editors of the book recommend going through the endgame course and then referring back to the second section to study particular endgame studies that relate to endgames that you encounter in your real games (maybe I should start doing this lol).
Posted by taufiq play-chess-online.com 4/30/2008 04:50:02 Play online chess	... Message: ionadowman; I've found your game against agmac, and indeed, it's very learnfull ! (for the people who are interested; the game ended 21-Jan-06). If I look through such games, it's very clear for me, there's a lot more to learn !! Still a long way to go ! :)
Posted by lighttotheright play-chess-online.com 4/30/2008 06:52:26 Play online chess	Message: ...regarding Laszlo Polgar's book. Although it is not an endgame book, it does have a endgame specific section within it. It is only about 140 problems from simple endgames; but it is there. Some people don't like the style of not explaining anything with just problems. I find this style most useful. The only way to truly learn chess is to just do it. This forces you to do just that. The problems expand your learning horizons. It's funny! I've always viewed mating positions (which most of his book it comprised of) as a form of endgame.
Posted by chuckychess play-chess-online.com 4/30/2008 23:24:04 Play online chess	Message: For the sub-1800 player, I would recommend "Essential Chess Endings Explained Move by Move, Vol 1", by Jeremy Silman. Every move of most of the basic endgames that B players and below need to know are commented upon by Silman. It is available at www.labatechess.com
Posted by bogg play-chess-online.com 5/01/2008 03:58:36 Play online chess	GM Flear Message: Has a new book that looks valuable, 'Practical Endgame Play - beyond the basics'. Rather than writing another book on theoretical endgame play he has written a book that covers positions with a bit more material on the board, one or both players has two pieces. CTC
Posted by ionadowman play-chess-online.com 5/07/2008 13:31:49 Play online chess	It seems likely... Message: ...that GM Flear has begun to fill a gap that exists in the literature: namely, how to play the early ending, when there remains quite a bit of material on the board, but the middlegame has "clearly" passed. Perhaps it might be better termed, "how to play 'simple' positions - "simple" meaning with pawns and not more than 3 pieces remaining. Of course, any such book would be general in nature, since there is an infinitude of variety still to be found so late in the game. And you would be amazed at just how complicated and exciting 'simple' positions can become! Some of the Fischer-Smyslov battles of 1958-1959 were thrillers. Cheers, Ion
Posted by wschmidt play-chess-online.com 5/08/2008 13:13:10 Play online chess	The Flear book is excellent. Message: I recently had a GK game that was headed for a rook and pawn vs rook and knight with pawns on both sides endgame. I started going through the examples in the Flear book when I realized this. I didn't get any specific moves from my study but did get a feel for how such endgames can progress and how the pieces interact within different pawn structures. Highly recommended.
Posted by alxthgrt play-chess-online.com 8/22/2008 16:49:14 Play online chess	Yassier Seirawan American Number one Message: his book is quite good, it covers basic mates to rook vs pawn and rook ending
Posted by alxthgrt play-chess-online.com 8/22/2008 16:50:28 Play online chess	Message: its called winning chess ending sry
Posted by cutawhant play-chess-online.com 9/27/2008 07:52:59 Play online chess	Recommendation Message: For starters: Endings Made Simple, by Ian Snape