Silman's Complete Endgame Course: From Beginner to Master

First let me say that some of the criticisms others have mentioned are true. As Mr. Harding says, this book doesn't have many examples of more complex endings. Ideas like pawn breakthroughs, etc. are certainly covered in this book, but until you see them in more complex settings you probably won't fully appreciate the concept. Van Perlo's book "Endgame Tactics" covers this kind of thing much better. I guess it can be said that this is a book about theoretical endgames. Its true that there are other kinds of endgame manuals - books covering what Aagaard calls "Technical Chess", but that is not the emphasis of this book. And as John says, this book does leave out a lot that others may find important (he lists many in his review). Even fairly thin books, like Averbakh's "Chess Endings: Essential Knowledge", covers many endings not covered in Silman's book. OK, that's a valid point, but Silman is deliberately trying to limit the material to the kinds of endings likely to come up in over-the-board play. Despite these valid points, I nevertheless, think this book deserves 5 stars. I really consider it the best guide to the endgame for class players. First, Silman is just a great teacher. He has a way of bringing the student along that takes the drudgery out of learning, and everything really does seem quite straightforward. Now, of course the student will have to set some of these endings up on his computer and practice them - no one said practice was not required. But Silman's explanations convey the basic information as well as any I've seen. Secondly, the simple idea of breaking down the material by difficulty level rather than by material may seem trivial, but its an enormously powerful innovation in teaching endgames, and really sets this book apart. In every other area of life we learn the easier stuff before we learn what is harder. Averbakh's book, for example, covers simple concepts like the square of a pawn on one page and on the next is discussing queen verses rook endgames. Don't get me wrong, I think Averbakh's book is excellent, but I would never give it to a novice (or even a class C or B player) as a book for them to learn endings from. Overall, I think Silman's book is the best for class players to learn from. If they wish to go further in endgames, then Van Perlo's book (for students who are about class B or better) can help with more complex endings. By the time a student reaches class A, the book by Averbakh would certainly be a good addition if he wishes to pursue theoretical endings further.

I'm a 1400-1500 player. This is the first book I've really studied on endgames. I've looked through other endgame books, and few describe the strategy, principles, and ideas in simple english the way this one does. The book is easy to follow, and although it is divided into sections for various strengths, I completed it all the way up to the master level, where I stopped. It's not that I can't handle the master sections (Silman's teaching is so easy to understand, that you can work way past your level), but my time is better devoted to other chess topics (I'm going through Silman's Reassess Your Chess 4th Edition now). This book is like a textbook. You really need to study the ideas and work the problems. I recommend putting the positions in a strong engine (I used Rybka 4) and playing them out. If the position is a forced win, play it until you can force the win against Rybka (~3000 strength) everytime over and over until it's borring. This does wonders for your confidence to know that if you can achieve this type of endgame, you WILL WIN, there's nothing your opponent can do. BTW, this is a major point of the book (and it's excellent): - You learn to recognize a theoretical draw or win even though it may be 30+ moves away. You don't have to calculate. You know a particular position is a win, and all you have to do is reach that position and then follow the correct strategy to force a win. I can now look at a "complex position," recognize the principles, and fight to achieve the theoretical win/draw position. Once achieved, I can force the win/draw against Rybka even though sometimes it's well over 30 moves away! Before reading this book, I would have had no idea what to do, and I would have definitely lost everytime. Although I give the book 5 stars, it does have some flaws. A few diagrams are in error, there's some typos, and Silman gives the wrong answer to a few exercises (I discovered this because I was practicing against Rybka 4). Silman has published an Erata sheet that corrects most of the errors. If you hate endgames because you think they are borring or you think you have to calculate 30 moves ahead to understand why an innocent looking pawn/king move is an instant blunder/loss, this book is definitely for you because that's what I used to think. I love endgames now.

I can't understand the negative reviews. Silman has used his many years of coaching experience to teach players the essential endgame knowledge for their level up to mastery. He then provides a reading list which includes Dvoretsky's Endgame Manual and Fundamental Chess Endings by Muller & Lamprecht. He does not overwhelm improving players with esoteric and boring endgames, He does, however, treat some rather rare endings because knowledge of the properties and powers of the pieces involved is necessary for players at that level to progress further. The book is not designed for masters nor does it overwhelm the 1400 player with 100+ "positions you must know." Truth be told, at that level most of us rarely survived to an endgame, but if we did we could win by not butchering a basic king & pawn or rook ending, or accindentally stalemating our opponent when a queen ahead. Many years ago, I started with Capablanca's A Primer of Chess. The great Cuban is correct in his assertion that simple endings are a great tool for learning the properties of pieces. It is strange how often I have been able to beat higher ranking players in an endgame. Basically, my understanding of the powers of the king is better than theirs. I am not a whiz at bishop and knight endings, but they rarely occur and few players at the local club and tournaments are. Those guys are better at tactics and openings, too. I have seen Grandmasters disparage endgame knowledge. First, Fischer and now Carlsen rose to the top by proving that even strong GMs are weak in the ending and can be outplayed in the middlegame because of that weakness. Silman is right, a relatively small amount of study can pay big dividends. I have forced myself to wade through several books on the ending and abandoned several others part way through. I wish this book had been available 40 years ago. It could have saved me a lot of time and frustration.

Im your average intermidiate player. im about 15-1600 chesscom and i wanted to get into over the board but i knew my end games were sketchy. I'd draw won games and lose drawn games online. So i started looking towards video content to help iron out my mistakes. And while these are great resources (especially danya's series) i really struggle to not just passively watch these videos. Thats where this book offers something that videos dont offer. you're forced to engage with it from reading to setting up the board. Also, the book is structured by endgames you see at a given rating, which i was skeptical at first. But it works well. If you get it i recommend breezing through endgames below your level. Because even if you intuitively know the endgame its good to have a solidified approach/rule. Overall very good book. I'd still recommend people explore free content first but if you cannot learn that way this book is a great option .

This book is a must have, reference book for all chess players. For an old guy like me it's the most depressing chess book I've read ;-) I didn't realize there was soooo much involved in pawn endings!! It seems almost hopeless to learn all that. But it's absolutely essential if you want to climb the ladder to chess mastery. My chess ambitions are limited to a decent club player. I currently spend about 6-10 hours a week practicing. No question it's a fabulous book on endings. Although, I wasn't able to find the knight/bishop mate.

I already had some endgame literature, from some easy stuff to Dvoretsky's Endgame Manual, but I hadn't found, until now, a book that was of some use to my son, which is learning to play the game and also could serve him in the future as he progresses and also myself, as I try to improve. And the material is presented in a way that is new to me and very useful. I have devoted some time (not much, I have to admit) trying to master B+N+K vs K ending (without success) and now I realise that it wasn't probably worth the effort, while I totally failed to study other material that could have been more useful. I also studied some stuff in a very different order to the one used in the book, resulting in me studying things with great effort 'cos they were based in things I should have known already but I didn't, having to go back and learn those first. I hope this book saves a lot of wasted effort to my son as he improves, and also fills some gaps I certainly have in my endgame knowledge. Perhaps one day I will be even capable of dusting off Dvoretsky's book and understand at least part of it ;-) Did I say I love this book already? Well, I really do. Hey, son, let's master the R+K vs K checkmate, okay? He's just 6 now, and learning fast, but just started playing like 3 months ago. So, please, if anyone know of some material that is similarly laid out to this book but dealing with easy opening concepts and, most importantly, with tactical patterns, I'd love to know about it. For now I'm relying in the courses in an old copy of Chessmaster 9000, which are quite good, by the way. So, stop reading and go buy this book already. Silman, keep it going. I already have How to reassess your chess and I also love it, but it is of no use yet to my son.

If you want confidence going into the endgame, then Silman's Complete Endgame Course is for you. I was an 1800 player when I began reading this book. I have read through to the end of section 6 titled "Endgames for class A players"; and although I had previously read Silman's "Essential Chess Endings Vol. 1" this new book has already provided me a deep understanding of at least 5 new key positions which can occur often in my games, and I am only half way through the book. Before reading a section of material I would glance at the test diagrams towards the end of that section and many of them appeared unclear to me. But to my great pleasure, once I read through the section, the test diagrams were a breeze as they unfolded before my eyes like a mate in two puzzle. You can get through most of the material in the first half of the book without a chess set due to the frequent number of diagrammed positions. Studying openings is alright but there are a myriad of variations to each with a lot of pieces to keep track of, and you must keep updated on the latest lines. Alternatively studying the endgame where pieces are few and theory is established will provide a lifetime of benefits to your game. Understanding the endgames in this book will improve all three phases of your game because it will give you better direction on where to steer the play of your middlegame and teach you to be mindful of the consequences to your pawn moves in the openings. I strongly recommend this book to any class of chess player up to and including Master strength.

La forma en la que explica Jeremy Silman hace divertida la lectura y no voy a mentir, toda lectura de ajedrez es bastante pesada sin importar el esfuerzo que haga el autor. Depende de uno mismo. Las lecturas se van volviendo más fáciles de llevar con la práctica, pero ya que supongo que estas buscando empezar te recomiendo acompañar las lecciones con videos de YT, esto hará que se te haga más fácil seguir avanzando. Otra recomendación es que coloques las posiciones en el analizador de tu plataforma favorita (Prefiero Lichess) y las juegues contra el ordenador hasta que las entiendas a profundidad, esto acompañado con videos te dará motivación para seguir. No te preocupes por los ejercicios de práctica, déjalos todos para el final, buscas conocer las ideas y finales más básicos que otros libros dan por aprendidos. Las ideas y la forma en la que Silman explican me parecen lo más importante ya que esto es lo que utilizaras luego para estudiar los 100 finales que debes saber de Jesús De la Villa. Puedes ir directamente a ellos, pero este libro te da una base muy interesante. Intenta darle sentido a tu manera, no todo es absoluto y las reglas no funcionan si no las entiendes, adáptalas a tu ser, créales historias de ser necesario, en fin, que te hagan sentido a ti y a tu forma de ver las cosas. A mí en lo personal no me interesa tanto la estética en un libro, prefiero el contenido, pero este libro les pone la vara muy alta a otros en cuestión de apariencia y diría que hasta en tacto. La portada es una locura, se ve muy linda y la textura es super extraña, se siente suave y mate a la vez, nunca había visto un libro así por ende no se explicarlo, muy, pero que muy lindo.