My friend Jeremy Silman just came out with a brand new endgame book! The title is Silman’s Complete Endgame Course – From Beginner to Master.
It is FANTASTIC!! It is writen in a language that anyone can understand! I highly recommend it!
Here is the description of the book:
Book Description
For more than 100 years, the world’s leading chess players and teachers have told their students to study the endgame. Now, for the first time, a revolutionary, richly instructive endgame book has been designed for players of all levels. Silman’s Complete Endgame Course, by famed writer and player Jeremy Silman, is the one and only endgame book you’ll need as you move up the ladder from beginner to strong tournament player and finally to master.
Designed to “speak” to a player in a very personal way, Silman’s book teaches the student everything he or she needs to know at his or her current rating level, and builds on that knowledge for each subsequent phase of the player’s development. Starting at the beginner’s level, all basic mates are clearly and painstakingly explained. After that, the critical building blocks that form the endgame foundation for all tournament hopefuls and experienced tournament competitors are explored in detail. Finally, advanced endgame secrets based on concepts rather than memorization are presented in a way that makes them easy to master.
The basic keys to a well-rounded endgame education–Opposition, the Lucena and Philidor Positions, Cat and Mouse, Trebuchet, Fox in the Chicken Coup, Triangulation, Building a Box, Square of a Pawn, Outflanking, the Principle of Two Weaknesses–are vital. But equally important is creating a love of the endgame, which is addressed at the end of the book with a look at chess tactics, minor piece domination, and a discussion of the five greatest endgame players of all time–all things that every fan of chess at every level can enjoy.
If you have found the endgame to be a mystery, if you have found that your confidence plummets once you reach an endgame, if you have searched for an instructive endgame book that will turn your weakest link–your endgame–into your personal field of power, your search is over. Silman’s Complete Endgame Course is the key to a world of essential ideas, startling beauty, and stunning creativity.
Congratulations Jeremy! This is truly a masterpiece!
This is Jeremy’s website.
Thanks Susan! Your recommendation is always very helpful for me.
I have been working with this book for about a month now, and can only echo the positive accolades for it as an essential resource. The division of material into rating groups and the emphasis on practical knowledge makes the content very manageable. I have started at the beginning so I make sure I have complete knowledge at each level. This is an excellent work!
Like his Reasses Your Chess series, another great book to learn how to think in chess in an organized manner in the endgame.
Can’t wait to read it…
I’ve read through the Class C material (I’m a class D player). His approach to endgame material makes great sense.
I’m familiar with the book. However, in my opinion, I like Dvoretsky’s Endgame (2nd edition) better.
Now, this is only MY opinion. Silman’s book is a great one but I guess different people visualize and learn in different ways and for some reason Dvoretsky “clicked” with me rather than Silman.
In the end, I guess learning how to play a good endgame is the goal, whether it’s Silman or Dvoretsky! Hey, how about both? 🙂
Silman’s book (“Silman’s Complete Endgame Course”) is interesting in that it attempts to give basic endgame knowledge to beginners (rated below 1000) and then to increase their knowledge as they develop their chess skills. The book is divided into nine parts: part one is for beginners rated under 1000, part two for class E (1000-1199), part three for class D (1200-1399), part 4 for class C (1400-1599), part 5 for class B (1600-1799), part 6 for class A (1800-1999), part 7 for experts (2000-2199), part 8 for masters (2200-2399), and part 9 for “pure pleasure.”
For example, the “square of the pawn” (in king and pawn v king endings), as well as the Lucena and Philidor positions (in king, rook, and pawn v king and rook endings), are only covered in part four for those players rated over 1400. His book would seem to suggest that players rated under 1400 have no business knowing about the “square of the pawn” or the difference between the Lucena and Philidor positions.
I would like to know what other chess instructors feel about such an approach.
who are the 5 greatest endgame players he mentioned in his book? I am guessing Rubenstein, Capablanca, Smyslov are 3 of them. Who are the other 2?
The two others are: Lasker and Fischer.
Good luck trying to get a copy of the book on Amazon and Buy.com though. They are backordered.
I love Silman. I read Reassess Your Chess and Amateur’s Mind and I love his writing style. The guy also has a pretty wicked sense of humor 🙂
I’m shamefully reluctant to heap more praise on this book, because I don’t want my opponents to have read it (ho, ho!) but I can’t hold back. I’ve had this book for about a month now and it has done something for me that no other chess book as ever managed- that is, to make me really interested in endgames. Its format is superb. Alas, now everyone will be reading it and whatever advatange I might have because of it will be nullfied. 🙂
Brad Hoehne