Customer Reviews

Chess Endgame Training

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Chess endings are deceptively difficult: it can take more than a year simply to learn to play the major four- and five-piece endings competently.

The problem with many endgame treatises--including great contemporary books like _Fundamental Chess Endings_ and (to a lesser extent) _Dvoretsky's Endgame Manual_--is that a fair portion of the material covered is frankly too darn hard even for ambitious young players. Rosen has put a lot of thought into organizing the material so that the young player has a reasonable chance of solving (or at least understanding) each exercise. The ideal reader is probably ELO 1000-1600, though most players with ELO above 2000 would also benefit.

I can't recommend this book strongly enough to chess instructors: 16 well-organized lessons in one book!

Chess Endgame Training allows anyone that has preferred to avoid the subject of chess endings to approach it. Rosen's objectives; a manageable amount of training material and a didactic coverage that summarizes endgame proeasy-to-difficult positions; are achieved in Chess Endgame Training. A brief introduction to an endgame theme is followed by relevant examples, including many classical and recent positions with instructional as well as practical value. The format and contents are straight to the point, with no aesthetic dissertations to fog the mind. The positions presented are both relevant and clearly explained. This is a true time-saver that provides substantial examples in an engaging try-it-yourself format.

I have a number of endgame books, but I find that I come back to this one over and over again. When my endgames or a particular type of endgame starts to get sloppy, I play through these puzzles and sharpen up my game. The puzzles are very good and the text gives answers and helpful suggestions. In summary, a very well thought out and executed training tool.

This book is mostly aimed at advanced club players (ELO 1800+ / maybe more regarding USCF) who already have a good grasp of the main endgame techniques & strategies (e.g. read first a primer like James Howell's "Essential Chess Endings: The Tournament Player's Guide"). It can be used both as a training/test tool and for enhancing your endgame knowledge.
It works by giving you first a set of exercises and then explaining what's going on. Hence, this is a real fun & practical way to work on your endgames. The ideas will get stuck to you head..
But let me say once more that imo you need to be already acquainted with basic endgames and also have a good sense of tactics & calculation.