Customer Reviews

Endgame Tactics: A Comprehensive Guide to the Sunny Side of Chess Endgames

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"Endgame Tactics" is an amusing romp through the part of a chess game that most of us agree is the most boring. Van Perlo presents many tactical positions, organized according to the remaining pieces, displaying tactical motifs. Van Perlo also engages the reader with a level of banter uncharacteristic for a chess book, making "Endgame Tactics" much more enjoyable that those typical dry chess tomes that we are all too familiar with. Although there are better books to read if you want to actually learn proper endgame technique, this book is still worth reading. You will obtain a tactical perspective into endgames that I have not seen anywhere else.

I'm well into this book, and it's great fun. I've always loved tactics books, and this is the first endgame book I've ever encountered with this approach. Middlegame tactics books like this helped me reach master level; I wonder how far an endgame tactics book could have helped me go? I never found endgames as much fun to study (til now). :-)

Probably one of the 25 best chess books I've seen in over 30 years. I highly recommend it to players and fans at any level!

PS - This book has been named the English Chess Federation Book of the Year 2006. There's a great discussion of Endgame Tactics on Mig Greenguard's Daily Dirt chess blog, if you search for the book title there, too.

This book got the English chess federation's book of the year award. This book is not an exhaustive manual but focuses on endgames that occur frequently in practice. The positions chosen are entertaining and educational; the positions were checked using Fritz, a strong computer chess program; that's the good part about the book. Unfortunately, the positions with 6 pieces or less were not checked with tablebases which play endgames *perfectly*. For example, diagram 287 on page 135 gives white's move 1 b6? as an error. This is not true. The win is still there until 4 Kb3? which should be drawn but then black plays 4...Rh3+? handing the win back to white. The final position is still a white win which the book claims is a theoretical draw. Perlo says "I refer you to the manuals". He should have said "I refer you to the tablebases". If the editor Peter Boel had taken this one last step the book could have been even better.

Select positions is not a easy task. Van Perlo`s book accomplish his goal with endgames positions separated by themes make more easy and fun study this important phase of chess game. Computer revision make sure that all positions are correct in technical point of view. Still isn`t easy study endgames but surely more fun!

Great book, only endgame, but there are several position that consider medle game.

this book had been lauratte for many institution. this book is nne of the most entertaining, insing books ever written is a new classic.

All the material is based on real games and endgame problems and studies. not the tipical position "That would never occur in a real game."


as the author states in the foreword:
" ... Many players consider the study of the endgame a
necessary evil. Resignedly, they plough their way through one
or more standard works, restricting themselves to basic
positions or, on the contrary, a few exceptionally ingenious
studies. Most of them do not find it very exciting.

It's important to mention that VAN PERLO'S ENDGAME TACTICS won the biggest award in the world for chess books: The ECF Book of the Year Award (it used to be called the British Chess Federation Book of the Year Award/BCF, but apparently they just changed it). In 2006 Van Perlo beat out both Kasparov (MY GREAT PREDECESSORS V) and Rowson (CHESS FOR ZEBRAS). That's stiff competition, and is all the more surprising since endgame books usually don't get the nod. Clearly, VAN PERLO'S ENDGAME TACTICS is something special!

Still going through this book...interesting endgame situations that I had never seen before this.....highly recommended...I find myself setting up most of these problems on my board....

this book doesnt have inroductions it has only positional analysis likes a computer program. a good program gives better then its