Mastering the Endgame [Paperback]

Glenn Flear (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: December 1, 2001 | Series: Everyman Chess

This book enables keen students to improve their understanding of the endgame. It develops themes originally discussed in Improve Your Endgame Play.

Editorial Reviews

From the Back Cover

In this ideal book for dealing with one of the most difficult phases of the game, Grandmaster Glenn Flear develops ideas first outlined in his earlier book Improve Your Endgame Play. Building up a detailed understanding of the key ideas in the endgame normally requires many years of study and experience of practical play. In this book, Glenn Flear brings that knowledge to the reader in an easy-to-digest format.This guide explains the strategic considerations underpinning all important endgames; numerous test positions enable readers to gauge their progress; revolutionary layout allows readers to absorb the key ideas. (7 x 9 1/2, 176 pages, diagrams)

About the Author

Grandmaster Glenn Flear is a highly experienced tournament player and the author of numerous chess books. His clear explanations and lucid style make his books accessible to players of all strengths. His previous books for Everyman include Improve Your Endgame Play and The Offbeat Spanish.

Product Details

• Paperback: 176 pages
• Publisher: Everyman Chess; 1st edition (December 1, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1857442334
• ISBN-13: 978-1857442335
• Product Dimensions: 9.6 x 6.9 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.5 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #231,714 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

26 of 30 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Its Pretty Good, January 28, 2002

By A Customer

This review is from: Mastering the Endgame (Paperback)

This book primarily deals with analysis of examples from grandmaster play, only giving theoretical endings when they illustrate some particular point. The author has quite a bit of text, but some of the variations have a bit of a Fritzy feel to them, and the variations seldom contain textual explanations. The emphasis is on rook endings and minor piece endings. I would have liked to see more explanations of pawn endings and more guiding principles to queen endings.

The reason I only gave this book 3 stars is that I do not feel it is extraordinary. It is competent, but not stellar. Perhaps I would have enjoyed this book more if I did not own many books on the endgame already. Silman's Essential chess endings is hard to beat for the basics. Soltis' Grandmaster secrets is the best source of helpful practical advice in the form of general principles (Here's the best one--don't enter into a K+P endgame unless you're absolutely certain you could win it blindfolded!). Hays' Endgame Challenge is a good self-test guide to basic endings. My favortie endgame book has to be Howell's Essential Chess endings complemented by the massive coverage in Batsford Chess endings. This book reminds me of a book called endgame strategy in that it just explains some of the moves behind complex endings. You should look at it yourself to see if it would be what you are interested in, but it just wasn't the best book for me.