Customer Reviews

Practical Chess Endings

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I should give this book 5 full stars as it really is one of the best endgame book available. At our local chess club the Masters give lectures on Thursday nights. During their endgame series of lectures I was able to find every example they used in this book. The master's lecture concept was that rather than building up an opening repetiore, the beginning player would do better to build up an ending repetiore. By studying the endgame you learn how to attack and you learn the purpose of the middle game. And, since the end game occurs when you're usually in time trouble, the ability to play the endgame like a machine while your opponent must calculate every move is a great advantage.

However, I do have a few small gripes about this book.
1. I have found perhaps half a dozen endgames where I've come up with alternative lines where a win is not forced. Chernev does give variations on how to win many variations, but there are times when it appears that the opponent is not playing the best possible line.

2. Endgames often center around a theme or technique. Chernev gives you several endgames which demonstrate a technique, but he never specifically says "This position contains these key points which will lead us to use this particular technique". It is left up to the reader to figure out what the actual techniques used in the examples are. More importantly, it's left up to the reader to determine what factors require which techniques.

3. Occasionaly a term is used without explaination. For example: "1. K-B6 and the white king is said to have the opposition". But what is "opposition?" It is not explained. As in point #2 this is left for the reader to figure out. (By the way, there is an excellent description of Opposition in Jeremy Silman's book "How To Reassess Your Chess")

However, even with these faults, this is still one of the best endgame books available. Study the pawn endings until you can do them in your sleep, and then study the Rook endings. Then follow up with the rest of the book. This is the book you use to build up your "endgame repetiore".

Anyone no matter their skill level can benefit from this book. The author describes the techniques employed in the most important and typical endgame situations, presenting more than 300 positions that clearly describe how a good player will solve the problems encountered in each one of them.

A good part of the book is devoted to king and pawn endings, but also enough coverage is given to endgame positions where the knight, the bishop, the root, and the queen play the important role of helping promote a pawn or acting to accomplish a mating solution.

As the author states "the book is designed to improve the skills of the practical player who is interested in wining the ending clearly, simply and efficiently."

I bought this book as part of a used chess book collection on an auction, and I was not disappointed at all with this title. The book systematically showed me how to think and analyze typical positions that as a matter of fact I have encountered during actual play.

The book uses descriptive notation, but I guess this is just a matter of preference and it actually doesn't affect the quality and usefulness of the information presented. Nevertheless you should take this into account in case you prefer algebraic notation.

The reader gets 300 diagrams for the beginner or expert.There are practical basic endings that everyone should know and beautiful studies all designed to raise the readers understanding of chess and the endgame. One diagram per page makes it easy to read. This dover book is well bound and will last. Anyones appreciation of chess would be inhanced by owning this book.

First of all, I got this book used so even if it was horrible, I can't complain cause I only dropped a few bucks for it. But that isn't the case. This is a very good book, but be sure you buy it for the right reasons. If you're looking for a book that teaches how to neutralize an extra pawn in a Rook and Pawn ending, or looking for some basic principles or advice, this isn't for you. I'd suggest Fundamental Chess Endings for you, that is very big, comprehensive, and it even won a book of the year award. But that is also pretty pricey. With this book you get a collection of diagrams, on per page, and you are supposed to find the win for white. Think of it like a tactical puzzle book for the endgame. While it is instructive while you're reading it, I found it hard to be able to broaden its help to my endgame play. Unless you find yourself in that exact position, it doesn't do much because you don't know how to get there. In any case, and practice for the endgame is good practice, and this definately gives you that. It is very easily organized, dealing with pretty much all combinations of material on the board. One thing you should know tho is that it is in descriptive notation. It might be a problem, it might not, but you should know. So finally, I would say get this book if you want to get practice at specific endgame positions. Maybe if you're a better player than I am you can unversalize what happens and get some sort of principles out of it.

This book is another great Chernev classic, at the affordable Dover price.

You are basically given a winning position and then Chernev outlines how to win with the position.

--It starts off with the basic endings, and then gets more complex as the book continues. I would recommend setting up the board and practicing these endings with your chess buddy. Your endings will improve tremendously.

Though it does have the ditraction of being written in descriptive notation (i.e. P-K4), this is compensated by the instruction given wonderful endgames, particularly for beginners. With sections on pawns and combined piece play, this is a wonderful beginning or compendium towards the study of the endgame.

This book is a must for any players chess library. The problems are concise and wonderful in their exquisite details.

Practical Chess Endings is a compilation of three-hundred end game positions. Chernev spends a page on each position discussing the winning tactics, often from unexpected lines of attack. The book is divided into sections containing games that involve only pawns, focus on knights, bishops, rooks, queens, and a variety of pieces. Chernev utilizes very old style chess notation that will take some getting used to.

I was slightly disappointed that very little theory was discussed other than minor comments on some of the moves. The book would have been much more complete had Chernev spent time discussing theory and then showing is application; instead the book dives right into end games on page two.

This book is best served as practice, offering considerable repetition for those seeking to practice end game study. I recommend this book only to those seeking to practice positions, not for those looking for a discussion on endgame theory.

I hate this book. All it has is junk but I only read about one page, but I hate it. This has got to be one of the worst endgame chess book ever. I think Irving Chernev made too much of (Example) K-qb2 and not enough words.