Chess endgame literature

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Chess endgame literature refers to books and magazines about chess endgames. A bibliography of endgame books is below.

Contents 1 History of endgame literature 2 Bibliography 2.1 Small, general one-volume books 2.2 Large, more comprehensive one-volume books 2.3 Multi-volume works 2.4 Some books on specific endings 2.4.1 Pawn endings 2.4.2 Rook endings 2.4.3 Minor piece endings 2.4.4 Other endings 2.5 Endgame strategy 2.6 Endgames by specific players 2.7 Miscellaneous endgame books 2.8 Magazines 3 References

[edit] History of endgame literature

The study of a few practical endgames are found in Arabic manuscripts from the twelfth and thirteenth centuries. However, these are from before the rule of pawn promotion, so most are of little value today. In the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries a few types of endgames were studied, and opposition was known. In 1617 Pietro Carrera published knowledge of several types of endgames. In 1634 Alessandro Salvio analyzed a key position in rook endgames. In 1766 Carlo Cozio published analysis of 127 endgame positions, but it was not a practical handbook. In 1763 Giambattista Lolli published a 315-page book which was the first giving practical research. His material came from several sources, including analysis by François-André Philidor. Other important books were Chess Studies by Josef Kling and Bernhard Horwitz in 1851, Fins de parties d'echecs by Durand and Jean Preti in 1871, and Teoria e pratica del giuoco degli scacchi by Salvioli in 1877.

The modern period of chess endgame books begins with Theorie und Praxis der Endspiele (Theory and practice of the Endgame) by Johann Berger. This was published in 1891, revised in 1922, and supplemented in 1933. This was the standard work on practical endgames for decades. Eugene Znosko-Borovsky published How to Play Chess Endings in 1940. Reuben Fine published Basic Chess Endings in 1941 and it was an attempt to collect all practical endgame knowledge into one volume. It is still useful today and has been revised by Pal Benko (Golombek 1977:101). Half of Andre Cheron's (1895-1980) book Traite Complet d'Echecs was about the endgame, and later he wrote Nouveau Traite Complet d'Echecs, which was a large book about the endgame. He later expanded that into the four-volume Lehr- und Handbuch der Endspiel in German, which was translated from the 1952 version in French (Purdy 2003:244). This was a major work for endgame studies but was not designed for the practical player. Yuri Averbakh published a monumental set of books in Russian in 1956, which was published as Comprehensive Chess Endings in English, and was published in other languages (Golombek 1977:101).

[edit] Bibliography

Here are some books on chess endgames in English:

[edit] Small, general one-volume books

• Winning Chess Endings, by Yasser Seirawan, 2003, Everyman Chess. ISBN 1-85744-348-9. A good introductory book.
• Improve Your Endgame Play, by Glenn Flear, 2000, Everyman Chess. ISBN 1-85744-246-6. A good introductory book.
• Just the Facts!: Winning Endgame Knowledge in One Volume, Lev Alburt and Nikolai Krogius, 2000, Newmarket Press. ISBN 1-889323-15-2. A good introductory book.
• Essential Chess Endings: the Tournament Player's Guide, by James Howell, 1997, Batsford. ISBN 0-7134-8189-7. A small but comprehensive book.
• Grandmaster Secrets: Endings, by Andrew Soltis, 1997, 2003, Thinker's Press, ISBN 0-938650-66-1. An elementary book.
• Pandolfini's Endgame Course, by Bruce Pandolfini, 1988, Fireside, ISBN 0-671-65688-0. Many short elementary endgame lessons.
• Chess Endings Made Simple: How to Approach the Endgame with Confidence, by Ian Snape, 2003, Gambit Publications, ISBN 1-901983-97-8
• Chess Endings: Essential Knowledge, by Yuri Averbakh, 1966, 1993, Everyman Chess (possibly out of print in book form but available on CD). ISBN 1-85744-022-6. Contains some elementary material and a few more advanced topics, but is not comprehensive.
• Practical Chess Endings, by Paul Keres, 1973, R.H.M. Press. ISBN 0-89058-028-6. Highly regarded but out of print.
• A Pocket Guide to Chess Endgames, by David Hooper, 1970, Bell & Hyman. ISBN 0-7135-1761-1. Small yet relatively comprehensive book.
• A Guide to Chess Endings, by Dr. Max Euwe and David Hooper, 1959, 1976, Dover. ISBN 0-486-23332-4. Analysis of positions of many types, but little overall discussion of principles.
• Practical Chess Endings, by Irving Chernev, 1961, Dover. ISBN 0-486-22208-X. Analysis of positions of a few types, but little overall discussion of principles.
• Concise Chess Endings, by Neil McDonald, 2002, Everyman Chess. ISBN 978-1-85744-313-4. Basic material in a physically-small book.

[edit] Large, more comprehensive one-volume books

• Fundamental Chess Endings, by Karsten Müller and Frank Lamprecht, 2001, Gambit Publications. ISBN 1-901983-53-6. Highly regarded - comprehensive and modern.

• Basic Chess Endings, by Reuben Fine and Pal Benko, 1941, 2003, McKay. ISBN 0-8129-3493-8. The mother of all modern endgame books. A classic book by Fine—recently revised by Benko.

• Dvoretsky's Endgame Manual, second edition, by Mark Dvoretsky, 2006, Russel Enterprises. ISBN 1-888690-28-3. A modern manual book by a noted chess teacher.

• Silman's Complete Endgame Course: From Beginner To Master, Jeremy Silman, 2007, Siles Press, ISBN 1-890085-10-3. Has a unique approach, it presents material in order of difficulty and the need to know of various classes of players. It starts with material for the absolute beginner and progresses up to master level material.

• Practical Endgame Play - mastering the basics, Efstratios Grivas, 2008, Everyman Chess, ISBN 978-1-85744-556-5.

• Batsford Chess Endings, by Jon Speelman, Jon Tisdall, and Bob Wade, 1993, Batsford. ISBN 0-7134-4420-7. More of a catalog of positions and analysis with little discussion (probably out of print).

[edit] Multi-volume works

• Comprehensive Chess Endings, by Yuri Averbakh, et al., 1983. In five volumes. A pretty detailed, advanced, and comprehensive look at various endings. intended for players with a rating of roughly 1880 or higher. Published by Pergamon Press. Out of print in book form, but available on computer CD-ROM.
  • Volume 1: Bishop endings/Knight endings, Yuri Averbakh and Vitaly Chekhover, ISBN 0-08-026900-1.
  • Volume 2: Bishop against knight, rook against minor piece, Yuri Averbakh, ISBN 0-08-026902-8.
  • Volume 3: Queen and pawn endings, queen versus rook, queen versus minor piece, Yuri Averbakh, Vitaly Chekhover, and V. Henkin, ISBN 0-08-026904-4.
  • Volume 4: Pawn endings, Yuri Averbakh and Ilya Maizelis, ISBN 0-08-026906-0.
  • Volume 5: Rook endings, Yuri Averbakh and Nikolai Kopayev, ISBN 0-08-026908-7.

• Encyclopedia of Chess Endings, Šahovski informator (Chess Informant). It is aimed at experts and masters. It was published in five volumes:

1. pawn endgames
2. rook and pawn
3. rook and minor pieces
4. queen
5. minor pieces.

[edit] Some books on specific endings

[edit] Pawn endings

• Starting Out: Pawn Endings, by Glenn Flear, 2004, Everyman Chess. ISBN 1-85744-362-4. A good book for advancing and intermediate players.

• Secrets of Pawn Endings, by Karsten Müller and Frank Lamprecht, 2000, Everyman Chess. ISBN 978-1-85744-255-7. An in-depth book for king and pawn endgames. A corrected edition was published by Gambit in 2007, ISBN 978-1-904600-88-6.

• Comprehensive Chess Endings: Pawn Endings, volume 4, by Yuri Averbakh and Ilya Maizelis, see above.

[edit] Rook endings

• Starting Out: Rook Endings (2004). Chris Ward, Everyman Chess. ISBN 1-85744-374-8. A good book for advancing and intermediate players.

• The Survival Guide to Rook Endings, John Emms, 1999, Everyman Chess. ISBN 1-85744-235-0. An in-depth book for rook and pawn endgames.

• Practical Rook Endings, by Victor Korchnoi, 1999, 2002, Olms. ISBN 3-283-00401-3. An introductory chapter on fundamental positions followed by detailed analysis of fourteen of rook endgames from his actual games.

• Rook Endings, by Grigory Levenfish and Vasily Smyslov, 1971, Batsford. ISBN 0-7134-0449-3. Considered a classic study of rook and pawn endings, is out of print.

• Secrets of Rook Endings, by John Nunn, 1992, 1999, Gambit Publications. ISBN 1-901983-18-8. Goes deeply into the intricate details of the ending of a king, one rook, and one pawn versus a king and one rook – culled from a computer endgame tablebase. Considers positions based on every starting position of the pawn.

• Practical Rook Endings, by Edmar Mednis, 1982, Chess Enterprises. ISBN 0-931462-16-9. A small book on rook and pawn endgames.

• Minev, Nikolay (2004), A Practical Guide to Rook Endgames, Russell Enterprises, ISBN 1-888690-22-4

• Comprehensive Chess Endings: Rook Endings, volume 5, by Yuri Averbakh and Nikolai Kopayev, see above.

[edit] Minor piece endings

• Starting Out: Minor Piece Endings, by John Emms, 2004, Everyman Chess, ISBN 1-85744-359-4. A good book for advancing and intermediate players.

• Comprehensive Chess Endings: Bishop Endings/Knight Endings, volume 1, by Yuri Averbakh and Vitaly Chekhover, see above.

• Secrets of Minor-Piece Endings, by John Nunn, Batsford. A very detailed look at the endgames of one minor piece and a pawn versus one minor piece, plus two bishops versus one knight (with no pawns), based on computer tablebase, ISBN 0-8050-4228-8.

[edit] Other endings

• Secrets of Pawnless Endings, by John Nunn, 1994, 2002, Gambit Publications. ISBN 1-901983-65-X. A very detailed look at relatively rare critical endings without pawns, based on computer tablebase.

[edit] Endgame strategy

Strategic endgames are endgames that begin at the end of the middlegame. Usually each player has several pieces, making the position too difficult to analyze in detail. Therefore, it is usually not certain what the outcome should be or what is the best line of play.

• Hansen, Lars Bo (2006), Secrets of Chess Endgame Strategy, Gambit, ISBN 1-904600-44-1 

• Shereshevsky, Mikhail (1994), Endgame Strategy, Everyman Chess, ISBN 1-85744-063-3 

• Flear, Glenn (2007), Practical Endgame Play - beyond the basics: the definitive guide to the endgames that really matter, Everyman Chess, ISBN 978-1-85744-555-8  A follow-up companion to Practical Endgame Play by Grivas.

• Müller, Karsten & Pajeken, Wolfgang (2008), How to Play Chess Endings, Gambit Publications, ISBN 978-1-904600-86-2  A follow-up companion to Fundamental Chess Endings by Müller and Lamprecht.

[edit] Endgames by specific players

• Capablanca's Best Chess Endings: 60 Complete Games, by Irving Chernev, 1978, Dover. ISBN 0-486-24249-8. Complete games with good endgame lessons.

• Vasily Smyslov: Endgame Virtuoso, by Vasily Smyslov, 1997, Everyman Chess. ISBN 1-85744-198-2. Endings plus some complete games that illustrate endgames.

• Karolyi, Tibor & Aplin, Nick (2007), Endgame Virtuoso Anatoly Karpov, New In Chess, ISBN 978-90-5691-202-4 . Contains 105 of his best games, with annotations of the endgames.

[edit] Miscellaneous endgame books

• Mastering the Endgame, by Glenn Flear, 2001, Everyman Chess. ISBN 1-85744-233-4. A good follow-up to the elementary books.

• Six Hundred Endings, by Lajos Portisch and Balázs Sárközy, 1981, Pergamon Press. ISBN 0-08-024137-9. Examines specific endgames from actual games and studies, categorized by the basic type of ending.

• Winning Endgame Technique, by Alexander Beliavsky and Adrian Mikhalchishin, 1995, Batsford, ISBN 0-7134-7512-9. Explores several key types of endgames.

• Winning Endgame Strategy, by Alexander Beliavsky and Adrian Mikhalchishin, 2000, Batsford, ISBN 0-7134-8446-2.

• Modern Endgame Practice, by Alexander Beliavsky and Adrian Mikhalchishin, 2003, Batsford, ISBN 0-7134-8740-2.

• Endgame Secrets: How to plan in the endgame in chess, by Christopher Lutz, 1999, Batsford. ISBN 0-7134-8165-X. Examines forty-five endgames from actual play.

• Analysing the Endgame, by Jonathan Speelman, 1981, Arco Chess Library. ISBN 0-668-05242-2. Analysis of some basic endgames and some more complex ones. Can be difficult going.

• Endgame Preparation, by Jon Speelman, 1981, Batsford. ISBN 0-7134-4000-7 (limp) ISBN 0-7134-3999-8 (cased). Covers some selected endgame topics. Can be difficult going.

• C.J.S. Purdy On the Endgame, by Cecil Purdy, 2003, Thinker's Press, ISBN 978-1-888710-01-8 - collection of various articles, not a full encyclopedia.

• 101 Chess Endgame Tips: Golden nuggets of endgame wisdom, by Stephen Giddins, 2007, Gambit, ISBN 978-1-904600-66-4

• Van Perlo's Endgame Tactics, by Gerardus C. van Perlo, 2006, New In Chess, ISBN 978-90-5691-168-3

• Practical Endgame Play, by Neil McDonald, 1996, Cadogan. ISBN 978-1-85744-176-5.

[edit] Magazines

• EG (magazine)

[edit] References

• Golombek, Harry (1977), Golombek's Encyclopedia of Chess, Crown, ISBN 0-517-53146-1
• Purdy, C.J.S. (2003), C.J.S. Purdy on the Endgame, Thinker's Press, ISBN 978-1-888710-01-8