Move First, Think Later

Win with your extra material! The experts usually win with an extra pawn, but many players discover from experience how easy it is to go wrong, even in the simplest of endgames. Chris Ward explains in easy steps how to handle typical endgame situations.

This book makes a fairly thorough study of those endings most likely to occur in play, especially those with rooks. This book is best worked through as a course of study, so that the underlying ideas are absorbed and a sound positional judgment is acquired it is at first not necessary to understand every nuance, far less to try to remember the more difficult variations; indeed one might pass over the sub-variations at first reading.

Anatoly Karpov's legendary endgame technique has always been something of an enigma. Karpov became worldchampion 1975 (having been preceded by Bobby Fischer). He managed to win positions which nearly everybody else estimated as a draw with his fine end game technique.

Jose Raul Capablanca is renowned for his exquisite positional play and flawless endgame technique. But "The Chess Machine" was also a master of that other way to deliver mate: the attack on the enemy king. In this groundbreaking work, award-winning chess coach and author Frisco Del Rosario shines a long-overdue light on this neglected aspect of Capablanca's record. He illustrates how the Cuban genius used positional concepts to build up irresistible king hunts, embodying the principles of good play advocated by the unequaled teacher, C.J.S. Purdy.

Comprehensive Chess Endings is a five volume master work by one of the world's leading authorities on the Chess Endgames, Grandmaster Yuri Averbakh.

From basic mates to sophisticated double-rook endgames, every important endgame concept is explained. Topics include every key combination of king and pawn endgames, bishops, knights, rooks, and queens, plus tricky endgames with no pawns. The thinking behind every position is explained in words, unlike diagram-only books.

Smith: "Have you studied Volume 1 by Silman? If you have not, you are wasting your time and my time. You must have the basics he covers. Basics are everything. Basics are to build on. The difference between strong endgame players and weak ones is not rating strength, but rather a lack of basic knowledge, and maybe even a lack of will and perseverance. This 2nd and final volume will take you to endgame Master strength. Take your board and men and set up each of the 275 positions and work through every move. I explain each White and each Black move so you know what is happening from each side of the board. As White with the advantage you must learn how to win a won position, and as Black with a bad position, you must learn to put up a fight - such a fight to give you a chance to draw or even win. I teach you this endgame technique in 298 pages."

In this major two-volume work, renowned endgame theoretician John Nunn teaches the skills that are most important to success in practical endgames. Going beyond standard texts, Dr Nunn shows how to apply knowledge of standard endgames to find the right methods in tricky real-life practical situations - even when they differ greatly from the idealized forms given by traditional endgame manuals.