How to Play Chess Endgames

HOW TO PLAY CHESS ENDGAMES
Authors: Karsten Muller & Wolfgang Pajeken
Gambit Publications (2008)
351 pages
$32.95

Reviewed by John Donaldson

It really wasn't that long ago that you could count the number of books on the endgame in English on both hands. Those days are long gone! One only has to look at a single publisher, Gambit, and see their current catalogue has 11 offerings on this phase of the game including their latest, HOW TO PLAY CHESS ENDGAMES by Karsten Muller and Wolfgang Pajeken.

One might wonder why another phone book size treatise on the endgame is needed, especially as three other massive works appeared in recent years (Silman's COMPLETE ENDGAME COURSE, Flear's PRACTICAL ENDGAME PLAY, and Van Perlo's ENDGAME TACTICS) not to mention GM Muller's co-authorship of FUNDAMENTAL CHESS ENDINGS (416 pages), published by Gambit in 2001.The answer will become clearer if we examine what sort of endgame books were available until recently. Almost without exception they were of two types. Either they were reference style works (think BASIC CHESS ENDINGS or many comprehensive works by Averbakh) or they were basic primers. There were a few exceptions but not many. There really wasn't any systematic guide to teach endgame skills to players from 1800 to 2400.

Now let us take a look at the Gambit catalogue and see why HOW TO PLAY CHESS ENDGAMES is something new and why it was published.

I would divide the Gambit offerings as follows:

Club Level (1400-2000)

101 CHESS ENDGAME TIPS by Steve Giddens
CHESS ENDGAME TRAINING by Bernd Rosen
CHESS ENDINGS MADE SIMPLE by Ian Snape

Reference Works

SECRETS OF PAWNLESS ENDGAMES by John Nunn
SECRETS OF ROOK ENDINGS by John Nunn
FUNDAMENTAL CHESS ENDINGS by Karsten Muller and Frank Lamprecht
SECRETS OF PAWN ENDINGS by Karsten Muller and Frank Lamprecht

Endgame Studies

SOLVING IN STYLE by John Nunn
ENDGAME CHALLENGE by John Nunn

Strategy

SECRETS OF CHESS ENDGAME STRATEGY by Lars Bo Hansen

All are worthwhile books, some are excellent, but none of them is a systematic learning guide for players in the range of 1800-2400. Some might point to Dvoretsky's ENDGAME MANUAL as the answer, and indeed it is a great book. It is the guide to learn core endgame theory bar none. HOW TO PLAY CHESS ENDGAMES is something different. Authors Muller and Pajeken adopt a unique approach. Their aim is to teach basic endgame skills rather than theory. To this end, the chapters of the book are arranged as follows: Activity, The Art of Pawn Play, Do Not Rush, The Right Exchange, Thinking in Schemes, Weaknesses, The Fight for the Initiative, Prophylaxis and Prevention of Counterplay, The Bishop-Pair in the Endgame, Zugswang, Fortresses, Stalemate, Mate, Domination, Converting an Advantage, The Art of Defense, Typical Mistakes, and Rules of Thumb. The authors introduce and illustrate their themes with well-chosen examples and clear explanatory prose. Each chapter concludes with a series of exercises designed to test the student's mastery of the material.

I can highly recommend HOW TO PLAY CHESS ENDGAMES. With faster time controls and no adjournments, the premium on good endgame skills has never been higher. Find a book you like on the endgame and stick with it. It doesn't hurt that HOW TO PLAY CHESS ENDGAMES is attractively laid out with a comfortable two-column layout and large, oversize pages (9 3/4 by 6 1/2 inches). The price may cause some to flinch but there are months worth of study here.

Click to buy (or get more information about) HOW TO PLAY CHESS ENDGAMES

Other titles by Karsten Muller:

FUNDAMENTAL CHESS ENDINGS

SECRETS OF PAWN ENDINGS

DANISH DYNAMITE

THE MAGIC OF CHESS TACTICS

MORPHY: GENIUS & MYTH (CD)

Other endgame books mentioned in this review:

SILMAN'S COMPLETE ENDGAME COURSE: FROM BEGINNER TO MASTER

(Silman’s book, which offers a detailed instructive course on the endgame, is unlike any other endgame book and won the 2007 Chess Café Book of the Year Award)

101 CHESS ENDGAME TIPS

CHESS ENDGAME TRAINING

CHESS ENDINGS MADE SIMPLE

ENDGAME CHALLENGE

SECRETS OF PAWN ENDINGS

SECRETS OF PAWNLESS ENDINGS

SECRETS OF ROOK ENDINGS

SOLVING IN STYLE

SECRETS OF CHESS ENDGAME STRATEGY

BASIC CHESS ENDINGS

DVORETSKY'S ENDGAME MANUAL (2nd Edition)

PRACTICAL ENDGAME PLAY - BEYOND THE BASICS