James Howell told me that he was writing this thing months before it was finished. An odd choice, I thought. Most Brits crank out opening tomes; is Howell actually trying to teach us something? Why would he want to do such a thing? He answers this question in the Preface: "I decided to write this book because I became frustrated with the lack of a guide to the endgame that was suitable for the players I was coaching."

The plot thickens, but I'll have to take you back a few years to the Czech Republic. Playing in Pardubice (a town famous for its gingerbread, nude parks [I could tell a story of me running naked through the city's parks at midnight, but I don't think this is the place to do so] and equestrian training), I walked by a young man who seemed clean and well groomed. Seeing that he had bathed, I knew that he couldn't be an Eastern European and so I hastened to start up a conversation. Sure enough, he was English. Since everyone else spoke with chirps and grunts, we hung out together and I quickly became quite fond of the IM. (Bear with me. There IS a point to this story! On second thought, maybe there isn't?).

James was doing a European tour in a frenzied effort to gain his grandmaster title. Though he didn't succeed in Pardubice, he did get the GM title a short time later. Now for the odd part: having gotten his title, James did the following three things: 1) He wrote this book. 2) He quit chess. 3) He started a bathtub company that imports their product to several Eastern European countries. (Okay, this last one was a lie, but its theme fit in well with the rest of my ravings so I couldn't resist).

Now for the point: Why would he write a chess book when he's given up the game? Why do a book for students when he no longer teachers? I smell conspiracy here!

Anyway, back to the book. Our (now) well-known English grandmaster has written one of the best basic endgame books I've ever seen. Clear language, an enormous amount of explanation, dozens of highly interesting examples: Howell starts with the most basic building blocks of each endgame (King & Pawn, Rook & Pawn, Minor Piece, Queen Endings, Pawnless Endings, etc.) and slowly takes us into more complicated ground (all the while feeding us rules that make the more complex situations easy!).

In my opinion (how can you doubt a guy who runs naked through parks?), there are only three endgame books that players in the C-2200 classes need buy: Shereshevsky's Endgame Strategy, Soltis' GM Secrets/the Endgame, and Howell's Essential Chess Endings. A serious study of these three books will give you a 2400 understanding of this all-important phase of the game, so don't hesitate to add them to your library.

I wish Howell would find the time to write some more chess books. There are very few good instructive chess writers (opening writers are a dime a dozen); James Howell has shown that he's one of the very best.