Andy Soltis' Grandmaster Secrets: Endings is the first of such books. Soltis uses a "Socratic Dialogue" between a teacher (Noah) and his student (Pat) to make his points. The Introduction quotes the publisher as saying "The problem with endgame books" is usually that they are "terribly designed and poorly written." Soltis adds that the information is "often arcane, the type too small, the wording confusing" and so forth. In the first Chapter, Noah tells Pat that "70% of the information [in endgame books] is impractical." We will get very used to these claims, and begin to wonder what those terrible generic endgame books are, since most of our authors claim that they're avoiding everyone else's errors!

This is a very popular book and deservedly so, in that the reader is truly entertained as he is introduced to a range of endgame concepts. My main objection is that Pat is constantly told that he doesn't need to know concrete endings, and is given a lot of simplistic generalities, some of which I don't even think are true. It is claimed that Grandmasters don't know that many positions by heart, something that my experience strongly contradicts. As to the value of learning concrete theory, one of the first positions I looked at in the book (I always look at rook-and-pawn endings first) was the following: White: K-f5; R-h7; P-e5 Black: K-e8; R-a1. Soltis gives 1.Kf6! Re1!, and explains: "Not 1...Rf1+? 2.Ke6 K-moves 3.Rh8+ followed by Ke7 and e6, again headed to Lucena." I was amazed at this, because it is so well known that Black is drawing. For just a second, I even wondered if Soltis had discovered something new. But the reality is that one should know some positions by heart, or you might not realize that 1...Rf1+ 2.Ke6 Kf8 3.Rh8+ Kg7 draws (4.Ra8 Re1 5.Kd6 Kf7 or here 5.Re8 Ra1 etc.). Maybe Pat should memorize those standard positions after all.

Later, Soltis is listing differences between middlegames and endings, and states that in the former case, "space counts," whereas in the latter, "Control of more space than your opponent is relatively unimportant." But looking at the examples from his own book, or examples from any of the ending books listed here, one quickly realizes that the side with space tends to have the winning chances in a clear majority of cases. And this is not the only example. There are three "Commandments" in the book, one of which is "Never Shalt Thou Hurry," where "hurry" is "anything that rushes into a significant change in the number of pawns or pieces." (Saying that you shouldn't rush into any decision is quite a different matter.) But in endings, one very often has just one chance to make such exchanges, and a counter-Commandment might be "grab your opportunities before they disappear." Such generalities are limiting enough; at least they should be true.

Technicalities aside, I still like this book a lot for novices and players who know a little, but not much, about endings. In other words, most players. The book has an encouraging, upbeat, and entertaining style, and it covers a great number of useful positions. It is also very nicely laid out, with a unique "horizontal" presentation that makes studying easier. In conclusion, Soltis has an excellent concept here: have fun while you learn. Just be wary of generalities, and learn some concrete theory on the side.