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Title: Chess Endings: Essential Knowledge Author: Averbakh, Yuri Publisher: Cadogan Chess (1993) reprinted by Everyman Chess Genre: Endgame Level: Advanced beginner, intermediate |
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Contains: The bulk of this book is technical endings, the kind of stuff that you need to know by-heart if you wish to go above 2000 ELO someday. Here are the specific endings that Averbakh covers: |
1. Basic Mates (queen, rook, two bishops, bishop and knight)
2. K+Q Vs. K+R; K+Q Vs. K+B; K+Q Vs. K+N; K+R Vs. K+N; K+R Vs. K+B
3. K+Q Vs. K+P; K+R Vs. K+P; K+B Vs. K+P; K+N Vs. K+P
4. K+P Vs. K; K+N+P Vs. K; K+B+P Vs. K; K+N+P Vs. K+N; K+B+P Vs. K+B; K+N+P Vs. K+B; K+B+P Vs. K+N; K+R+P Vs. K+R; K+Q+P Vs. K+Q;
5. Practical Endings – Pawn endings, Minor piece endings, Rook Endings and Queen endings.
What is it good for? If you decided that your knowledge of basic endgames has holes in it and if you are willing to work hard in order to improve this Achilles’ heel then this book is recommended for you.
The Good Things:
- An endgame manual by one of the all-time greatest endgame players and the most known endgame teacher in the former Soviet Union.
- The book is short and contains the real essentials.
- The explanations are crystal clear.
The Bad Things:
- The tone is somewhat dry. This is not the kind of book that will make an endgame-lover out of you.
- Poor bending (only in the Cadogan print).
- For players over 2200 this book is probably too basic.
Quote: “In playing theoretical endings, which are often far from easy, accurate knowledge is of the most importance; when it is put to proper use, the game inevitably ends in its preordained result.”
The Bottom Line: An excellent first endgame book for serious players.
Grade: 8.5/10
Review written by Chessbug.
