Others say...

"Wow Wow Wow"
This one is an excellent book. It has all what you need to know. I haven't completed the book, but I know my strength (1500-1600) and I read what I need know at this level. As soon as improve my theory part then I can read the next parts. Onething is sure, this book will give a very strong foundation on endgames!!! Thats all I wanted for the moment..
Thanks silman for this wonderul book

"The endgame explored!"
Jeremy Silman is certainly one of the world's best chess writers. His "Reassess Your Chess," pretty much universally acknowledged as a great chess book, has helped countless people enjoy chess to a greater extent (myself included). His "Complete Book of Chess Strategy" covers the basics in a clear, concise way. His "Reassess Your Chess Workbook" is a valuable learning tool for any chess player. And the list goes on.

But here, Silman chose a different topic from his other books. His "Endgame Course" concentrates entirely on the endgame, a mysterious, and quite beautiful realm of a chess game that too few players really know much about. Seeing that many consider the endgame to be boring and unimportant, Silman sought to create a book that not only taught the player many endgame secrets, but showed the reader the beauty and fascination of an endgame, that instilled a love of the endgame in the reader. He has succeeded admirably.

The book is divided into chapters, one for each rating group. Thus, you can concentrate on which material would be appropriate for your rating level (or your estimated rating level.) For the least experienced beginners, Silman presents such simple topics as overkill mates, etc. As we move up the rating ladder, we find such topics as Opposition, Rook Endings, the Lucena and Philidor positions, and eventually, a fun chapter on endgame tactics. The book is ending by a fascinating chapter on the five greatest endgame players of all time. I don't know how he does it, but Silman managed to make each topic fun and interesting to learn, all by using wit and humor. Even the descriptions contained in the back of the book detailing recommended endgame books are fun-to-read. Who knew chess-reading could be so much fun?

With fun, yet with great depth, Silman explored a part of chess that I previously would have nothing to do with. Now, I'm and endgame expert and I had a great time becoming one, thanks to this great book. Recommended for ANY chess player. We all need to know the secrets of the endgame, and there is no better way to accomplish this than by using this book.

"Very enjoyable"
Silman is a master at understanding the mentality of someone that doesn't already know what he's about to teach them. His ever pragmatic and often humorous approach is much appreciated in an endgame book, as most books on that phase of the game tend to be on the dry side.

My only quibble is that he seems to back off of complexity in the later "courses" in favor of more abstract advice. My gut feeling is that at the higher levels it is even more important to know specific techniques and concepts, like knight and pawn vs knight, queen and pawn vs queen, basic techniques for queen vs rook, rook and pawn vs knight/bishop and pawn(s), and so on. Also, the section on the "five greatest endgame players of all time" seemed a little perfunctory somehow, perhaps because most of the games he selected there occur in so many other anthologies.

Overall, though, a wonderful and much needed addition to chess literature.



"A rare bird"
I bought this book for a specific purpose: to learn more about drawing Rook vs Rook + pawn endings. I've been working through Convekta's Chess Endgame Training and have found that many exercises end in a position declared a draw but that would still leave me nervous as the weaker side. One strong player told me that every Russian schoolboy know those drawn positions. Oh, to be a Russian schoolboy.

IM Silman's book does indeed address these positions in some detail. Initially, I was not able to find the information, having relied on a quick scan and a look in the index, which has no entry for 'draw'. I sent IM Silman's an email asking why such important information had been omitted. I was surprised to receive a warm and helpful email in reply that explained that, in the spriit of the book itself, infromation about R vs R + P endings was introduced in stages throughout the book. He also mentioned Emms book on rook endings which contains the same material but compacted into one place over 13 pages.

I prefer IM Silman's treatment because ultimately the collected pieces form a more thorough whole.

Overall, the book is a treasure. I don't know of another work that is so accessible, yet complete. Previously I had to make due with the interesting but error-ridden Endgame Course by Pandolfini. One thing I do like about Pandolfini's book is the catchy names he applies to endgame techniques and positions. IM Silman also uses that mneumonic technique but to a lesser extent.

I had also previously relied on Dvoretsky's Endgame Manual. That is a superb reference book but not friendly to someone learning the ropes. For example, Dvoretsky has a page on corresponding squares. It became clear that I was not comprehending the nuances of what he was saying. I tried and tried. In the end I bought Müller and Lamprecht's Secrets of Pawn Endings which covered the same concept but over the course of a dozen pages. Then I got it. I think.

IM Silman's book, on the other hand, is designed so that there are no unresolved mysteries at each stage. Its a nice concept and well done.

The only thing that keeps me from giving the book a full five stars is the single-column format. The book is beautifully laid out and with generous diagrams but I remain convinced the a two column layout is superior.

"1500 icc standard"
This book is one of the best I've read until now. It is really a pleasure to read it for hours and hours.

  

Buy Cheap Software Now!
  Silman's Complete Endgame Course: From Beginner To Master

List Price : $24.95
Our Price : from $15.58




Special offer for you..find the cheapest!
bookrackrh from SC, United States offers this stuff for:
Price : $15.58
Usually ships in 1-2 business days
---superbookdeals from IN, United States offers this stuff for:
Price : $15.59
Usually ships in 1-2 business days
a1books from NJ, United States offers this stuff for:
Price : $16.22
Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Amazon.com offers this stuff with condition New, new for:
Price : $16.47
Usually ships in 24 hours
pbshop from , United Kingdom offers this stuff for:
Price : $17.81
Usually ships in 1-2 business days
pbshopus from NJ, United States offers this stuff for:
Price : $17.81
Usually ships in 1-2 business days
bigrock_media from NV, United States offers this stuff for:
Price : $18.57
Usually ships in 1-2 business days
caimanoutlet from FL, United States offers this stuff for:
Price : $19.05
Usually ships in 1-2 business days
thermite-media offers this stuff with condition New, new for:
Price : $19.41
Usually ships in 1-2 business days
-dvdlegacy- from NY, United States offers this stuff for:
Price : $19.42
Usually ships in 1-2 business days
What our customer's say!

"Just a little too casual", I love the idea of progressive introduction of material, in the endgame and anywhere else, and adopting rating ranges as indicators is brilliant (like all simple ideas we didn't think of). I enjoyed the book, learned a great deal, and I think it is correctly well regarded and worth every penny many times over.

Why drop a point from a Book of the Year then? What is the most important single position in endgames? Surely most people would say Lucena, since almost all your rook and pawn endgame technique revolves around getting or avoiding the position. But the presentation of the actual Lucena position in the book is inadequate. Someone relying on this treatment alone could easily get foiled in time trouble by one of the swindles. I think Silman should have done a more thorough presentation of this one position at least. Emms' Survival Guide to Rook Endings covers Lucena in 3/4 page (p17) including a diagram! Silman took 5 pages and doesn't mention a single swindle. That's it - my only criticism, but you might consider topping up this fine book with Emms' little gem for completeness. And don't resign a Lucena without at least trying a swindle - you're lost, but go down swinging!

"A Very Good Approach to Endgames", I like Silman's approach of teaching concepts based on your rating. This is much more helpful than the usual approach in the a book like Reuben Fine (Basic Chess Endings) where the book is organized by the type of endings. You may still want to have the Fine book, but I would highly recommend this book first.

"Good Book - missing some key points", I'm certain many will not agree with me, but here goes:

This book is good, not great. Karsten Muller, for example, does an explanation of key squares for the King to occupy to ensure promotion that is both much shorter and actually ~much~ more complete and useful OTB. Where Silman indicates be ahead of the P with the oposition to win, Muller shows you what squares win, and they are not just the one in front of the pawn. Maybe Silman includes diagonals as "in front" but that is ambiguous and clarified nowhere. Moreover, the Dvoretsky / Muller key square concept works whether you have the move or not.

Another important item is that many times Silman shows a line and tells you a move in that line, not pointing out that this is the ONLY move that does not throw away the advantage - Where the Nunn convention gives an exclam to indicate such, we see nothing here. A sentence or two would be usefull to say what is the only move and why that is the case. There is plenty of space in this large book for that, and some places where things are verbosely analyzed out to the end would have been good to trade for these key points. Run the positions through Fritz and you will see this, or anything else that implements the tablebases.

Silman has an easy-to-read style and does teach well, so please, I am not slamming the book overall with these gripes. Just no way it can earn 5 stars with some incompleteness mixed with some unnecessary repetition and verbosity.

It is a good book, but needs to be supplemented with other material, which seems odd given its large physical size.

The sheer amount of material makes it well worth the cover price.

Would I buy it again, yes, certainly.

Would I recommend it, yes certainly, and with the notes above.

Best to all...

"Beginners and intermediates will enjoy it", A great book, haughtily written. I found the progression of the book particularly useful--the right problems for the student's situation.

"Good, but not "Complete," and more emphasis on "Beginner" than "Master"", I'm a 1900+ USCF Player. I've had this book for awhile and have finally decided to review it. To begin with, I'll say that I feel this book tries to "dumb-down" too many things, and that turned me off initially. I don't love super-complex stuff either--I have DVORETSKY'S ENDGAME MANUAL but it's a bit too "heavy" for my liking.

SILMAN'S COMPLETE ENDGAME COURSE is a GOOD book. Why it's so huge I don't know, considering that for its size it doesn't cover that much...but that's a different issue.

Silman comes up with seemingly a good idea of separating endgame knowledge into rating level. I basically agree with his choice of material in Part One (Unrated-999), Part Two (1000-1199), and Part Three (1200-1399). He presents this material very well, and I could recommend those parts to my students without reservation.

In the future parts I tend to disagree with the author's choice of what chapter certain topics are located in, but Silman anticipates this in his Preface. Taking the book as a whole, I believe that the most important stuff IS covered, somewhere. My advice for, say, a 1600 player, would be to go through everyhing (with the possible exception of the "Master" chapter) in order to ensure that 1600 player gets what they should get out of the book.

A big problem I have with this book is that once the author reaches Class C and Class B there should be, in my opinion, more examples with "many pawns." I just don't think Silman provides enough "complex" examples. He does the basics extremely well, but I wouldn't dare tell anyone 1800-2200 "this book is all you need for the endgame." Maybe it's true, but I doubt it.

This has made me want to do a Listmania! of endgame materials to study, but a couple of the materials I'd recommend are not on Amazon!

------------------------------------------------------------------------
Recommendations for those beyond Part Three of Silman's book:

THEORY AND PRACTICE OF CHESS ENDINGS by Convekta
-This CD is the best-kept secret EVER on endgame learning. Everybody needs to have this. Grandmasters would do well to review parts of it. The material was created by GM Alexander Panchenko who ran a chess school in the Soviet Union in the '80s that produced over 30 GMs/WGMs. I have never learned so much about the endgame (in two weeks!) as I did with this CD. The CD teaches you how to play EVERY kind of endgame imaginable. All of the PLANS are explained. Not only that, it contains 50+ brilliant examples of "Multi-piece Endings." It's a travesty more chessplayers don't know about this work.

A CHESS LIBRARY FOR PRACTICAL PLAYERS: THE ENDGAME by GM Marat Makarov
-Another work not on Amazon, sadly. You'll have to get it from Chess-Stars (the little-known Bulgarian publishing company that produces the highest quality of chess books for SERIOUS players). Makarov doesn't cover the basic mates, but everything after that, and quite a number of advanced topics! The material is presented briefly, but the emphasis is on PRACTICAL positions/techniques/setting problems for the opponent. A motivated 1200 player could begin working with this book, and the examples are so well-chosen a 2300 could benefit.

ESSENTIAL CHESS ENDINGS by GM James Howell
-Check out my review on Amazon.

ENDGAME STRATEGY by IM Mikhail Shereshevsky
-I will review this on Amazon shortly.

ENDGAME VIRTUOSO by GM Vasily Smyslov
-Check out my review on Amazon.

CHESS SCHOOL 4: THE MANUAL OF CHESS ENDINGS by GM Sarhan Guliev
-I will review this on Amazon shortly.



 
You might need this...

Practical Chess Exercises: 600 Lessons from Tactics to Strategy
details..
 
Mastering the Chess Openings: Unlocking the Mysteries of the Modern Chess Openings, Volume 1
details..
 
Mastering the Chess Openings: Unlocking the Mysteries of the Modern Chess Openings, Volume 2
details..
 

Chess Tactics for Champions: A step-by-step guide to using tactics and combinations the Polgar way (Chess)
details..
 
How to Reassess Your Chess: The Complete Chess-Mastery Course(Exp. 3rd Edition)
details..
 
Read this reviews before You buy...

"Silman-complete endgame course ", the best endgame book I have seen, easy to understand and
divided as to your skill, also easy to remember , Silman is great teacher.

"Good, but Overrated by Sycophants", Lots

Of

Empty


Space


Makes the book seem like it has more to offer than it does.


Maybe good for extreme beginners, with diminishing returns as one moves up the strength scale, as errors in analysis become more frequent.


Silman is not a Grandmaster and overuse of his own games against lessor foes may make for lucid examples of endgame techniques, but is a drwaback from both the megalomaniacal perspective and lack of really strong pratical endgames.

A lot of repetition, and much less info than a book this size should hold.


Literally.



"Essential book", What a super book. I wish I had spent time on the end game earlier in my chess playing life. This book is organized by one's level and takes you through essential end game ideas. I think it is essential reading no matter what your level. Not only is it highly instructive, but its also a lot of fun.

"Great Tool for Improving Your Endgame", I've always found chess books by Jeremy Silman to be excellent tools for improving my chessgame. "Silman's Complete Endgame Course" is no exception. The focus of this book is on positions and situations that arise in actual games, presented in a clear and easy to understand manner. There's something for everyone in this book, as the lessons progress from basic to master level analysis. Silman's treatment makes learning endgames fun, not drudgery.

"Making the Endgame Fun to Study", I am rated USCF 1757. I hate to study the endgame. It is the weakest area of my game. God bless you Jeremy Silman for writing this book! It has reawakened my interest and desire to become a better endgame player.

  
 
 

All the software listed in this directory are shareware and commercial software. There are no free software here. We have many utilities which run on windows, mac / macintosh, linux and unix. As one of the download directory in internet we have many software and application. All of our applications / app are downloadable for your computer. We also have shareware, demo, osx, linux, xp, windows, 95, 98, 2000, win, winfiles program file. The extension of files may vary, it can zip, exe, jpg and many more. We don't support illegal software like hack, crack and serial number. No hacking and cracking.

Online PAD Generator / Download Site / Term Of Use / Privacy Policy / Disclaimer

  
 

Copyright ? 2004-2008. Shareware Download, Files Download. All Rights Reserved.