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Silman's Complete Endgame Course: From Beginner To Master |  | Author: Jeremy Silman
Publisher: Siles Press
Category: Book
List Price: $24.95
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Seller: pbshop
Rating:  52 reviews
Sales Rank: 26683
Media: Paperback
Pages: 530
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 2.5
Dimensions (in): 10 x 7.1 x 1.6
ISBN: 1890085103
Dewey Decimal Number: 794.124
EAN: 9781890085100
ASIN: 1890085103
Publication Date: January 31, 2007
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Product Description
For more than 100 years, the world's leading chess players and teachers have told their students to study the endgame. Now, for the first time, a revolutionary, richly instructive endgame book has been designed for players of all levels. Silman's Complete Endgame Course, by famed writer and player Jeremy Silman, is the one and only endgame book you'll need as you move up the ladder from beginner to strong tournament player and finally to master. Designed to "speak" to a player in a very personal way, Silman's book teaches the student everything he or she needs to know at his or her current rating level, and builds on that knowledge for each subsequent phase of the player's development. Starting at the beginner's level, all basic mates are clearly and painstakingly explained. After that, the critical building blocks that form the endgame foundation for all tournament hopefuls and experienced tournament competitors are explored in detail. Finally, advanced endgame secrets based on concepts rather than memorization are presented in a way that makes them easy to master. The basic keys to a well-rounded endgame education--Opposition, the Lucena and Philidor Positions, Cat and Mouse, Trebuchet, Fox in the Chicken Coup, Triangulation, Building a Box, Square of a Pawn, Outflanking, the Principle of Two Weaknesses--are vital. But equally important is creating a love of the endgame, which is addressed at the end of the book with a look at chess tactics, minor piece domination, and a discussion of the five greatest endgame players of all time--all things that every fan of chess at every level can enjoy. If you have found the endgame to be a mystery, if you have found that your confidence plummets once you reach an endgame, if you have searched for an instructive endgame book that will turn your weakest link--your endgame--into your personal field of power, your search is over. Silman's Complete Endgame Course is the key to a world of essential ideas, startling beauty, and stunning creativity.
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Showing reviews 1-5 of 52
 Caution July 29, 2010
David
Silman's Complete Endgame Course should be the first, but not the last endgame book you buy. By breaking down endgames into what is 'truly needed' at each rating stage he has done the readers a great service and his writing style feels like an open discussion.
The caution is this: some coaches will disagree about which endgame concepts are important for which levels. I'm a class A (1800) player, using the book to round out most of what I already know and look more deeply into what I do not know. My other endgame book go-to is Dvoretsky's endgame manual.
That all being said, I wholeheartedly recommend this book for anyone that just wants to beat their dad or who wants to be a more serious club/tournament player. Only around the level of 1600 should the highly ambitious need another endgame book, and only around 2000 will you have to get other books.
 Great Endgame Book July 17, 2010
Jamie
I seen all the positive reviews about this book so i purchased it and was very satisfied with how this author simplified the endgame at rating levels, it makes it funner and easier for me to learn.
Excellent endgame study, very good organization May 9, 2010
Matthew K. Morgan (Ruther Glen, VA USA)
Silman's Complete Endgame Course is arguably the most useful book on chess endgames available. Many titles have been written on the topic of endgames, and many of these titles are excellent and are filled with good instruction, but it seems that most of them are theoretical and abstract in nature, where Silman's book deals in more concrete terms. However, there are other things about this book that set it apart.
Author Jeremy Silman is a prolific chess author, and he is an International Master chess player with a good grasp on where fellow chess players struggle. He is an excellent instructor as can be evidenced in his other titles, especially in How to Reassess Your Chess and The Amateur's Mind. These titles, however, deal with more abstract material such as planning and relative value of pieces depending on the lay of the board. In this book, though, the material is more concrete and direct. This is more a function of the nature of the subject rather than writing or teaching style. That said, Silman does a superb job teaching concrete theory, and he does so in a clear and approachable manner. A big plus is that the condescending tone present in some of his earlier works is less prevalent.
The very best strength of this book is the organization of the material. Instead of breaking it up by material themes, Silman instead breaks up the subject material based on relative ratings of the readership. This is huge - it may make searching for a specific theme harder to find but it enables a rated player to add to his or her arsenal of endgame knowledge without stuffing their heads with material that is likely to be unneeded at their ranking.
Though I am a weak Class B player, the chapters for even the weakest rankings are still useful and I found them to be every bit as helpful. Some themes in those sections are good refresher courses, but there are a few things in those sections that were unfamiliar.
This is a great book on the subject of chess endgame studies. The examples are taken from real games, the material is concrete and the organization makes learning from this book easy and approachable.
Excellent book for intermediate to fairly advanced players May 5, 2010
Chess Quant (Sydney, Australia)
I can thoroughly recommend this book to anyone who wants to know some endgame knowledge. I'm very much and intermediate player, but after going through some of the king and pawn endgame material here I now win endgames against people who are otherwise of a similar rating to me. Often it is clear that they lack a very basic understanding of say opposition, the square of the pawn or how two connect passed pawns can't be captured by the opponents king. Anyway its convinced me that some fairly basic endgame knowledge is really powerful tool.
The book is broke down into sections based on your strength. the first sections are incredibly basic covering such overpower mates as Q+K vs K etc, it then goes into more difficult mates such as Bishop pair + K vs K, but not B+N+K vs K, or Q + K vs R+ K . Silman says are too hard and too rare to bother with, I'd probably agree with the first but not the second assesment, Q vs R seems to be more common to me.
later sections move onto King and pawn end games and basic rook endgames, blockading with opposite colour bishops etc. I read about 1-2 sections past what is my "level" and I would recommend that others do the same. past this stuff is probably too advanced to be maximumly useful until you improve some.
I strongly recommend this book as a first and only endgame book until you are a pretty strong player. Its easy to read, and the packaging by rating level means you can keep coming back as you improve - (you should come back as a refresher anyway periodically).
The best endgame book ever written March 29, 2010
Mauro Pablo Blanc
This is one of the best endgame books ever written. Its for all levels and a must read for any players that really wants to improve one of the hardest part of the game of kings.
Showing reviews 1-5 of 52
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