COMPLETE ENDGAME COURSE search.

where can i download silman's complete endgame course in cbh or pgn ?

Buy it.

It's a fantastic book and all you need on endgames. If you have an iPhone or iPad, then download the e+Chess reader app and you can download the Silman book for about £12 and then replay it interactively....fantastic!

VG

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Hi BQ,
Just wonderin', if ICS has an endgame class are you going to enroll for another year?

No... I could justify spending $500 on one year's study for a game I won't make money on... but I can't justify $1000 for two years study that I still won't make money on!

I have a couple of good endgame books I still haven't read through completely yet, so I will start there. If I feel the need for more study then, I should know what needs to be studied and find it online.

Just a heads up,... Silman's "Complete" Endgame Manual is not complete by any means. The first gaping hole in it is B+N vs lone king is not covered at all... made me laugh when I read that. Didn't bother me though as I have already studied it... and even written my own study in it for my club to take home.

The Year 2 endgame training is concentrated in the bi-monthly endgame videos (and in the twelve annotated games). The level of the videos is advanced - you won't see anything like the couple of elementary engame videos in year 1.

If you want to really work hard at endgames I'd suggest you start with John Nunn's "Understanding Chess Endgames", then move on to "Nunn's Chess Endings" Volumes 1&2. The ICS videos are a great complement to the books, focus is on practical play (as opposed to endgame studies), and each cover some methods overlooked by the other.

BorgQueen is right that Silman course is not complete. Indeed he does not cover B+N vs K since as he says it occurs so infrequently it is not worth the time invested to study how to do it. (Curiously I did see it come up at a club game a year or so ago. My friend knew exactly how to win it and did so with panache). The point of Silman's course is that he tries to teach the right material for the right level of a players strength.

Endgame study seems to be quite a conundrum. There seems to be two approaches:
1. Where you learn all the basic stuff (K vs K+P, etc) ... a lot of which never come up in practical play in the totally simplified manner
2. Where you learn to play all the so called "simple" positions. Here one uses rules like "principle of two weaknesses" etc.

Seems to me to be best to learn the minimum number of essential "theoretical positions" and then focus on the second type of endgames. Certainly it is these simple positions which I mess up...I seldom get to a theoretical position and mess up coz I don't know the theory

BTW: Do we actually think ICS will be creating an endgame course or is it speculation? My gut feeling is that they have moved on from this endeavour. The rate at which the final videos are being added to the Year 2 course suggests that they are struggling to complete this work, but (and this says a lot for their honesty and work ethic) are committed to delivering what they promise.

VG

I have won with BNK vs K three times in my life (apart from training) I had a bit of a crowd in amazement when I won with it in a blitz game. Nobody thought I could do it :-P

3 games to win instead of draw... I think that's worth a couple of hours of study and practice :-)

I have Dvoretsky's endgame manual and Silman's. Once I get through those, I will try to find the ones by John Nunn next, thanks PC.

That's impressive!!!
VG

Victorian Gent wrote:

Endgame study seems to be quite a conundrum. There seems to be two approaches:
1. Where you learn all the basic stuff (K vs K+P, etc) ... a lot of which never come up in practical play in the totally simplified manner
2. Where you learn to play all the so called "simple" positions. Here one uses rules like "principle of two weaknesses" etc.


VG

You can get a lot of great endgame calculation practice on ChessTempo - it helps to know the basics, but a strong calculator can probably figure their way through on most of the puzzles. The puzzles on CT are from practical play so you might find them meaningful. I picked out the Nunn books for my library basically because the examples are from practical play and have a tactial component to them and provide the essential endgame knowledge.

The ICS approach is to gradually teach engames through annotated games (and the 40 something hours of endgame videos). It's not a comprehensive endgame course - hopefully they'll offer something in the future...

Thanks VG, apparently not many people can do it!

Thanks Pawncustodian. I will checkout the site
VG

ChessTempo is a great site for sure, you should like it :-)