10 Best Chess Endgame Books

Introduction

Almost 900 pages of endgame knowledge. Dvoretsky has written his Endgame Manual. A mind numbing guide on every theoretical endgame important for tournament play. I don’t wish to say it’s not a good book, it’s the best, it’s just not an easy read. Those two books combined are enough to teach you how to play endgames on Grandmaster level. They accompany each other. There are other books you can use instead of one or both of them, but you need a combination of strategy and theory.

I’m of the opinion that each player, especially those just starting out with serious study, should learn the basics on their own, and very quickly, before delving into more complex topics. By basics I mean technical, theoretical endgames essential for understanding all that comes next. So I would advise you to pick up de la Villa’s book and go over the basic endgames many times. Don’t read the chapters, play them out against a sparring partner. You can read the full article on Chessreads.

1. Jesus de la Villa: 100 Endgames You Must Know

100 Endgames You Must Know has become the most popular endgame book of all time alongside Dvoretsky’s Endgame Manual. It covers every important theoretical endgame in a simple, easily understandable way, with clear explanations, covering key ideas, patterns and concepts, making it a truly great resource for players of all levels. Read the full book review.

2. Jan Timman: The Art of the Endgame

Solving endgame studies helps your endgame understanding and improves your calculation and visualization, but their main purpose and benefit is broadening your imagination and creativity. Being able to think unorthodoxly, in a creative manner uncommon in real play over the board, helps when dealing with complex positions and helps find resources an untrained eye wouldn’t be able to spot. Read the full book review.

3. Mikhail Shereshevsky: Endgame Strategy

Instead of going over theoretical endgames and endless variations, the Endgame Strategy focuses on essential endgame principles, patterns, and ideas one must master in order to navigate complex endgames, regardless of the pieces involved. I can’t think of a book that has helped me win more points and half-points in over the board classical games. Read the full book review.

4. Mark Dvoretsky, Artur Yusupov: Technique in Chess

This book is the result of Yusupov’s research and work on Dvoretsky’s famous card files, his notes, unfinished articles, books and various pieces of analyses, practice material, and more, discovered after his recent passing. Using this material, Artur Yusupov, one of Dvoretsky’s most famous students, created Technique in Chess. Read the full book review.

5. Mark Dvoretsky: Dvoretsky’s Endgame Manual

Probably known as the most difficult chess book ever written, Dvoretsky’s Endgame Manual is a must-read for any improving player. Let me rephrase that. Not a must-read, a must-use book. It is a resource that covers most of what you have to know about technical endgames and almost every tricky endgame position one might encounter in practical play in a notoriously hard-to-understand way. Read the full book review.

6. Jacob Aagaard: GM Preparation: Endgame Play

Endgame Play is for players who have more than covered the basics of both theoretical and complex endgames, and are looking for a tool that will make them sharper, more aware, and better at calculating in endgames. It’s the only book, as far as I know, devoted to calculation in the endgame on such a high level. If you are very ambitious and slightly masochistic, and you have covered the basics of endgame theory and strategy, I would urge you to go through Endgame Play. It’s going to be extremely hard and very rewarding. Read the full book review.

7. Jeremy Silman: Silman’s Complete Endgame Course

Silman’s Complete Endgame Course is a book that tries to bring endgame knowledge to the reader in a new and revolutionary way. It doesn’t contain chapters about pawn endgames, rook endgames, and other themes, but is divided into eight sections according to the reader’s overall chess strength. Read the full book review.

8. Karsten Müller, Alex Fishbein: Endgame Corner

Endgame Corner is a collection of 450 exercises designed to sharpen your endgame play and improve your practical decision making in the endgame, a skill essential for any chess player. As the authors put it, Endgame Corner is the endgame “proving ground”. Not a book you will use to expand your theoretical knowledge, but to test it in practical play. Read the full book review.

9. Lars Bo Hansen: Secrets of Chess Endgame Strategy

I love Hansen’s book because of how easy it is to feel like you’re learning. It’s divided into 4 parts: general principles, pawns, minor pieces and major pieces. Unlike other books that focus on rules and principles, Hansen emphasizes how different pieces should be used or exploited. Read the full book review.

10. Karsten Müller, Wolfgang Pajeken: How to Play Chess Endgames

I would say that this is Shereshevsky’s Endgame Strategy 2.0. Müller and Pajeken have written an excellent book on endgame strategy that covers a vast number of themes, principles, and practical examples in a way that’s easy to follow regardless of your rating. Activity, pawn play, do not rush, exchanges, schematic thinking, initiative, prophylaxis, zugzwang, domination, converting advantages, bishop pair and defense, are how the book is divided, alongside, in my opinion, several less important sections. Read the full book review.

Conclusion

Endgames are essential for your development as a player. The good news is that they’re relatively easy to get good at, compared to the middlegame at least. Practice makes perfect, and reading any of the books from the above list while playing out every game and position from it will increase your endgame skills rapidly. Focus on the basics first: pawn endgames, rook endgames, and simple rules, such as king activity and piece activity. It’s easy to build on a good foundation. Good luck winning endgames otb!