Chess Software Buying Guide

4. Study Chess Endgames

The chess endgame is the one phase of the game that nearly everyone hates to study but most players are bad at playing. I don't think that's an accident - one leads to the other.

Every Chess Player Should Study Endgames

No exceptions, no matter how strong a player you might be. I've known Class A players who excel at tactics (and thus win most of their games in the middlegame) but who couldn't play an endgame for beans; if a Class D player could survive into an endgame against 'em, the D player would win every time.

Unfortunately, there's not a lot of available chess training material regarding endgames. That's because a chess writer can bang out a book or CD on an opening about ten times faster than he can write an endgame book or CD. And it's also a question of economics: opening training materials sell far more copies than endgame tutorials. As I said, almost everyone hates to study endgames.

Chess Endgames For Beginners:

There's a very special training CD available on the endgame, special because it's suitable for any untitled chess player (that is, any player below the Expert rating classification). It's called ABCs of Chess Endings and contains material for everyone on it: novices the whole way up through Class A. It covers all of the common endgames as well as a few oddball cases that might crop up along the way. If you learn this material (and learn it well), you'll be unstoppable in the endgame.

Chess Endgames For Intermediate and Advanced Players:

Your next step after the ABCs disk should be Fritz Technique Trainer: Pawn Endings. Despite what the title suggests, it's usable with any of the ChessBase playing programs. The disk contains a lot of instruction: pawn endings explained in clear language. But this is also a "learn by doing" disk, as it contains fifty training positions that you actually play out by pitting yourself against your chess playing program. It's not a "one shot" deal, either - you can always return to the disk and repeat positions that you've previously played against your chess engine, so this is really an "endgame drill" CD.

For a bit more advanced training (although still within the grasp of an intermediate player) there's also Fritz Technique Trainer 1 & 2 These aren't strictly endgame disks; there's a fair amount of late middlegame material on them as well. The idea is the same as with the Pawn Endings disk: to play positions out against your chess engine and thus "learn by doing" instead of strictly by example. The theme of both CDs is the same: how to win a "won" position (which Emanuel Lasker once said is one of the hardest things to do in chess). The disks will show you how to correctly follow through on a theoretically winning position and pocket the point.

As a final suggestion I'll strongly recommend the ChessBase CD Dvoretsky's Endgame Manual by Russian International Master (and legendary chess instructor) Mark Dvoretsky. The CD covers everything from basic King-and-pawn endings up through highly complex and theoretical endgames. But there's a lot of material on this disk and you'll need to be a pretty serious player to complete the whole course, so it's probably best suited to intermediate to advanced players.

This Chess Endgame Training page will show you the endgame software which ChessCentral offers.

1. Chess Playing Software
2. Chess Tactics Software
3. Positional Chess Software
4. Chess Endgame Software
5. Chess Openings Software
6. Chess Advice


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