100 Endgames You Must Know: Vital Lessons for Every Chess Player

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My favorite endgame book, very clear and concise. If you only read one endgame book it should be this one." - GM Niclas Huschenbeth

The 100 Endgames You Must Know Workbook: Practical Exercises

Former Women World Champion Alexandra Kosteniuk] said she had really enjoyed De la Villa's '100 Endgames You Must Know' and had made flashcards out of the 100 positions. One side of the card had the position, the solution was written out on the reverse, and she quizzed herself until she knew all 100." De la Villa does the job quite well. He emphasizes the practical and prefers understanding to memorization." Most club players consider studying the endgame to be boring and have a clear weakness in their endgame play relative to their openings and middlegames. This increases the importance of endgame study because it is easier to increase the discrepancy between you and your peers by studying the endgame than by studying any other area of the game. Most of the patterns Jesus de la Villa presents in this new book are from the phase of the game just before a theoretical endgame turns up. Knowing these practical endgame fundamentals will enable you to fully reap the benefits of what you learned in De la Villa’s widely acclaimed classic 100 Endgames You Must Know. Jesus de la Vila debunks the myth that endgame theory is complex and he teaches you to steer the game into a position you are familiar with.

There’s not much to say about it, ­you just have to buy it and read it! De la Villa does a truly wonderful job of explaining useful endgames in a calm and measured manner that is clear enough for any strength of player to understand while still being interesting for stronger players. If you’ve never read an endgame book before, this is the one you should start with." comparing '100 Endgames' with John Nunn's 'Understanding Endgames') "Though Nunn's comments are clear and to the point, I found De la Villa's discussions easier to digest." The bad news is that, all the same, the endgame technique of most players is deficient. Modern time-controls make matters worse: there is simply not enough time to delve deep into the position.

100 Endgames You Must Know: Vital Lessons for Every Chess 100 Endgames You Must Know: Vital Lessons for Every Chess

A clear exposition of the most important endgames, with exercises to test your knowledge.” - British Chess Magazine

Jesus de la Villa's book comes highly-recommended by a coach (a Russian IM) whom I approached about this question. It is refreshingly focused on making your study time as productive (in terms of decisive game results) as possible. There’s not much to say about it – you just have to buy it and read it! De la Villa does a truly wonderful job of explaining useful endgames in a calm and measured manner that is clear enough for any strength of player to understand while still being interesting for stronger players. If you’ve never read an endgame book before, this is the one you should start with.” - GM Matthew Sadler If you really have no patience for endgames, at least read Jesus de la Villa's '100 Endgames You Must Know'." I agree that the more comprehensive works such as Dvoretsky's Endgame Manual and Averbakh's Chess Endings: Essential Knowledge should be left until you're at least 2000 ELO. I would also recommend using them sparingly; some of the topics are too arcane to be useful (such as K+R+f-pawn+h-pawn vs K+R, or K+B+N vs K). But by that time, you could just get Fundamental Chess Endings by Müller and Lamprecht, and you'd be set for life.