Rating: 
Summary: The best single reference work around
Review: First let me state that I was NOT planning to write a review until I read some of the other reviews. (Some of them are very misleading).This book is a fantastic reference book covering virtually any major ending situation that you would likely come accross in actual play. It is NOT a textbook - although it could be used to learn basic endings, there are many better books to fill this gap. This book is probably most useful (as a reference work) for more advanced players (say 1500 - 1600 USCF & up) who have likely already studied other endgame manuals. This book would probably also be useful for a post-mortem (analyzing a game after the fact) to determine where a particular player went astray. It is well organized, good diagrams, good binding, etc. It has also been converted to algebraic notation (which was a drawback to the older editions). Some of the earier reviews were most likely referring to the older editions of the book. Hey, for 25 bucks you would be hard pressed to find anything better!
Rating:
Summary: An amazing effort
Review: I am disappointed... Reuben Fine was a great player and almost reached the very top in chess. However, when it comes to providing a study guide for the ending this is anything but basic. The lack of explanations in some variations is just irritating! I like to be challenged when reading a book and encouraged to think but the author is not teaching me but showing off! I believe that more diagrams could have been included to illustrate the points or at least, for the verbally oriented, a more thorough description of what is going on. In this regard I want to give "Fundamental Chess Endings" by Muller et. al. an ovation. For example: The pawn endings chapter in Basic Chess Endings requires 287 diagrams in all [ I have added the positions described in the text but not depicted like: "White: King at KN8, Pawns at QB6 and KN2. Black: King at K1. White to move and draw" ] In Fundamental chess endings there are only 64 diagrams for the same chapter and I don't have to go through the aggravation of setting up the board for positions that are not diagramed! And it is so much clearer... Do yourself a favor and don't buy BCE's by Fine... It is a horrible book. Ah! Many inaccuracies have been found in BCE's and some of them weren't caught with a chess computer! When I was browsing through old issues of chess life I ran into a bunch... That leads me to regretfully believe that Fine didn't do his best and that his work in endings is very superficial.
Rating: 
Summary: NOT BASIC BUT SUPERFICIAL
Review: I am disappointed... Reuben Fine was a great player and almost reached the very top in chess. However, when it comes to providing a study guide for the ending this is anything but basic. The lack of explanations in some variations is just irritating! I like to be challenged when reading a book and encouraged to think but the author is not teaching me but showing off! I believe that more diagrams could have been included to illustrate the points or at least, for the verbally oriented, a more thorough description of what is going on. In this regard I want to give "Fundamental Chess Endings" by Muller et. al. an ovation. For example: The pawn endings chapter in Basic Chess Endings requires 287 diagrams in all [ I have added the positions described in the text but not depicted like: "White: King at KN8, Pawns at QB6 and KN2. Black: King at K1. White to move and draw" ] In Fundamental chess endings there are only 64 diagrams for the same chapter and I don't have to go through the aggravation of setting up the board for positions that are not diagramed! And it is so much clearer... Do yourself a favor and don't buy BCE's by Fine... It is a horrible book. Ah! Many inaccuracies have been found in BCE's and some of them weren't caught with a chess computer! When I was browsing through old issues of chess life I ran into a bunch... That leads me to regretfully believe that Fine didn't do his best and that his work in endings is very superficial.
Rating:
Summary: An amazing effort
Review: I can't give this book anything other than 5 stars. This is a monumental effort that remained the serious chess players Endgame Bible for years. Now, should new players use this book as a training manual? No. There are far better books to teach you the endgame. This is a REFERENCE work. A reference work done before huge computer databases and tablebases. There is a revision coming with algebraic notation and corrections done by computers etc. Regardless, the book will never be as useful as it once was. I'm compelled however to give the credit that is due Fine. It's quite possibly the most ambitious chess book ever written.
Rating: 
Summary: Benko and Hochberg revise a classic
Review: I have received literally dozens of requests to review this book.
I have owned this book for close to (or over) a year, I wanted to spend a little time looking at it, it is a huge volume - there is much material here to ponder and analyze. At over 600 pages, I don't think that the word, "massive" is out of place.
Before you go any further ... if you are seriously considering purchasing this book ... you definitely should go to IM J. Silman's web site and read IM Anthony Saidy's book review. It is detailed, thorough, and very comprehensive.
Here is my two cents worth, and I will try to be as brief as possible.
GM R. Fine wrote the original book in about 4-6 months, the world's endgame experts did not believe that this feat could be accomplished in ten years!!! (A truly Herculean feat - by one of the greatest American players and writers, ever!) Fine managed this trick without computers, databases, etc. Naturally many errors were eventually discovered.
Benko and Hochberg took it upon themselves to update this work; it was sadly in need of a revision. Not only to correct all the mistakes, but to change the book to from the old - now completely outdated E.S.D.N. - to the more modern algebraic notation.
I agree with Saidy, this work is a step in the right direction ... but - - -
A few of my complaints are:
1. I found dozens of errors, despite the fact that the authors promised us a book that was meticulously checked by computers and the great Pal Benko. (My current volume already has dozens of corrections and notes in the margins, and about 50-to-75 bookmarks for places that I want to go back and analyze even further - sometime in the future.)
2. Many times, important endgames from the period since this book was originally written, (post-1941); have been completely ignored.
3. Many basic reference works, like "The Encyclopedia of Chess Endings," (by the same guys who print the INFORMANTS); were obviously not even consulted; many endings could have been updated or corrected simply by a careful review of these books.
4. Many endgames have 'dual' solutions. These have been completely ignored.
5. The current authors did not attempt to explain the basic ideas of many of the newer examples that were added, Fine often went to great lengths to do this.
6. Benko's additions/replacements of his own bizarre problems often set my teeth on edge. Fine's original volume only had positions that were VERY practical or were culled from actual games. Benko's weird additions look out of place in this book; I much prefer many of the original positions - even with their many mistakes.
Having said all this, you might think I hated this book, but I don't. I give it four stars and a HIGH recommendation. ANY player who considers themselves a serious student of the game - regardless of their rating - must purchase this book. ALL correspondence players will find this volume a true God-send when trying to analyze or learn a difficult ending.
Let us just hope that the next set of authors that take a whack at this - start from scratch ... and are capable of using a computer and have the necessary reference books on hand. This book is good, and a tremendous work ... but falls far short of being great or the type of work that it aspired to be ... or even should have been!
Rating:
Summary: A must-read book for players who want to learn the endgame.
Review: I haven't read any book as comprehensive as this one. This book contains the necessary endgame techniques a player must learn in order to win after 40 moves of play. There are also many instructive endgame positions in this book which a player may benefit from. Highly recommended.
Rating: 
Summary: No Serious Chess Player is without It
Review: OK, it has errors, is difficult to read, and is really esoteric. It also the only really comprehensive one volume manual on the endgames and contains endings that are found nowhere else. Buy it used, but it does belong on your shelf if you intend to be a serious chess player.
Rating:
Summary: No Serious Chess Player is without It
Review: OK, it has errors, is difficult to read, and is really esoteric. It also the only really comprehensive one volume manual on the endgames and contains endings that are found nowhere else. Buy it used, but it does belong on your shelf if you intend to be a serious chess player.
Rating:
Summary: Basic Chess Endings
Review: Reuben Fine was a brilliant GM, but his book, Basic Chess Endings, is not basic. For someone of average tournament strength (USCF 1450) or below, this book serves only as a reference book. In that regard, Basic Chess Endings is impressive, but of extremely limited value. Beginners through average tournament grade are better off investing time in a more fundamental text, of which there are many. Lev Alburt's, Just the Facts, appears to be more appropriate for the vast majority of chess players. Scott gru-Bell USCF ID#12738508.
Rating:
Summary: Basic Chess Endings
Review: Reuben Fine was a brilliant GM, but his book, Basic Chess Endings, is not basic. For someone of average tournament strength (USCF 1450) or below, this book serves only as a reference book. In that regard, Basic Chess Endings is impressive, but of extremely limited value. Beginners through average tournament grade are better off investing time in a more fundamental text, of which there are many. Lev Alburt's, Just the Facts, appears to be more appropriate for the vast majority of chess players. Scott gru-Bell USCF ID#12738508.
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