Endgame Strategy

Rating:
Summary: Accessible And Interesting
Review: I'm rated 1800 and have probably spent more time than most players at that rating on endgames. The general level of this book was too high for me.

A lot of this book is verbatim reprinting of analysis by Capablanca, Alekhine, Bondarevsky, and others. Shereshevsky has done a good job of collecting positions by themes, but he seems to have acted more as an editor than author.

Rating:
Summary: Accessible And Interesting
Review: Organizing his material thematically (e.g. "problem of exchanging," "suppressing the opponent's counterplay"), the author has assembled a great intermediate level endgame book. It's probably best suited for those who've had some previous exposure to endgame study previously but who need more intermediate books. I'd recommend Silman's Essential Endgames, Soltis' Grandmaster Secrets Endings, and Mednis' Rate Your Endgame, as books somewhat more basic than Shereshevsky.

Rating:
Summary: Long term planning in strategical endgames.
Review: Some book reviewer said that if you have trouble purchasing this book you should beg for it. I agree with him one hundred percent.I have never seen an end game book with a chapter about not hurrying in the endgame.An example would be that repeating moves in many positions is fine,because most people have a tendency of breaking the repetition. In many instances that will make their position worse.He also talks about preventing counter play in the endgame which is closely linked to the concept of not hurrying.In addition problems involving whether or not to exchange pieces and how and what to exchange are clearly covered.Shereshevsky also talks about the importance of the economy of pawn play.Topics such as alternating maneuvers against two weaknesses along with king centralization are also discussed along with many other endgame topics of great importance.This book can definitely improve one's endgame exponently. A must read.

Rating:
Summary: One of the Great Classics of Chess Literature!!
Review: This book delivers on its title. It is clearly the best book available to teach the 'Big Ideas' in chess endings. These are principles that can be used to guide the player on how to approach an ending. It's not about the details (though of course the details are addressed in the examples-- in chess, strategy must always be implemented with great attention to details).

Here are some examples of these principles: "Centralization of the King" (chapter 2); "Do not Hurry" (ch.5); "Schematic Thinking" (ch.6); "The Principle of Two Weaknesses" (ch.7); and "The Two Bishops" (ch.11).

I made an effort to improve my endgame play, and I was able to bring my playing strength up to 2200 USCF/FIDE; and this was one of the key books in my training program. However this book should not be used as the sole training manual. An excellent program to improve endings would be:
"Essential Chess Endings", by Jeremy Silman-- an excellent primer
"Capablanca's Best Chess Endings", by Irving Chernev (Capablanca's games form the most clear example of correct endgame play)
"Practical Chess Endings", by Irving Chernev (a series of puzzles-- a very practical way to improve your play)
and this classic by Shereshevsky.

One caveat: this book is probably one of the more advanced books on chess endings, so I would recommend it only to players with a playing strength of 1600 and up.

Rating:
Summary: Overrated book that is hyped
Review: This book from 1981 gets alot of hype from chess authors such as Dvoretsky and Silman but I found it practically useless. The diagrams are not labelled with which side is to move, so you cannot study the positions before reading the text solutions. While the positions are categorized into different chapters based upon schemes or themes, its just a collection of endings played out by grandmasters during competitions that took place decades ago. Who reads these books anyway? My hunch is that most people buy these esoteric chess books and place then neatly on their shelf where they belong, to forever gather dust. I cannot believe that the average person could retain enough information from this book to help him win a single chess game. This is a collectable book of historic interest, not something that modern day players will find useful in improving their play. Its become apparent in recent years that the chess book-buying public is being milked by crafty ex-Soviet players who are cashing in on America's capitalist system. Books by Lev Alburt, Dvoretsky's recent re-writes of prior books, and the influx of never-ending game collections from Russians from Beliavsky to Shirov have overwhelmed the market and have flooded the bookstores with books ranging in quality from good to disposable. If you want to improve your endgame try Averbakh's Essential Chess Endings.