Recommended Endgame Manual?

Most of my study so far has been on openings and middle-game tactics, but my endgame play is subpar. Most endgame books I've found are devoted to rather specific endgames, or are pathetically loose in their coverage.

Can you recommend just a basic "cover-all" endgame manual I can start with, so I don't find myself caught out so easily?

"Silman's Complete Endgame Course" by Jeremy Silman

Endgame manuals typically cover "theoretical" endings with few pieces, those that had been previously fairly thoroughly analyzed by people (and now completely analyzed by computer in "tablebases"). They tend to be rather dull, but useful reading, as they do include a number of such endings that it is really important to know extremely well. What has always been lacking, until recently, is a book that covers only the most important endings to know, in a systematic manner. "Silman's Endgame Course" is that book. There has really never been anything quite like it, and it's a massive improvement over its only vaguely similar predecessor, the old "Chess Endgames: Essential Knowledge" by Yuri Averbakh. It's really the only endgame book anyone will ever really need, probably for years, or until they become about 2300 rated players.

Such a ringing endorsement almost sounds like advertising... :-P

Sounds like exactly what I'm looking for; I'll nab a copy. Thanks. 

i have understanding chess endgames by  Mr. Nunn and i think is very good and instructive. i've heard many good things of de la Villa's book too, so you might like to check this out.

chess mentor =P

For someone with a +1900 correspondence rating, you probably should get the best single-volume endgame book. 

That's certainly not Silman's book. 

Instead, get Dvoretsky's Endgame Manual. It's not completely encyclopedic (for that, Muller and Lamprecht's Fundamental Chess Endings is good), but it covers all the essential endgames in tremendous detail. 

DEM is the gold standard of endgame manuals. Take a look at the table of contents provided on amazon.com:

http://www.amazon.com/Dvoretskys-Endgame-Manual-Mark-Dvoretsky/dp/1941270042/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1427294990&sr=8-1&keywords=dvoretsky%27s+endgame+manual

Understanding Chess Endgames by Nunn covers well all the engdame you must know OP.

I would recommend silman's complete endgame course for basic instruction to higher level knowledge, Dvoretsky's Endgame manual for deep & hard study and Fundamental chess endings by Muller&lamprecht for encyclopedic study.

IDK how i feel about Silman's endgame book... mating with a bishop and knight is a very important skill which he claims to be useless yet ive had to do it in 4 tournament games last year.

also is that the same smyslovfan moderator from chesspub?

I am reading Endgame Strategy by Mikhail Shereshevsky.  Its not a manual but its an awesome read which i find is half the battle with chess books and especially endgame manuals.  The focus is on practical endgames rather than purely theoretical.

yes its a very silly assertion, Bishop and Knight mate teaches us piece coordination, restriction and essential mating patterns

I own both, and Silman's book is not bad, but I wholeheartedly agree. DEM is superior to Silman's book.

DEM is somewhere in between a reference work (like FCE) and an instructional book with plenty of prose (like the Shereshevesky book mentioned, which I also have, and is good). The fact that DEM covers more detail than Silman's I count in its favor.

However at the same time it's not overwhelming. The positions, prose, and analysis Dvoretsky considers mandatory are in blue ink with the rest in black. (There are 216 blue diagrams (in the 2nd edition.) This means sometimes a main line is given in blue (must know) and at some point continues in black. Sometimes only prose is given in blue, with no moves considered necessary. So I consider it both a superior book in terms of detail and in a practical sense.

Some of the blue positions are very difficult if one wants to master them, and I imagine other endgame books either give too much analysis or leave the positions out completely. Luckily, someone new to endgames can use DEM to both gain all the fundamentals, and then go back to dive in depth by following the black analysis and supporting positions. The fundamentals, that is the blue ink, don't always include a diagram by the way. Sometimes it's just prose. Not only paragraphs, but useful rules of thumb and guidelines sprinkled throughout the book too, which, IMO, will immediately increase your endgame prowess if all you did was read them.

If I can only recommend one endgame book, without hesitation, it would be DEM.

Dvoretsky's writings are essentially all intended for quite strong and advanced players, (about 2300+).

For twenty-five years "class players" (under 2000) have been buying (and never getting very far through) Dvoretsky's books, which are generally quite over their heads, so to speak.

Silman's Complete Endgame Course is arranged to cover all endings in progressive importance and difficulty, while Dvoretsky's Endgame Manual is arranged by type of endgame (Pawn, Minor Piece, Rook, etc.).

If you're not at least a solid "expert" (2100+). go with the Silman book first.

It's true, Dvoretsky books are usually for much higher rated players. After enjoying his endgame book so much, I made the mistake of buying his analytical manual too. It was way over my head, and I promptly traded it for a different book at my club.

His endgame manual is an exception however. I first completed it when I had a ~1600 USCF rating and I credit it with about 100 rating points over 2 months.

To wade into all the black ink, and understand it thoroughly, would be more like 2300 level, but this is not necessary. The blue ink by comparison is just the basics. And as I said, sometimes this means not even one move of analysis is "required" work, just read a few pithy remarks to understand the general situation and the goals for each side.

For example, he might give a R+5 vs R+4 position and comment that while a standard 4 vs 3 position is a draw, this contains winning chances. Then there is some black ink, then a blue position showing the kind of position you're aiming for, and a handful of moves showing the winning idea from that point. And that's it.

Thanks everyone. Dvoretsky sounds good too; I'll pop in a shop and compare it and Silman before I make my choice.

Please ignore some of the nonsense here; unless you are at least 2000 FIDE, don't bother with any of Dvoretsky's books.

You've seen that I would consider that a considerable understatement. It would probably be more like at least 2300+. Actually reading Dvoretsky's books will have you finding him referring to his students who successfully solved his problems to have been the likes of Rublevsky and Yusupov, both of whom were world top 12 players.

Starting with Silman, and his "Complete Endgame Course" really should keep you busy and be all that you will need until you're a well over 2000 player, and then you can move on to Shereseshevsky's and Dvoretsky's books, and maybe fit in Nunn and Mueller in between.

This is true of most all less than at least 2200 players, and even many stronger players. Boris Gulko has said that it's a Russian saying that American players play the opening like Grandmasters, the middlegame like class players, and the endgame like beginners. Bent Larsen once said that in simuls, in Rook endings, "two pawns down, I draw, one pawn down, I win". I'm certainly not an exceptional endgame player, but I managed to confirm Larsen's experience in simuls in slow time control tournament games with a couple of U.S.A. "masters", one of whom actually fancied himself to be an endgame specialist, and who contrived to lose a pawn up 6 vs. 5 pawn Rook ending, and the other who couldn't win a two pawn to none d and h pawn Rook ending.

Do learn the Bishop and Knight versus lone King mate somewhere along the way, though, to spare yourself possible embarassment, as has even happened to "grandmasters" in tournament games. I had one "grandmaster" tell me that he had never had it occur in any of his games, but that he felt confident, that if it ever did, then he would be able to figure it out over the board. I really doubt that, myself, as, on another occasion, I won bets with two "masters" that they couldn't mate me in that ending with half an hour on their clock to two minutes on mine. It was only two bets, as there were no more takers after the first two ignominiously failed.

If you happen to find the Silman, Mueller, Shereshevky, etc. endgame books a bit dull, you may want to spice things up along the way with the likes of "Van Otterlo's Endgame Tactics", John Nunn's "Tactical Chess Endings", and Jeno Ban's "The Tactics of Endgames".