Best introductory endgame book?

I want to start learning how to play endgames (more just how to develop endgame plans as opposed to technical ability and memorisation, however technique is something I would like to learn as well).

I've heard that Silman's endgame course is good, practical chess endings by Keres is good, Averbakh's chess endings is good, and Dvoretsky's endgame manual is good too but probably too advanced for me.

I want to learn just about everything I need to know below master level, I don't really want to have to buy too many books in order to learn a suitable understanding of endgames.  Although I'm not a pro player nor have any aspiration to be, I would really like to solidify my endgames so that I can understand the middle game a little better, and possibly win some technical endgames as well.  Cheers

Silmans is about right for you.

Silman's is good. Possibly better for you is John Nunn's Understanding Chess Endgames (featuring the 100 most important endgame ideas).

Also...

100 Endgames You Must Know

Vital Lessons for Every Chess Player

by Jesus de la Villa Garcia

Recently I went through this one in detail, which was pretty decent...

Pandolfini, Bruce. 1988. Pandolfini's Endgame Course. New York, New York: Fireside.

...but it's probably not the best. Although it's a very nice overview that mentions a lot of interesting exceptions, I felt it was poorly organized.

----------

(p. 47)

ENDGAME 26

W: Kb4, Qd2 B: Kb1, Qa1

White moves and wins

Forced Mate

8/8/8/8/1K6/8/3Q4/qk6 w - - 0 1

From the sublime to the ridiculous. Your opponent Queens a

pawn before you do. Imagine the relief when you manage to

equalize the game and Queen one yourself. As a draw appears

certain, your opponent moves up his King and threatens mate.

You are shocked when you realize that your pieces, stumbling

over each other, cannot organize a defense. Such could be the

case when your pawn-made Queen occupies a Rook's file.

After White's King Intrudes [sic] at b3, Black succumbs to the multi-

ple threats of Qc2, Qd1, or Qe1.

1. Kb3 Qc3+

2. Kxc3 Ka1

3. Qb2 mate

   (1-0)

Pandolfini, Bruce. 1988. Pandolfini's Endgame Course. New York, New York: Fireside.

Dvoretsky endgame manual, definitely.

For a first introduction I like Znosko-Borovsky's How to play chess endings.

Did you bother to take a look at the OP's games, or are you just blurting out somethig to sound impressive?

It was a joke, I know the book is complex.

Capablanca and Fine are fairly easy to read and it is reasonably facile for a newbie to grasp the key concepts.

Silman has written exactly one good book in his career, and it's his Endgame Course.  It goes well paired with Pandolfin's book if you use the latter as a workbook to reinforce Silman.

Essential Chess Endings by Howell is worth considering.

I have the CD version, and have to agree with pfren.  

I have both Pandolfini's and Silman's, and IMO Silman's is much better.  I borrowed Dvoretsky's a while ago but found it a bit too advanced.

I've heard a lot about how Dvoretsky's endgame manual is too advanced, but how exactly would it be too advanced?  Does it just demand a lot of prerequisite knowledge or something?

The Dvoretsky book launches straight into complex endgame examples, with a a lot of long variations.  And while it says which side is better, it doesnt really explain why.  I assume that there is some level of prerequisite knowledge or experience needed to understand, but I just didnt get it.  I study using a board rather than computer, and going through all the lengthy variations was very time-consuming and I didnt really learn anything.  Dont get me wrong, i know it is a classic and very well regarded, but for my skill level it was not the right book.

The Silman book starts with simple mates (rook + king, queen and king, 2 bishops etc) then moves on to opposition, rook endgames (lucena, phillidor, vancura etc), fortresses, minor piece endgames.  The chapters get progressively harder and there is a test at the end of each one.  Each concept is explained thoroughly with lots of examples.  I play quite a bit OTB and there have been lots of games where i have won, or drawn material-down endgames, specifically because i knew the theory.  The main advantage is by knowing which endgames are drawn or won etc, you can look for the best moment to exchange into them (e.g. when you will be a pawn up with opposition).

I hope to go back to Dvoretsky one day but i think my knowledge and rating need to improve a lot first.  Hope this helps.

I like Averbakh Comprehensive Chess Endings (I haven't seen Essential Knowledge in case that was the one you were referring to). The material is progressive and it's reasonably, er, comprehensive.

It's probably aimed at advanced players (Fischer had the set sent out to him in his match against Spassky) but because of the progressive layout can be easily read by beginners. 

It doesn't cover the simple mates mentioned by hype1980 in the previous post (bishop and knight is excluded), but you probably don't need those. (If you do you would probably get more from working out the play yourself.)

I have the Pergamon Press set and some of the Batsford volumes. (Batsford stopped printing their seven volume version before I'd got them all and the material was rearranged in the Pergamon version, so I finished up getting all five Pergamon volumes.) It's apparently Ishi press these days - from the pictures this just looks like a reprint of the Pergamon version.

Be aware that the chapters on two knights v pawn and two knights v pawns disappeared in the the Pergamon version (probably to squeeze it into five volumes). That may also be true of the Ishi version.

If you can get hold of the Batsford hardback set, these are much handier for reading on the bus.

There are a few mistakes in it, but that's probably true of all endgame books. 

You say you don't want to buy too many books, so if you include volumes as books that might rule Averbakh out.

An alternative single volume (with a cheap Kindle version) might be Müller and Lamprecht's "Fundamental Chess Endings". 

Muellers endgame book is excellent also

Depends on what you mean by "a few". Here's a link to corrections of 37 errors.

http://www.glennwilson.com/chess/books/pec_errata.html#end37

How about " just the facts" by Lev alburt?