This is a fun idea. I wonder if there's a pgn somewhere of endgame positions you can play out against your computer? Or maybe one would have to input them one by one from the Silman book's tests or something.
Practice simple endgames against an engine is good stuff
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I'm inputting positions (the basic ones) from a book - I'm using the complicated Fundamental Chess Endings, but it's so hard (despite the 'Fundamental' part - it's like ELO2000+ for most of the diagrams for sure) that I'm only using the easiest of them.
It's really good practice though - winning the 2B vs K mate is a lot of fun on its own once you know how to do it!
I'm sure Silman's figures from his ENdgame book would be perfect for this!
I just started practice my BASIC endgames against a full strength engine. Remarkably good stuff - makes you realize you didn't know those basic endings quite as well as you thought, but once you get 'em, you're super solid in them.
Stuff I needed minor brushing up on:
- Fast Q vs K mate
- Fast R vs K mates
Stuff I was pretty weak on even after studying it
- Q vs 7th rank pawn mate
And stuff I thought I knew well but got totally destroyed for quite awhile before I figured it out:
- Drawing with the c-pawn as black against a white Q. (Easy once you know the tricks, but hard otherwise.)
It's actually fun to stalemate the engine playing black with the 7th rank c-pawn vs the white Q - that engine gets really tricky, and it's fun to learn how to refute all his tricks!