Author: Albert Silver
Date: 15:54:11 03/11/99
Go up one level in this thread
On March 11, 1999 at 12:29:13, José de Jesús García Ruvalcaba wrote:
>On March 11, 1999 at 12:17:25, Will Singleton wrote:
>
>>
>>On March 11, 1999 at 00:30:01, Richard VonMau wrote:
>>
>>>...I'm studying some books like "How to Reassess Your Chess", "Endgame Lab",
>>>"Comprehesive Chess Course" and "My Best Games 1908-1937 Alekhine" and using
>>>some shareware programs to play...
>>
>>I need some serious help in the endgame. Is "Endgame Lab" fairly substantial?
>>
>>Will
>
> Is the help for you or for your program? I do not know about "endgame lab", but
>if you want to improve your endgame I recommend "endgame strategy" by
>Shereshevsky. As for your program, the contents of the book should be very very
>difficult to code, but if you can succesfully do that then surely you will boost
>your program's strength.
If it's for your program then I completely disagree. Endgame strategy is exactly
what it says, and will provide no theoretical knowledge. I can't see how it
could benefit a program. For this I would really go for Keres's Practical Chess
Endings which provides essential knowledge in all types of endgames.
On the other hand, if it is for yourself, then it depends. Shershevsky's book is
a classic but basically teaches you how to conceptualize schematically (which is
how humans are able to compete against machines at the highest level). There is
more of course, on the art of exchanging, how to exploit the bishop pair, etc...
but schematic thinking is really it's most significant instruction, and extends
to learning positional play as well, but the fallback is that this knowledge is
completely useless if one doesn't have any theoretical knowledge. No idea what
to strive for. It would be like trying to make a plan without knowing anything
about positional play or the positional elements. For that, Keres's book is
ideally suited, teaching you about conjugated squares, and essentials in all
types of endgames. Like I said, if it's for you then it depends on your needs.
Albert Silver
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