Re: Yasser Seirawan Winning Chess Endings Pdf Download
Aquarium Morris
Good books about endgames for beginners are few and far between. "Winning Chess Endings" is a great one--gripping introduction to what you need to know to win chess endings, taught by American Grandmaster Yasser Seirawan. His entertaining, easy-to-understand style, incisive stories and insiders advice will help you develop a solid grasp of proven principles that you can apply with confidence whenever a game goes the distance. Winning Chess Endings teaches endgame strategies in an exciting new way--by putting you in the middle of the action with firsthand stories taken directly from famous matches. Pull up a chair and watch the worlds most exciting chess endings. Then become an endgame master!
Features
- Relentlessly find checkmates, from easy to hard, in all basic endgame patterns
- Master the intricacies of King and Pawn Endings
- Win consistently in the most common endgame--the Rook ending
- Master the pros and cons of Bishop vs. Knight Endgames
- Seize the advantage in Rook Pawn and Queen Pawn endings
- Play like a grandmaster in solitaire endings
- 240 Pages
- Paperback
- Publisher: Everyman
- Published: 2003
- Notation: Algebraic Notation
I will 2nd BDK's comments. I have Tactics, Openings, Brilliances, Strategy, and Endings, and find Y's commentary and explanations rambling and hard to follow at times, and the organization of the books not so great. I think the book where the wordiness really pays off is the "Brilliancies" book, in the other ones I find it distracting. Not that words in a chess book are bad, no, I like prose explanations very much, but the prose needs to be to the point.
I also heartily echo Wolffe's Idiot Guide as the best first chess book out there. It gives you a little taste of everything. I think the best 2nd chess book is Heisman's "Everyone's Second Chess Book", and his *free* Novice Nook articles as the next most important tool for the player who really wants to improve -- he communicates what *matters* and what doesn't.
I have two shelves full of chess books, 90% of which I'll probably never read. I wish I had found Heisman before I bought them all, but at least now I have direction and know where to spend my time.
If your budget is an issue, you can get away with very few books that will keep you busy a very long time.
Here's my "must have" reading list:
#1: Wolffe's Idiot Guide
#2: Heisman's Everyone's 2nd chess book
#3: (Heisman's Novice Nook articles, free!)
#4: Bain's chess tactics for students
#5 Coakley's Winning Chess Exercises For Kids (I can't praise this one highly enough!)
#6 Pandolfini's Endgame course
#7 Silman's endgame course
People seem to like to bash Pandolfini, but in his endgame course, some of his explanations and technique for teaching mates borders on the brilliant. His K&P section has key positions and teaches about critical squares. Silman's EC has the best discussion of opposition and outflanking that I've seen anywhere, and I really like his discussion of Q vs. N (but I wish it had a bit more there). One can quibble with Silman's ranking of the endings perhaps, but it's a very well put-together book.
Heisman recommends Winning Chess Strategy For Kids by Coakley, but for me it was just "eh, ok". Not a must have I think (unless you don't already know stuff like rooks on the 7th are strong, rooks belong behind passed pawns, etc., then I'd recommend it).
I think with those books you're very well set, and you just need some game collections. Here I agree also with Heisman's recommendations: Chernev's Logical Chess Move By Move, and Chernev's The 60 Most Intstructive Games Ever Played to start with. Heisman has more recommendations for game collection books to follow after that.
To me, by far and away the most important things to get better in chess are: 1) thought process (Heisman writes a lot about this), and 2) analysis (tactics) ability. Endgames is a somewhat distant third. I absolutely adore endgame study and believe it's incredibly important, but unless you're reaching close to even material endgame consistently, tactics and thought process dominate very strongly in importance to results.
OK, I'll add just one more book: it is good to have an openings encyclopedia to see what the main lines are of openings you encounter in your play. I have MCO-14 and like it a lot.
I wouldn't bother with individual openings books, though I know how tempting they are, they frankly just don't matter much until you're approaching 1800-2000 USCF, and until you master (again, everyone repeat) thought process and analysis.