Dvoretsky's Endgame Manual for PC

Customer Reviews of Dvoretsky's Endgame Manual for PC

al from tucson Dvoretsky's Endgame Manual for PC ReviewJust take a look at the book in any store & you can see this is a comprehensive manual. Jeremy Silman himself said this is all you need. The benefit of course is that it's all on pc with all the moves AND the commentary together so I don't have to look back and forth between a computer and a book. Here are some great things about the author's style:1. He first presents the concept on a separate page. He does this in the book too in blue writing. Thus, if I want to review the main idea, all I have to do is look for the main heading.2. He presents some examples, then gives you some exercises. He has composed this exercies, usually 2 or 3, to train us adequately with a few examples. 3. Now this is interesting: He states that from his years of experience, the proven way of retaining training lessons is NOT to sit there and calculate endlessly for the right answer. Some calc should be tried, sure, for a few moves, but he says best results come from just trying to play out the situation. So this is what I do: I turn on the engine and play against the computer, trying nearly every route until I get the point. This seems to hammer in the idea. On top of that, my variations can be stored along with the chessbase file if I want to review them later. I have retained a lot doing it this way as he stated.4. I have already completed Pandolfinis Endgame Course, Silman's Essential Chess Endings, and read thru Silmans Complete Chess Endings. Silman's last book is excellent and worth a buy, but having the PC version eaisily puts Dvoretsky in the lead. The section on Rook and Pawn endings is something like 100pgs in the paperback. This is what I really wanted as well, since I tend to trade down to an endgame where I am less "blunder prone." I feel the author has found the right blend of content and brevity. He is also been known as an endgame specialist for many decades.I would suggest enhancing this book with "The Improving Chess Thinker" from Dan Heisman. Dan gives solid research on what to consider, the best steps in order, and the time devoted to efficiently calculate. With these two books alone in a couple weeks I have been drawing the 2000 computers on FICS. Overall, avoiding blundering enough to make it to the endgame and then knowing specific endgame technique not only gives a tremendous edge but removes the befuddlement I usually feel in this wacky game.