Pandolfini's Endgame Course: Basic Endgame Concepts Explained by America's Leading Chess Teacher

by Bruce Pandolfini

Based on his private course for students, America’s foremost chess coach and game strategist for Netflix’s The Queen’s Gambit presents an easy-to-use guide that explains invaluable "inner circle" endgame concepts for players of any level.

The endgame has always been a particularly instructive phase of chess play. It provides the perfect opportunity for understanding the potential power of each chess piece in every chess situation—from opening move to checkmate.

But the endgame is often viewed as an inaccessible area of play by most players whose experience is limited to watching championship games. Now, Pandolfini changes all of that.

With one endgame example per page and covering every endgame category in order of difficulty, Paldolfini walks you through all the basic concepts

--square of the pawn
--critical squares
--corresponding squares
--other new approaches not mentioned in classic references

Featuring a glossary of concepts and diagrams throughout, this volume is the not-so-secret password to a whole new realm of chess play and entertainment for the average player.

Genres: Chess, Games, Nonfiction, Reference

320 pages, Paperback

First published October 15, 1988

About the author

Bruce Pandolfini (born September 17, 1947) is an American chess author, teacher, and coach. A USCF national master, he is generally considered to be America’s most experienced chess teacher. As a coach and trainer, Pandolfini has possibly conducted more chess sessions than anyone in the world. By the summer of 2015 he had given an estimated 25,000 private and group lessons.

(Wikipedia)

Reviews

[Sergei Moska · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is the first endgame book I ever read, and it's the only one that I've gone through cover-to-cover.

PROS:
-the most helpful part of this book is the prose. This book isn't a mess of variations; Pandolfini provides good, solid rules of thumb, and does so clearly. For instance, I've encountered the concept of "critical squares" in pawn endings in many texts, but none of those texts seem to explain the idea as clearly as Pandolfini's

-if you're a beginner, you probably can't find a more suitable text to explain basic but crucial concepts


CONS:
-there is an enormous number of typos in this book. An errata with corrections can be found online, but it's a pain in the butt

-the difficulty level of the exercises varies wildly. Many exercises will focus on elementary concepts. But many exercises will focus on technical tasks that are appropriate for much stronger players. This book would really have benefited from some sort of index indicating which problems are easy, medium, and hard. I know enough to just skip the exercises geared toward teaching me how to mate with a bishop and knight, but a novice would likely not know what to skip and what to focus on

-as a minor point, some of Pandolfini's solutions aren't as short as alternative (and just as conceptually simple) solutions


Had either of the two first "cons" been rectified, this would easily be a four star book. My impression is that the thing to do would be to transcribe the positions in a chess database program (e.g.: Chessbase) and drill them until you can do all 239 problems in one day with 95%+ accuracy. If you succeed in doing so, your endgame knowledge and pattern recognition will be better than that of the vast majority of tournament players.

Finally, this book would be wonderful to use with Silman's Endgame Course - I haven't reviewed Silman's book because I didn't read it in its entirety. Those two books alone would probably be enough to serve any aspiring player's "endgame needs" for a very long time.

[Murilo Andrade · Rating 3 out of 5]

The chess coach of Josh Waitzkin compiled more than 200 easy-to-medium endgames in a single, easy to read book. Most basic endgames are covered. Very good reading to any amateur. As commonly in Pandolfini's books, it requires no previous knowledge of algebraic notation as it uses very few of it ( it is endgame, after all =) )

[Alec · Rating 2 out of 5]

Good book but very poor proof reading it's full of mistakes.

[Arthur Hernandez · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this book because I love the game of chess, and I want to constantly be improving. This book is a perfect way to obtain lots of knowledge about chess in a short amount of time. Within about 300 pages, Pandolfini teaches the reader plenty of endgame strategy. The endgame is the part of the chess game in which there are not much pieces left and both sides are usually trying to promote one of their pawns. This book perfectly complied with my expectations. I wanted to learn endgame technique, and I learned how to win many positions that look drawn and how to draw many positions that look lost.

This book is not only a great way to learn chess because of its content, but rather because of Pandolfini's style of teaching and writing. The National Master includes one position per page which makes the book easy to keep up with. Pandolfini's style of writing makes his book interesting because he gives the reader the feeling that he or she is actually playing a chess game in a tournament.

I would recommend this book to any one that is interested in chess and wants to improve. This book is useful for chess players of all levels.

[Beau · Rating 4 out of 5]

A cherished book from my youth. Great to reread this one. An excellent introduction to the endgame for intermediate players. This book consists of a series of 239 instructive endgame positions (most fit on one page). Also, Pandolfini's prose is sometimes hilarious, exhibiting extensive use of a thesaurus. Beware that the book has numerous typos. Some moves are recorded incorrectly, some diagrams exhibit pieces on incorrect squares, and some directions are wrong: like when it says "White to move and win," when it should say "White to move and draw." However, an astute reader can easily figure out what was meant and correct all of the errors.

[Slow3635 · Rating 4 out of 5]

A cherished book from my youth. Great to reread this one. An excellent introduction to the endgame for intermediate players. This book consists of a series of 239 instructive endgame positions (most fit on one page). Also, Pandolfini's prose is sometimes hilarious, exhibiting extensive use of a thesaurus. Beware that the book has numerous typos. Some moves are recorded incorrectly, some diagrams exhibit pieces on incorrect squares, and some directions are wrong: like when it says "White to move and win," when it should say "White to move and draw." However, an astute reader can easily figure out what was meant and correct all of the errors.

[T · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was very instructive. I liked the way that the positions built on each other. I also thought it was very comprehensive going thru many variations and combinations of pieces to help you figure out the best endgame strategy.

[Serge Pierro · Rating 4 out of 5]

Pandolfini presents a fine collection of Endgame lessons for the aspiring endgame student. All of the important positions are represented, along with concise instruction and in several case - alternate lines of analysis.

[Mr Question · Rating 4 out of 5]

A highly useful and instructive book for beginners and intermediate players. Pandolfini's selections provide both theoretical and practical fundamental endgames. Though a few typos will keep the reader on their toes, the material included is outstanding and easily digestible.

[Todd Bryant · Rating 3 out of 5]

Solid endgame intro for beginners. Suffers slightly from Pandolfini's tiresome writing--he is obsessed with using strange synonyms and unusual phrases where simple ones would do fine.