Practical Endgame Play

PRACTICAL ENDGAME PLAY: BEYOND THE BASICS
By Glenn Flear
544 pages
Everyman Chess (2007)
www.everymanchess.com
$29.95

Reviewed by John Donaldson

The times they are a changing when it comes to endgame books. Thirty years ago you could count on one hand the number of books in English on the final phase of the game -- Fine, Griffiths, Reinfeld, Euwe and Hooper. Not so any more! The past few decades have seen an outpouring of excellent books covering not only theoretical endings (basic core knowledge if you will -- think Dvoretsky’s book on the endgame) but also ways of playing typical endings with several pieces on each side (ENDGAME STRATEGY by Shereshevsky and Silman's recent work on the ending come to mind). English GM Glenn Flear’s PRACTICAL ENDGAME PLAY breaks new ground by venturing into the no man's land between these two types of endgame books. Flear has written a massive tome the size of a phone book covering endgames that feature two pieces per side. Think Queen and Knight versus Queen and Bishop or Rook and Bishop versus Rook and Knight and you have the idea, but Flear doesn't just content himself with examining these classic imbalances. He examines every combination of two pieces aside and does so systematically.

Flear has taken pains that PRACTICAL ENDGAME PLAY be both readable and practical. Analysis is given as warranted but there is a lot of prose to explain what is going on. Flear's examples are well chosen and illuminating. The book is set up so it can be read in whatever order the reader likes, from start to finish or just browsing.

PRACTICAL ENDGAME PLAY is a fascinating book and I think that most titled players (2300+) will greatly enjoy it, but am not sure what sort of audience it will find among those lower rated. They would likely benefit more from the books I have mentioned above not to mention other titles that Flear has written on the endgame for Everyman.

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