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"You say you want a revolution, well you
know, we all want to change the world..."
-Beatles, White album

There are few individuals in the chess world more respected/liked than Jeremy Silman.  Whenever he is lecturing at a chess tournament, he always attracts the largest turnout.  Why?  Well, part of the reason is his personality. He is just a natural showman who presents his material in way that is as entertaining as it is instructive.

Not only is he funny, but he has a way of connecting with his audience that few can match.  Having been to several of his lectures over the years, I can tell you that one of his secrets is that he never talks down to his audience.  He answers a question from a 1200-player with the same seriousness and respect as from a 2300-player.  He is able to do this because unlike many GMs/IMs, he hasn’t forgotten what it’s like to be a struggling class player.

This is the reason why his books have always been so popular.  And why year-in and year-out, How to Reassess Your Chess is consistently at the top of most class player’s “best chess book” list.  So when Mr. Silman comes out with a new book, the chess world eagerly awaits its arrival.  His latest effort is a monster: a 530 large-page paperback that weighs in at a hefty 2.5 lbs!

Before we get into the content, a word about the layout: this thing is the Anna Kournikova of chess books—sexy as hell!  From the red and blue laser beams shooting out of the chess pieces on the cover, to the cool interior graphics, visually this baby rocks.

The word “revolutionary” appears on the cover (hence my Beatles quote above) and the layout for this book is truly that.  The use of white space, diagrams, “floating info boxes,” arrows, b&w background photos of a chessboard, font style and size is so well done that it puts all other chess books to shame.  If you are one of those players that pay attention to how a book is laid out, be prepared for a slice of bliss.

Okay, so the thing looks good I hear you saying, but what about the content?  I mean, Kournikova looks great, but she never won a major tournament.  Well, you can rest easy as Silman’s revolutionary concept applies to the material as well.  How so?  Instead of the usual format of breaking the endings down by type, Silman has done something I’ve never seen before: broken the material down by rating!  No kidding.  He says in the intro that his goal was to “offer instruction that’s tailor-made to fit a player’s individual rating group.”  Thus the chapters break down as follows:

Part One / Endgames for Beginners (Unrated-999)
Part Two / Endgames for Class “E” (1000-1199)
Part Three / Endgames for Class “D” (1200-1399)
Part Four / Endgames for Class “C” (1400-1599)
Part Five / Endgames for Class “B” (1600-1799)
Part Six / Endgames for Class “A” (1800-1999)
Part Seven / Endgames for Experts (2000-2199)
Part Eight / Endgames for Masters (2200-2399)
Part Nine / Endgames for Pure Pleasure

So now the question becomes, does this unique way of presenting endgame material, by rating, really work?  Well, to be honest that depends on a few things.  First, do you TRUST the book’s author?  After all, since he can’t include everything there is to know you are trusting in his good judgment that the material he is including really is the stuff you need to know.  For example, Silman mentions in the introduction that he doesn’t bother teaching the infamous king, knight and bishop vs. king ending — he says that he has only had it once in his entire career, while his two friends IMs Watson and Donaldson have never had it!  Thus he feels your endgame study time can be better spent elsewhere.  While I personally have taken the time to learn this ending as I feel that it’s something all good chess players should know (though like Silman, I have used it only once in tournament play to win a game), from a practical standpoint I agree with Jeremy that there are other endings that are much more important to know.

So, in regards to trusting the author’s judgment in selecting the material that is right for your rating level, I think we can safely do so here.  I mean, if you can’t trust Jeremy Silman’s judgment, whose can you trust?  The guy has been coaching our countries top juniors off and on for the past three decades, charges a small fortune for private lessons, and has written some of the most popular chess books on the planet.  So YES—if Jeremy says this is the stuff you need to know for your particular rating, then do yourself a favor and learn it.

Another aspect to this system working is this: are you willing to put in the work?  Simply owning a chess book is not enough!  You have to actually go through the material!  Fortunately, Silman has made this book so “user friendly” that going through the material is a painless, dare I say, enjoyable experience.

Okay, enough talk.  Let’s dive in and see what all the fuss is about by taking a quick peek at each chapter.  (Because there is so much material, I am just going to select something from each chapter and comment on it, in order to give you a sort of “snap shot” of what this book has to offer.)

Part One / Endgames for Beginners (Unrated-999)

Jeremy starts off by teaching how to checkmate when you have an overwhelming advantage in force, such as two queens and a king vs. a lone king.  This actually happens more often than you would think (i.e. getting multiple queens) with beginners.   I’ve witnessed on more than a few occasions (to my horror) beginners not trying to give mate, but rather trying to queen ALL their pawns—which more often than not leads to them stalemating their opponent’s king.  Of course, since they don’t yet know what stalemate is, they assume that they have won the game!?  I then am forced to be the bearer of bad news and explain to them that they in fact did not win, but actually threw the win away!

That’s why I was happy to see Silman has included a section called, Stalemate Alert! in this first chapter. He uses the memorable phrase, “Suicide is not allowed!” to remind beginners that since a king can never walk into check, you must allow them a safe square to move to.

By the way, Silman is quite good at coming up with colorful descriptions to help the student remember the concept under discussion.  For example, check out these three diagrams and the memorable captions beneath them:

Force field along the 5^th rank

Trapped like a Rat!

And my favorite:

The crowned goat is herded towards the 1^st rank

 How he comes up with stuff like “the crowned goat” is beyond me, but it definitely makes the material more entertaining to read.

At the end of each chapter, Silman has a “Summing Up” section where he bullet-points (or more accurately “arrow-points”) the key ideas from the chapter.  I really like this for two reason: First, it serves as a useful reminder of the material just covered (in fact, Silman often repeats key ideas throughout the book—oftentimes in little “floating boxes” off to the side of the main text) which I think is a good thing as repetition is what it takes to get these concepts to stick.  Secondly, you can turn to any chapter in the book and read the “Summing Up” section to quickly get an overview of what that particular chapter covers.

Jeremy concludes each chapter with a handful of “Test” positions followed immediately by giving the solutions. (I prefer this rather than having to constantly flip to the back of the book to look for the solutions.)

Here is an example of one of the “test” positions:

White has a forced mate in four
(Solution at end of review J)
 

Part Two / Endgames for Class “E” (1000-1199)

In this chapter, Silman covers two important topics: opposition and activating one’s king in the endgame. I particularly liked this short essay he wrote on the latter:

Use Your King!

In chess, the opening and middle game is a dangerous time for each side’s King—both of them suffering from a “wanted dead-or-alive” mentality.  The enormous threat of enemy pieces crashing through the center and mating one’s King has led books and teachers to give the student a bit of excellent advice: castle as quickly as possible (this gets it out of the center and activates the Rooks) and shield the needy monarch behind its pawns.

Sadly, wisdom in one situation isn’t always wisdom in another, and what passes for correct opening and middlegame strategy can often be wrong in the endgame.  The truth is, the King is a very strong piece (at least as strong as a Bishop or Knight)!  Unfortunately, the terror created by the game’s early phases causes most players to lose sight of this piece’s true worth.

The endgame poses very different problems and needs than the other phases.  With minimal material remaining on the board, both players need to make use of everything they have left.  Furthermore, in the endgame, pawns and Kings take on enormous significance.  Since the threat to the Kings is no longer real (the enemy’s limited army no longer poses any danger to his Majesty), both players should rush their King to the center of the board as quickly as possible!

LET ME REPEAT: Once the board clears of pieces, a player must make use of everything he has.  The time has come for the King—which is finally safe from a possible assault by a large enemy force—to emerge and lead the remains of his army to the final victory. The message here is very simple: when an endgame occurs, rush your King to the center of the board!

If you’ve ever had doubts about the importance of activating your king in the endgame, hopefully after reading the above those doubts are gone forever.  What’s more, this admonition is repeated throughout the book so that pretty soon activating your king in the endgame becomes automatic.
 

Part Three / Endgames for Class “D” (1200-1399)

After sharing how magical it was to attend his first chess tournament at the age of 12 (and being completely amazed at the skills of 1600 players!) Silman begins this section by writing:

If you are reading this section, you either are a class “D” player, or you have learned all the material in the first two parts and wish to use this additional knowledge to help you break into the “1200-club.”  By this time you know a few openings, you have a reasonable grasp of tactics, and you’ve learned a positional concept or two.  However, if you study with others in this rating range, you will quickly discover that endgames are not a priority, and endgame knowledge is often non-existent.  That’s one reason why players get stuck at a certain strength, and this is a shame since learning the material in the fist three parts is within everyone’s grasp—both talent-wise and time-wise.

So, before reading this section, make sure that you are thoroughly familiar with all the material presented in the first two parts of this book.  Now it’s time to gently add on to the knowledge we’re already gained.  You won’t find anything too intense or profound here; all we’re going to do is expand on the previously assimilated concepts and, when the smoke clears, leave you with a very solid endgame base.

This excerpt is a good example of how Silman gently guides and encourages the lower rated to be sure they learn the material already presented, and how doing so is necessary in order to understand the upcoming material.

The sample I’ve chosen from this chapter is another “Silmanism:” Fox in the Chicken Coup.  I should mention that the author knows the difference between “coup” and “coop,” but thought it would be catchier (and thus more memorable) to use the word Coup (meaning a brilliantly executed stratagem) rather than the technically correct, but boring Coop (meaning wire cage).

Okay, so what exactly is Fox in the Chicken Coup?  says Silman:

This refers to a situation where the stronger side’s King (the “fox”) rushes to the other side of the board to feast on helpless pawns (“chickens”) while the defending King is busy dealing with a pawn on the other wing.

Here is the diagram that accompanies this colorful description:

And here is Jeremy’s commentary:

White wins in a walk by pushing the black King back and then abandoning it for the unguarded “chickens” on the kingside.

1.b5 Kb7  No better is 1…Kc5 2.Ka5 and the pawn queens.

2.Ka5 Ka7 3.b6+ Kb7 4.Kb5 Kb8 5.Kc6  This position is a basic draw if the kingside pawns didn’t exist. Unfortunately for Black, the fact that they are there leaves him dead in the water.

5…Kc8 6.Kd6!  White abandons his b-pawn, secure in the knowledge that while Black is busy dealing with it, White will capture all of black’s bits on the kingside. Note that 6.b7+ Kb8 7.Kb6?? (7.Kd6 was still good enough) is a draw by stalemate.

6…Kb7 7.Ke6 Kxb6 8.Kxf6  Ah, chicken is indeed on the menu!

8…Kc7 9.Kxg5 and the rest is mindlessly easy: 9…Kd8 10.Kg6 ke8 11.Kg7 (controlling the promotion square) followed by f5-f6-f7-f8=Q.
 

Part Four / Endgames for Class “C” (1400-1599)

In this chapter, Jeremy continues guiding the reader to the next level of endgame play by teaching such important rook ending concepts as “The Lucena Position” and “The Philidor Position.”  He also covers a few minor piece endings, as well as some key king and pawn endings.  Finally, he rounds out the chapter with a couple of queen vs. pawn on the 6^th and queen vs. pawn on the 7th endings.  Not only is this chapter longer than all the preceding, but it contains the most test positions (14!) so far.

For this chapters “sample,” I’ve chosen Test 6, which is a variation from a Benko composition.  Jeremy says that the reader isn’t expected to find the solution, but the idea.  Well, if you are over 1600, I am going to ask you to find the solution!  Take a look at this diagram:

Black to move and draw
(Solution at end of review)
 

After the tests/solutions section, Jeremy closes this chapter out with a couple of very encouraging paragraphs he calls “Final Thoughts:”

Wow! That was a lot of material!  However, you now have an extremely solid endgame base that puts you far ahead of most of your competition, and even ahead of players a few hundred rating points higher than you that should have mastered these endgames long ago, but never got around to it.

Trust me when I tell you that the time you’ve spent learning everything in Part Four will likely prove to be the most rewarding study time of your chess life.  You’ll see the effects both in your newfound confidence, and in the results you gain against people who were once your equals, but now are not in your league once an endgame is reached.

Even if you decide that you have no desire to ever go past Part Four, do yourself a favor: if you don’t view King and pawn vs. King positions as kid stuff, if any mention of the Square of the pawn and Outside Passed Pawns makes your eyes rollup into your head, if you have even a shred of doubt about how to handle the Lucena and Philidor positions, if the winning procedure in a Queen vs. pawn on the 7^th situation is something you have to ponder, please go back and read Part Four again.  Do so over and over until everything in it is muscle memory—your mind might go blank, but your hand will reach out and play these positions perfectly.
 

Part Five / Endgames for Class “B” (1600-1799)

Because the previous chapter contained so much material, Silman actually considers this chapter somewhat easier:

Compared to the ocean of information in Part Four, the lessons here will seem “a walk in the park!”  In fact, most of Part Five’s lessons are merely tune-ups and add-ons to the endgame skills you’ve already assimilated.

For example, he covers a king vs. two split pawns ending which is relatively simple if you know it, but can throw away the win if you don’t.  Check out this diagram:

Black to move

Although the White king is “light-years away” as Silman puts it, and even though White’s pawns look vulnerable, White has a pretty straightforward win here even with Black on move.  The main idea is that anytime Black attacks a pawn, White simply advances the other one.  Thus, the pawns are “self-supporting.”

So after 1…Kh5 if 1…Kf5 than 2.h5! 2.f5! and Black must play 2…Kh6 as 2…Kxh4 loses immediately to 3.f6! when the pawn promotes. And now White brings up his King with 3.Kb2. A mistake would be 3.f6?? as after 3…Kg6 Black’s king will be able to capture both pawns. 3…Kg7 3...Kh5 4.Kc3 Kxh4 5.Kd4 Kg5 6.Ke5 Kh6 7.Ke6 Kg7 8.Ke7 4.h5! another key move. 4.Kc3?? throws away the win: 4…Kf6 5.h5 Kxf5 6.h6 Kg6. 4...Kf6 5.h6! Kf7 6.Kc3 Kg8 7.f6 also good is: 7.Kd4 Kh7 8.Ke5 Kxh6 9.Kf6 Kh7 10.Ke7 7...Kh7 8.f7 1-0

What is interesting to me (as well as quite instructive) is the very next example Silman gives where the pawns are two files apart:

Black to move

Although White’s king is even closer to his pawns than in the previous example, and the pawns appear even more dangerous as they are farther apart, it’s Black to move and draw!  How?  (See if you can work it out—solution at end of review.)
 

Part Six / Endgames for Class “A” (1800-1999)

Silman ends section Five with a warning/challenge about section Six:

For those that have serious aspirations towards Class “A” or even Expert, and who want to know more about the endgame than others in those classes, things will get a bit difficult in Parts Six and Seven.  Are you going to tough it out?  If so, I’ll see you there.

There is some interesting psychology that takes place right before this paragraph where Silman says, “So, if you feel that you’ve now put more than enough effort into the endgame, you can put this book aside without guilt or misgivings.”  Like a Zen master, Silman is constantly encouraging the student while at the same time saying, “Remember, you don’t have to do this if you don’t want to!”

I like this approach as it removes any pressure one might be feeling to “slog through the material” with the goal being just to “get through it,” and instead frees one up to just “enjoy the process” of learning.

Like the previous chapters, this chapter covers king and pawn endings, but at a deeper level. For example, in a floating box labeled Useful Advice Silman says:

King and pawn endgames are always tricky.  If you enter one—even one that seems hopeless—take a long think and try to grasp the position’s true meaning.  This involves taking into account promotion with checks, the Square of a passed pawn, Opposition, Triangulation, Outflanking, and a King’s ability to escort its pawn to the 8^th rank.

As you can see, this advice involves much more than just counting squares to see who promotes first.  Logically, each chapter builds on the previous, such that your arsenal of tools become more and more refined.

Luckily for the reader, no matter how complex the material may be, we can always count on Silman’s humor to get us through it.  For example, in going over a game he played against Jonathan Speelman in London in 1978, Silman shows the following diagram:

Dead Draw!

Says Silman:

Okay, after seeing me label (the above) diagram a dead draw, many of you might be thinking, “Someone let Silman loose in the pharmaceuticals again!”

Ha, ha… in what other chess book are you going to read stuff like this?  And indeed Silman goes on to show how, in the above diagram, with accurate play, White can set up a defensive fortress on the light squares.
 

Part Seven / Endgames for Experts (2000-2199)

At the end of section Six, Jeremy gives a “pep talk” to prepare you for the Expert section:

At this point, you could easily rest on your endgame laurels for the rest of your life and never back-down to anyone when the final phase of a game is reached.  However, why stop here?  You’ve done the vast majority of “grunt-work” and will be surprised to find that the Expert section concentrates more on concepts and making use of the material you already possess than the memorization of alien ideas and rules.

And so if you’re like me, you read this and think, “Well okay… if Jeremy says to keep going forward through the material, than forward we go!”

Silman kicks off the Expert section by introducing a technique he calls “The Flowchart:”

We will now take a leap into Flowchart mentality—a simple technique that will enable you to turn many complex positions, which at first glance will appear unintelligible, into simple situations that you have already mastered.

Sounds interesting doesn’t it?  Unfortunately, because this review has already become a monster, I’m going to have to wrap it up.  However, if you want to know more about this intriguing “flowchart” idea, and see examples of it, go get the book!

Following this chapter, Silman includes one for Masters (chapter 8), followed by one he calls, Endgames for pure Pleasure (chapter 9).  This final chapter is a lot of fun and regardless of your rating you will want to check it out.  It features endgames by the five greatest endgame players of all time (according to Silman): Lasker, Rubinstein, Capablanca, Smyslov, and Fischer.

Jeremy closes out the book with a list of recommended endgame books, a bibliography, and an index of player’s names.
 

The Bottom Line

I won’t beat around the bush: Jeremy Silman has written hands-down the best endgame book ever.  Sure, Müller and Lamprecht’s endgame book may be more comprehensive, but this one you will actually read!

Dictionary.com defines Revolutionary as: radically new or innovative; outside or beyond established procedure.  Well, this book is all that and more.  From the laser beam firing pieces on the cover, to the beautiful interior layout, to Silman’s world-class writing, this book is 530 pages of gold.  And I should mention that those of you that have the 1988 (or 1992 revised edition) endgame book written by Silman for Chess Digest can throw it away, as this one is light years beyond that.

The only criticism I have is that whereas most chess books don’t capitalize the name of the pieces, i.e., king, Silman does (King).  Likewise, whereas it’s convention to capitalize the side to move, i.e. Black to move, Silman writes “black to move” in some spots, while in others he does capitalize it.  Honestly though, this is like saying Cindy Crawford has a mole… so what!

Regardless of your rating, this is one book that will absolutely, positively help your game.  As those two cartoon guys on the Guinness beer commercial would say, “Hey, someone’s invented an endgame book that’s actually fun to read… BRILLIANT!!”

On a scale of 1-10, Silman’s Complete Endgame Course gets a 10.
 

Solutions to Problems

1) Chapter one - rook mate-in-four: 1.Rb6! (or 1.Rf3! Kg6 2.Rg2+ Kh5 3.Rf4 Kh6 4.Rh4#) 2…Kf7 2.Ra2! Ke7 3.Ra7+Kd8 4.Rb8#
 

2) Chapter four - Benko composition variation: 1…Kxb7! The only good move. Other moves lose:

1…Re8 2.Bc8 and White makes a new Queen.

1…Rb8 2.Kc6 Rxb7 (2…Ka5 3.Kc7 Rxb7+ 4.Kxb7 a6 5.Bc4 and Black loses his a-pawn) 3.Bc4+! (3.Bc8?? Ka5 4.Kxb7 Kb4 5.Be6 a5 followed by …a4, =) 3…Rb5 (3…Ka5 4.Kxb7 and White wins the a-pawn and retains a b-pawn, which gives Black no hope) 4.Bxb5+ (and not 4.b4?? stalemate!) 4…Ka5 5.Kc5 a6 6.b4 mate.

The whole point of this chess problem (starting with the brilliant 1…Kxb7) is in the possibility of creating a rook-pawn draw. Did you notice that such a thing might be possible (even if you didn’t quite see how?) If so, your intuitive grasp of patterns is very impressive!

2.Bd5+ Kb8 3.Be4! Forcing black’s pawn to advance to a vulnerable square. The “obvious” 3.Bxa8 Kxa8 is an easy draw.

3…a5 4.Bxa8 a4!!, =. White is left with a basic rook-pawn draw after 5.bxa4 Kxa8.
 

3) Chapter five - split pawns draw: 1…Kh5 2.e5

Giving up the h-pawn doesn’t change the result: 2.Kg2 Kxh4 3.Kf3 Kg5 4.Ke3 Kf6 4.Kd4 Ke6 with a basic draw.

2…Kg6! The big difference between this position and the previous one where the pawns were only one file apart is now clear. In that case, the advance of the f-pawn covered the g6-square and forced the black King to step straight backwards (when it poses no threat to the advanced pawn). In the present example, though, the King move to g6 threatens to pick off the e-pawn by …kf5.

3.Kg2 No better is 3.h5+ Kxh5 4.e6 kg6 5.e7 Kf7, ½-½

3…Kf5 4.Kf3 Kxe5 5.Kg4 Kf6 with a basic draw.
 

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