---
product_id: 10973111
title: "Understanding Chess Endgames"
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# Understanding Chess Endgames

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Understanding Chess Endgames [Nunn, John] on desertcart.com. *FREE* shipping on qualifying offers. Understanding Chess Endgames

Review: Best Endgame Book I've Seen - Confused by the welter of endgame manuals out there? Frustrated, and perhaps bored, by the ones you have on your own shelf? THIS IS THE ONE YOU WANT! I haven't read the entire thing yet, but I have no doubt that I will, and that alone makes it an unusual endgame book. The only other one I've managed to get to the end of is Pandofini's Endgame Course, and that one is so filled with typos and errors that I can't really recommend it (unless you go online and find one of the pages with errata). I like this book because: 1) It is very clearly written, in the style Dr. Nunn is justly renowned for. 2) It's format is very conducive to study. There are two columns per page (print version). At the top of each column is a diagram, and under each diagram is an explanation, often quite detailed. Perfect for reviewing and quizzing yourself. The diagrams are grouped under topics such as "Two Bishops vs. Bishop and Knight," with generally four diagrams per topic on facing pages. 3) It is not and doesn't try to be encyclopedic. I won't come away from this book knowing everything there is to know about endgames, but I will come away from it knowing a whole lot more than I know now. Will I have a "master's knowledge" of endgames? I don't know. That would be for a master to say. 4) Many of the diagrams are from real games. To know that Smyslov or Botvinnik or Fischer or Anand or Alekhine or Petrosian once faced this very situation over the board keeps me motivated to understand it. It's taking me a long time to get through this book because it has piqued my motivation to actually learn endgames. I'll set the position up on a board, play through the notes supplied by Dr. Nunn, and often come away thinking, "Okay, but why can't Black just do this?" (Being from real games, some of the endgame situations are pretty complex.) And then I'll sit down and figure it out. Each time I come to one of those, I'll think, "Aha! I've got you this time!" But nope, not yet. I'm learning a lot. I like this book so much that I've subsequently bought Nunn's Understanding Chess Middlegames, which I've read a little of, and have high hopes for. I'll review it when I've read more of it. I bring this up because I'm going to make the obvious proposal. One could become quite an outstanding chess player, it seems to me, by reading nothing but books by John Nunn, including these two as well as Understanding Chess Move by Move, and (perhaps) John Nunn's Chess Course (I don't have this one yet so have only seen the preview). There is an obvious volume missing: Understanding Chess Openings. I know Dr. Nunn has written books on openings, including the well received NCO, but there are none in the style of Understanding Chess Endgames and UC Middlegames. In fact, I'm unaware of ANY opening book in this style. I'm not talking about books that plow through opening after opening and present the "ideas behind the Giuoco Piano" and then the "ideas behind the Two Knights Defence" and then the "ideas behind the Four Knights Game," etc. There are plenty of books like that. I mean a book that presents situations that are faced in the opening phase of the game, regardless of what the exact opening might be, and then explains what the significance of the situation is and how to deal with it. I have no idea what situations might be included (which is why I need the book!), but I suspect it might include things like developing with tempo, pawn tension in the center, exchanging a bishop for a knight, stonewall formations, and so forth. Surely, there are at least 100 of those! GMs and chess instructors are always telling us to study ideas and not opening variations, but then they give us books laden with variations! I'm getting so fed up with "variations" that I'm beginning to think it might be better if chess went the way of checkers, and at the beginning of the game you drew a card with the opening variation on it, real play taking up where that leaves off! Or maybe we should go to Fischer Random. (I'm a academic with an advanced degree in experimental psychology, and I DON'T LIKE TO MEMORIZE. Nor do I like my students to memorize. That's not learning!!) If anyone could write such a book and make it comprehensible to "lowly amateurs" such as myself, I bet it would be Dr. Nunn. So there you go. Don't tell me that wouldn't be a best seller!! And it would make a nice trilogy with UCM and UCE. (If it's been done, someone PLEASE clue me in!)
Review: Want to under chess endgames? If yes, this is the book for you - In this book, English GM John Nunn reviews 100 of the most important chess ideas and provides four examples for each of them, discussing the positions and how best to proceed. There's a lot of chess wisdom here which, if studied, will become part of your arsenal when playing competitive chess. John Nunn has the ability to explain things, even complex concepts, in a manner that is clear and simple to understand. I wish there had been such a book when I first fell in love with the game of chess and only had Reuben Fine's "Basic Chess Endings", a magnificent reference work which is difficult to take in when you're trying to learn chess endings from the ground up. Nunn's book makes the study of chess endgames enjoyable with his many examples. Most are drawn from current praxis but there are many examples from the last 150 years of masterly play. In fact, all levels of chess players could benefit from this book.

## Technical Specifications

| Specification | Value |
|---------------|-------|
| Best Sellers Rank | #1,495,654 in Books ( See Top 100 in Books ) #68 in Chess (Books) #89 in Board Games (Books) #733 in Puzzle & Game Reference (Books) |
| Customer Reviews | 4.7 4.7 out of 5 stars (119) |
| Dimensions  | 6.5 x 0.5 x 9.5 inches |
| Edition  | Illustrated |
| Grade level  | 7 and up |
| ISBN-10  | 1906454116 |
| ISBN-13  | 978-1906454111 |
| Item Weight  | 15.2 ounces |
| Language  | English |
| Part of series  | Understanding Chess |
| Print length  | 224 pages |
| Publication date  | August 25, 2009 |
| Publisher  | Gambit Publications |

## Images

![Understanding Chess Endgames - Image 1](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/41lWJXtpdUL.jpg)
![Understanding Chess Endgames - Image 2](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/81Y+RM-qKzL.jpg)
![Understanding Chess Endgames - Image 3](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/31ErPVpq8qL.jpg)

## Customer Reviews

### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Best Endgame Book I've Seen
*by K***G on June 10, 2014*

Confused by the welter of endgame manuals out there? Frustrated, and perhaps bored, by the ones you have on your own shelf? THIS IS THE ONE YOU WANT! I haven't read the entire thing yet, but I have no doubt that I will, and that alone makes it an unusual endgame book. The only other one I've managed to get to the end of is Pandofini's Endgame Course, and that one is so filled with typos and errors that I can't really recommend it (unless you go online and find one of the pages with errata). I like this book because: 1) It is very clearly written, in the style Dr. Nunn is justly renowned for. 2) It's format is very conducive to study. There are two columns per page (print version). At the top of each column is a diagram, and under each diagram is an explanation, often quite detailed. Perfect for reviewing and quizzing yourself. The diagrams are grouped under topics such as "Two Bishops vs. Bishop and Knight," with generally four diagrams per topic on facing pages. 3) It is not and doesn't try to be encyclopedic. I won't come away from this book knowing everything there is to know about endgames, but I will come away from it knowing a whole lot more than I know now. Will I have a "master's knowledge" of endgames? I don't know. That would be for a master to say. 4) Many of the diagrams are from real games. To know that Smyslov or Botvinnik or Fischer or Anand or Alekhine or Petrosian once faced this very situation over the board keeps me motivated to understand it. It's taking me a long time to get through this book because it has piqued my motivation to actually learn endgames. I'll set the position up on a board, play through the notes supplied by Dr. Nunn, and often come away thinking, "Okay, but why can't Black just do this?" (Being from real games, some of the endgame situations are pretty complex.) And then I'll sit down and figure it out. Each time I come to one of those, I'll think, "Aha! I've got you this time!" But nope, not yet. I'm learning a lot. I like this book so much that I've subsequently bought Nunn's Understanding Chess Middlegames, which I've read a little of, and have high hopes for. I'll review it when I've read more of it. I bring this up because I'm going to make the obvious proposal. One could become quite an outstanding chess player, it seems to me, by reading nothing but books by John Nunn, including these two as well as Understanding Chess Move by Move, and (perhaps) John Nunn's Chess Course (I don't have this one yet so have only seen the preview). There is an obvious volume missing: Understanding Chess Openings. I know Dr. Nunn has written books on openings, including the well received NCO, but there are none in the style of Understanding Chess Endgames and UC Middlegames. In fact, I'm unaware of ANY opening book in this style. I'm not talking about books that plow through opening after opening and present the "ideas behind the Giuoco Piano" and then the "ideas behind the Two Knights Defence" and then the "ideas behind the Four Knights Game," etc. There are plenty of books like that. I mean a book that presents situations that are faced in the opening phase of the game, regardless of what the exact opening might be, and then explains what the significance of the situation is and how to deal with it. I have no idea what situations might be included (which is why I need the book!), but I suspect it might include things like developing with tempo, pawn tension in the center, exchanging a bishop for a knight, stonewall formations, and so forth. Surely, there are at least 100 of those! GMs and chess instructors are always telling us to study ideas and not opening variations, but then they give us books laden with variations! I'm getting so fed up with "variations" that I'm beginning to think it might be better if chess went the way of checkers, and at the beginning of the game you drew a card with the opening variation on it, real play taking up where that leaves off! Or maybe we should go to Fischer Random. (I'm a academic with an advanced degree in experimental psychology, and I DON'T LIKE TO MEMORIZE. Nor do I like my students to memorize. That's not learning!!) If anyone could write such a book and make it comprehensible to "lowly amateurs" such as myself, I bet it would be Dr. Nunn. So there you go. Don't tell me that wouldn't be a best seller!! And it would make a nice trilogy with UCM and UCE. (If it's been done, someone PLEASE clue me in!)

### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Want to under chess endgames? If yes, this is the book for you
*by J***N on September 30, 2009*

In this book, English GM John Nunn reviews 100 of the most important chess ideas and provides four examples for each of them, discussing the positions and how best to proceed. There's a lot of chess wisdom here which, if studied, will become part of your arsenal when playing competitive chess. John Nunn has the ability to explain things, even complex concepts, in a manner that is clear and simple to understand. I wish there had been such a book when I first fell in love with the game of chess and only had Reuben Fine's "Basic Chess Endings", a magnificent reference work which is difficult to take in when you're trying to learn chess endings from the ground up. Nunn's book makes the study of chess endgames enjoyable with his many examples. Most are drawn from current praxis but there are many examples from the last 150 years of masterly play. In fact, all levels of chess players could benefit from this book.

### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Endgames may be boring to study, but are thrilling to win!
*by D***L on October 17, 2010*

Howell's Essential Chess Endings: The Tournament Player's Guide was for many years the best single volume on the endgame for the club and tournament player. It's over $100 used now, and not a realistic choice for most. There are some one-volume endgame encyclopedias, comprehensive but hard to study. This book is the new standard one-volume endgame training program for players up to expert or master strength, and is remarkably accessible to even the lower ranks of scholastic or adult tournament players. Nunn centers the book on 100 lessons for the endgame player, divided up by type of endgame: pawn endings, knight, bishops of same color, bishops of opposite color, bishop versus knight, rook versus rook or minor piece, and queens. The material is well-divided, with a quarter of the ideas devoted to the most common type of ending (rook endings) and 18 more devoted to the most critical of all, pure pawn endings. The selection of concepts is remarkably comprehensive. For example, he devotes 5 of his 100 lessons to the Lucena position and its relatives, but also includes the Vancura draw (which pops up surprisingly often in Rook endgames), the f & h pawn draw in Rook endings, and the relative merits of rooks behind and before passed pawns. He gives examples of the power of a rook on the seventh, covers several tactical tricks in rook endings, and touches on the basics of handling positions with 4 v 3 pawns all on the same side. Even more, this book is a preparatory volume for Nunn's two-volume series, Nunn's Chess Endings volume 1 and Nunn's Chess Endings Volume 2 . He meant to write a one-volume endgame book, but his introductory concepts were too large for a chapter and he ultimately broke the book into three pieces, rather than producing a single tome of about 700 pages. I'm sure it also earns more money for Gambit, but really, I don't begrudge them a penny. Although this book stands alone and will give most intermediate and club players all they need to be knocking on the door of the Master title, the whole series looks to me to prepare a player for everything up to international strength. Which I believe was Nunn's intention. If you really want to be able to finish games off with authority, the way a top-flight closer in baseball can shut the other team down in the late innings, this series will probably give you everything you need to know to do it. For further study of the endgame, I also strongly recommend Glenn Flear's Practical Endgame Play - Beyond the Basics: The definitive guide to the endgames that really matter (Everyman Chess) , which covers every chess endgame in which each side has exactly two pieces. This occurs in about one-quarter of strong players' games, and Flear has really covered the topic in an innovative way.

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*Last updated: 2026-03-10*