Endgame Homework

Feedback and Support
1

I really like the format of the Killer/Friendly Homeworks. Has there been any thought to do the same but with the focus on endgames?

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3

Yes, I agree we occasionally have endgame themed homework. However…

  1. As a club player, I do not reach a ton of endgames so exposure is limited. The key to getting better at anything is repetition in real games. Lacking real games, practical problems like the ones featured in the homeworks are a great substitute.

  2. Also as a club player, I find that endgame thinking is much different than middlegame thinking. Both strategic thinking and level of calculations is of a different nature in the endgame. Again, I think it’s useful to focus on this as a weekly course with the same accountability as the Homeworks.

  3. This is a really hot take, but I do not find theoretical endgames (such as the ones in 100 Endgames you should know) all that practical as they do not appear much in real games (at least mine). Again, the type of problems featured in the homework are much better. Learning strategic decisions such as the problems in the mixed sheet are far more important than learning theory IMO.

  4. The homework problems in KCT are unique from any other in that some problems are simply “holding the draw.” or “do no harm” moves. Although these types of problems are unique in chess training, they are far from unique in the actual play— and especially in the endgames. I’d like to see more of them, because it forces you to evaluate each position properly.

Part of my inspiration for this post is because I’m going through Hellsten’s Mastering Endgame Strategy, which might be the best endgame book, IMO, I’ve gone through for my level. The quizzes at the end of each chapter could be expanded 10-fold to really reinforce learning.

I do realize you have a variety of endgame courses on the site. I’m not sure about anybody else, watching videos without active learning does not work well for me. The homework adds extra accountability in learning, and especially for endgames which many struggle to learn because they “hate endgames.” Personally, I enjoy how fewer pieces demonstrate the purity and complexity of chess.

Well, my 2 cents.

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4

Hi John,

There are always more things you could do. We had a training camp with Sam on Technique, which was interactive. We have various classes on it. Solve with Sam will definitely have a lot of endgame problems in them in the future also. I will probably do a few rook endgame themed sessions over the next month. But a third homework is beyond our human resources at the moment. (I double booked for a lesson today, which is an incredibly humiliating thing to do).

Jacob

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5

Thanks for the consideration. I figured that something like this is pretty resource intensive, but thought I’d put it out there in case there was a lot of interest.

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6

Thanks. I did a 1 year course on rook endgames, which was published in an extended version called CONCEPTUAL ROOK ENDGAMES, and in the process of pushing Renier to GM, we also did JACOB TEACHES RENIER THE ENDGAME, which was more than a year, and became 200-250 pages of the LESS THAN 900 page book, A MATTER OF ENDGAME TECHNIQUE, which I have just seen has received a reasonable review in the New in Chess Magazine I own, but have limited influence on :slight_smile:

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