Today is the publication date of Jacob’s A Matter of Endgame Technique. This hardcover is big and beautiful. You can read an excerpt here.
Today is also the day when Nigel Short’s Winning becomes available in paperback. You can read an excerpt here.
Publication Day!
Book is still not in stock at Chess & Bridge (now the only chess shop in the U.K.), at least from their website.
@Paul H
Hi Paul, the books for Chess & Bridge (in London) arrived in the UK last Tuesday (the day before the pub date). But they seem to have been trapped in UK Customs, with an expected delivery date of Monday.
@John Shaw
Well, they said they routinely had to check a few variations, so…
Will Jacob’s book be available on Forwardchess? Normally all your books are available there, often before the printed books are available. I also notice that the Forwardchess website doesn’t mention the book either.
Thanks John
My copy of “Matter of Endgame Technique” has arrived. Going to start checking it out over the weekend.
I had pre-ordered from your website, but it still says Not Shipped. Any idea when it will be?
Brilliant book packed full of information. I am a long way from target audience of +2300, being a out of practice 2000ish player. It is accessible to lower rated players like me, the exercies are graded accurately, can solve the lowest starred examples quickly, and there is plenty of verbal explanation with the variations. Followed the advise of not attempting to read everything, and had a look at using the two bishops, which I was interested in. This turned out to be to very detailed annotations of two Carlsen games. Skimmed a few other interesting examples as well. All had nice points about them as well.
It is available on the Forward Chess website, and was shortly before the printed book.
https://forwardchess.com/product/a-matter-of-endgame-technique
Has Chess Direct officially gone to the wall then. See they are directing all.web orders to chess and bridge now so have finally ordered direct from QC as they were my go to supplier…will be missed ?
Yes, it seems so, was informed in another thread here the owner has retired.
I hav e pre-ordered the book early. Also sent some e-mails asking for expected delivery after the release date.. However, I neither got any answer to my e-mails nor any books delivered. Do you possibly have some problems with your e-mail system?
@Istvan Orci
Hi Istvan, sorry I think there were some email problems. But I saw that your order was processed today, so I hope you get the book soon.
@John Shaw
Thanks for the link. Somehow, I never saw it on the app.
I looked again on the ForwardChess app for iPhone, and the book is not showing up there. I’ll contact forwardchess to see why that is.
I also notice that Nigel Short’s “Winning” is now also available electronically. I bought a hard copy, but I don’t think it was available as an e-book on initial publication.
Any more reviews in? Had it a few weeks and still think I’m skimming the surface. Bought the Adams book and it’s still not out of the shrink wrap…might be a bit longer till it’s time is due. My initial impressions was I’m surprised by the number of recent games 2019/2020/2021 as I thought this was many years in gestation and even though there’s a ton of variations there’s also an agreeable amount of explanation in the text but maybe too much on obscure endgame piece combinations fortresses Ch 4 and much of Ch 5 but hardly anything on super common rook endgames. Still good stuff though not quite so oriented towards what you see in your typical club games. Any other opinions?
I know, that is late, but am I only one, who miss pages 257-288 in this book? It was practically impossible to realized it earlier in book with 800+ pages without checking every page 🙁
Jacob has a section in the book telling you that you don’t have to read it all but that’s taking a shortcut 🤣
Hi Jiří,
If you have pages missing in “A Matter of Endgame Technique” then yes, I think it is just you being unlucky with a one-off misprinted version. If you contact the shop where you bought it, the shop should provide a perfect replacement, free of charge.
Hello Quality Chess,
Maybe this question has already been solved in another thread (I haven’t seen it here).
I have on the shelf the book “Endgame play” from the “Grandmaster Preparation” series. I will soon finish the books in the Yusupov series.
What do you recommend me regarding Jacob’s A Matter of Endgame Technique? Should I read it before “Endgame play”?
Thanks in advance.
Best regards
Hi David,
Jacob says that “Endgame Play” should be the last of his endgame books to study.
“A Matter of Endgame Technique” should come before it. Jacob also points out that the endgame technique book does not cover rook endgames, because he planned to cover them in a separate volume – namely “Conceptual Rook Endgames”.
Thus, Jacob recommends working through both of those two books, and only then “Endgame Play.”
With that being said, I would like to add that the above is a recommendation for what to do in an ideal world, when you have all the time and motivation needed. Take the recommendation for what it is, but don’t think of it as something set in stone. Working through the books in the ‘wrong’ sequence will still improve your skills, so take them in whichever way works best for your overall situation in life.