Whenever my games at ChessWorld bring me to an endgame situation I start to struggle. It seems paradox that I have a harder time to develop valid ideas for playing in situations with less pieces on the board. It seems to me that fewer pieces on the board means also that it is necessary to calculate much deeper variations, a skill that I lack for sure.

From this experience I agree with the often heard opinion that studying chess endgames is one of the most important things for improving in chess (may be second after tactics?). But what is the most efficient way to improve in the endgame? In contrast to tactics, I found little information on good ways to improve playing endgames. Sure, there are plenty examples such as the weekly endgame study at chesscafe.com or the almost daily problems at Susan Polgar's blog. But in contrast to tactics, I got the impression that pattern recognition is less important in endgames than knowledge and techniques, for instance how to protect or block a passed pawn.

As chess novice, I feel overwhelmed by this. Should I simply go ahead and try to solve a few endgame problems a week or do I have to study rules that tell me if a particular situation such as "R vs. N+P" is a win or draw and try to get into the winning situations? What are good books or web resources on endgames that are suitable for beginners? All suggestions are welcome!

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