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How do I improve at endgames at 1550 lichess elo (blitz)

#11
@AOOP09 said in #3:
> Learn rook endgames first. Lucena and Philidor, especially.
> How can you do this? Well, just use a chess puzzle website/app (I would recommend chesspuzzles(.)net and chesstempo) and choose "rook endgames"(almost every website/app has this option).

I would not concentrate on special positions and techniques (such as Lucena) at first, since at least in my experience they occur very rarely in the endgames at this level.

The first thing I would look into is figuring out what the main concepts are to win endgames. How to activate your King or Rook? How to create weaknesses and target them? When to push your pawns? That way you can formulate a clear plan on how to approach each end game. You can also apply those principles to EVERY end game, instead of just a very narrow, specific position (such as Philidor or Lucena).
#12
#8 and #11 are spot on. I don't care anymore about theoretical endgames at my level. I worked through de la Villa's 100 Endgames You Must Know twice a few years back, and I am pretty sure I forgot most/almost everything but the rule of the square. It's rarely the lack of knowledge of theory that loses me games or lets me not win.
Something like Capablanca's Best Chess Endings or Shereshevsky's Endgame Strategy is what will most effectively, efficiently and in the most enjoyable way improve your endgame skills, and indeed, the ideas and principles you will learn will be applicable universally in pretty much all of your endgames, contrary to theoretical endgames.
I would make the case to learn strategy first and then to only look up theory working on practical endgame material. Like when you encounter something of interest in an endgame shown in the books mentioned; or when working your way through tactical endgame puzzles (Nunn's Chess Endings 1+2, Van Perlo's Endgame Tactics); that's when it makes most sense to look into a reference work for theoretical endgames.
To be fair: Knowing the most basic endgames is important. Lucena and Philidor are kind of basic, but they do not qualify as most basic: I frankly can't remember when I last got one of those in my games.
Most of theory can probably be picked up along the way simply by studying practical endgames. It also feels more natural and as you improve in chess, theoretical procedures will stick more easily in your memory.
To be clear: Working through Shereshevsky and Capablanca's Best Chess Endings would already make you like 2200 blitz strength in terms of endgame skills. Probably better. And it should be achievable. Working through the puzzles books is a whole different beast; but it would also likely turn you into a beast.

TLDR: Strategy/principles first (whole games or fragments). Then endgame puzzles (books!) if you are very serious. Theory books only for reference.
#14
Another one of the endgame bibles:
100 Endgames You Must Know by Jesus de La Villa
#15
@MyMouseFroze said in #1:

> Any videos / studies / tips that could be helpful?

Agree with #12. I worked through Dvoretsky's famous endgame book last year. It took me around 2 months just to do the exercises, without fully understanding the content. And I can confidently say that in the span of one year since then, I've rarely encountered the same endgames as in the book. However, I did learn some useful concepts.

Regardless, it was hard work, and it might be better to analyze endgame positions from your own games and compare them with computer moves. Other than that, I think you can focus on pawn endgames and rook(s) endgames for a while, until you feel comfortable with those.

I still remember how eager I was to learn about the King, Bishop, and Knight vs. King mate a while back, until I realized that I only encountered it twice from over 10,000 games. So be mindful of how you spend your time learning chess. Always ask yourself: How often do I encounter this type of endgame?
#18
and there are so many key positions and key ideas in endgames. You should start following them