ChessMood has no course called "Endgames You Must Know". The page at that web address is "Must-Know Endgame Theory U2000", a 5h 38m course by GM Hovhannes Gabuzyan listed at 800-2000 for $350 alone (as of 8 November 2026). Its lesson list does include the standard positions, such as Lucena, Philidor and the opposition, but it is a theory-only course, so on paper it is worth considering inside a ChessMood plan, and a cheaper endgame course is better documented if you are buying one thing.
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Test depth: Public information only. Nobody at ChessCourseFinder has taken this course. This page is based on published documentation, pricing and reports, read on 8 November 2026. How we review explains the limits.
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Which course is this, exactly?
The address chessmood.com/course/endgames-you-must-know serves a course titled "Must-Know Endgame Theory U2000", which is what this page reviews. Searchers also meet similar names elsewhere. Chessable sells "100 Basic Endgames You Must Know", which is a different product from a different publisher.
ChessMood's other beginner-to-intermediate endgame course is a different kind of thing. Endgame Roadmap, by GM Avetik Grigoryan, lists 800-2100, 3h 50m, 72 episodes, 251 puzzles and $200 alone. Its page says it "isn't on theoretical endgames" and is about how to think and what to aim for, with sections such as Create a passed pawn, Win pawns, Activate the pieces and The powerful King.
So the two courses split the job: Must-Know is positions to know, and Roadmap is plans to follow. ChessMood's study plan for 1000-1500 players lists both, with strategy first and theory second.
What the seller says is in it
The course page lists 5h 38m, 149 episodes, 124 puzzles and 18 sections, at 800-2000 with no rating system named. The text says it is aimed at players below 2000, focuses on "the essential positions and concepts", and points to ChessMood's Step-by-step Endgame Mastery courses for more depth. No publication or update date is shown; the oldest dated student review embedded on the page is from 17 November 2022, so the course is at least that old.
Where the 5h 38m goes
Half of the listed video is rook and pawn endings, which is the right emphasis for this level on conventional coaching advice. The groupings are ours; timings and puzzle counts are the seller's, and shares are calculated from the page's total of 338m 24s.
| Group | Sections | Listed video | Share | Puzzles |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rook endings, including rook against pawn | Rook vs Pawn, Rook Endgame | 1h 35m 26s | 28% | 33 |
| Pawn endings | Pawn Endgame | 1h 11m 51s | 21% | 28 |
| Minor-piece endings | Bishop vs Pawn, Bishop Endgame, Opposite colored Bishops, Knight vs Pawn, Knight Endgame, Bishop vs Knight | 1h 21m 16s | 24% | 31 |
| Queen endings | Queen vs Pawn, Queen Endgame, Queen vs Rook, Queen + Piece vs Queen | 42m 28s | 13% | 27 |
| Rare mates | Bishop and Knight checkmate, Checkmate with 2 Bishops, Checkmate with 2 Knights?! | 23m 15s | 7% | 0 |
| Rook against minor piece | Rook vs Bishop, Rook vs Knight | 17m 56s | 5% | 5 |
Six of the 18 sections have no puzzles (Bishop vs Knight, Rook vs Bishop, Queen + Piece vs Queen and the three checkmate sections), so those topics are video only, apart from a separate "Course test" tab whose content we cannot see.
Syllabus check: the positions a player under 2000 should know
The lesson titles are visible even for locked lessons, and they show that the standard material is there. Here is the check against what a course at this level should cover. "Not named" means no title mentions it, which is not the same as absent.
| Topic | In the lesson list? |
|---|---|
| Square of the pawn | Yes: "Pawn - Square rule review" (free section) |
| Opposition and distant opposition | Yes: "Power of the opposition", "The distant opposition", "Opposition forever" (free section) |
| Rook-pawn exceptions | Yes: several lessons on rook pawns (free section) |
| Key squares | Not named |
| Outside passed pawn and pawn breakthroughs | Not named; multi-pawn endings appear as "2 Connected pawns" and "Doubled pawns" |
| Lucena | Yes: "Lucena's Position" (5m 37s) and "Practicing Lucena's position" (3m 35s) |
| Philidor | Yes: "Philidor position" (9m 59s) and "Practicing Philidor" (6m 26s) |
| Cutting off the king | Yes: "Cut King" and "2 options of cutting the King" |
| Rook placement behind passed pawns | Not named |
| Queen against pawn | Yes: a whole section, by type of pawn |
| Wrong-coloured bishop and rook pawn | Yes: "Bishop + h pawn vs King - Important difference!" |
| Opposite-coloured bishops | Yes: a whole section |
| Basic mates (queen, rook) | Not named, and not a section |
Two things stand out. First, a player near 800 who cannot yet mate with a queen or rook needs that elsewhere, since the checkmate sections start with bishop and knight. Second, the Bishop and Knight mate gets 14m 31s, more than Rook vs Knight (9m 13s) or Rook vs Bishop (8m 43s). Many coaches treat that mate as low priority under 2000, because it comes up rarely. That is received wisdom, but if your time is short, you can leave those sections until last.
A practical order if you are under about 1400, on conventional coaching advice rather than evidence: Pawn Endgame, then Rook Endgame through the Lucena lessons, then Rook vs Pawn. Everything else can wait.
Price
The page shows $350 to buy alone as of 8 November 2026, and we saw no sale price. Calculated from listed figures:
- This course: $350 over 5.63 hours is about $62 per listed video hour, and about $2.82 per puzzle.
- Endgame Roadmap: $200 over 3.83 hours is about $52 per listed video hour, and about $0.80 per puzzle.
- Both: $550.
Plan prices and refunds are on our ChessMood pricing page, and the wider library is in the ChessMood review. If you are thinking of buying both alone, compare that $550 with the plans first.
Who it suits and who should skip it
It suits a ChessMood subscriber between about 800 and 2000 who wants one short, teacher-led pass over the standard endings and likes knowing that the position list has been chosen for them. Skip it if:
- You want endgames only and would pay for one course. A listed 5h 38m at $350 costs more than the Chessable option below, though that one's $24.99 base price excludes most of its video and the $149.98 price includes it.
- You are above about 2000. The title itself says U2000.
- You need long-term endgame drilling. 124 puzzles is a small set, and six sections have none.
- Your problem is not knowing what to do in ordinary endgames. That is Roadmap's job rather than this course's.
- You can already complete the Lichess lessons below. Then the course mainly adds its minor-piece material.
The better-documented alternative
Chessable's "100 Basic Endgames You Must Know: A Starter's Guide" (a New in Chess course based on GM Jesús de la Villa's book, with video presented by GM Peter Heine Nielsen) is page-read with fuller numbers: the page itself names players rated 800-2000, lists 177 trainable variations, 97 puzzles and 10h 11m of video, and shows $24.99 for the base course and $149.98 with video, as of 8 November 2026. Its description text says "9+ hours", which conflicts with the 10h 11m figure. Calculated, $149.98 over 10.18 hours is about $15 per listed video hour. The base course includes only part of that video. Chessable courses are bought individually; PRO is optional. See the best endgame courses and Chessable vs ChessMood.
The free resource that covers similar ground
Lichess Practice is free and covers much of the core list: Key Squares, Opposition, Zugzwang, rook endgames including Lucena and Philidor, basic checkmates and a Knight & Bishop Mate lesson. Our guide to Lichess studies and practice explains more.
You can use it as a free test. If you can finish Opposition, Key Squares and the rook endgame lessons including Lucena and Philidor without help, you already know the largest part of this course, and you would be paying mostly for bishop, knight and queen material. If you cannot, work through those lessons first and decide afterwards whether you want a grandmaster's explanations in a fixed sequence, which is what you give up by staying free.
What the seller's pages do not tell you
- The free preview is generous but one-sided. The page shows 29 lessons and 28 puzzles unlocked (the Introduction and the whole Pawn Endgame section), though it does not say the preview stays free permanently. Calculated, 28 of 124 puzzles is about 23%, but it shows nothing of the rook, minor-piece or mating sections, which is where Lucena and Philidor are.
- No independent opinion of this specific course turned up in our research. The one blog we found recommends the Endgame Roadmap instead (and does not mention this course); its author, Dalton Perrine, says ChessMood supplied free memberships to give away, and the post's links carry a referral tag, so treat it as promotional. All 58 student reviews embedded on the course page give five stars, and they are posted on ChessMood's own site.
- No update date, no named rating system, no per-course refund terms on the page.
Original test pending
We have not taken this course. A real test would record how much of the 5h 38m is available, how well the Lucena, Philidor and opposition lessons teach those positions, whether the 124 puzzles test them, how much the course overlaps Endgame Roadmap, and when it was last updated. This page reports none of that.