The first chapter deals with the essential theory of basic rook endings, including rook vs pawn(s) and rook and pawn(s) vs rook. I've tried to make this chapter as concise as possible, as all of this material has been covered very well and in great detail before. It always amuses me when I overhear the phrase "Isn't this position a theoretical win/draw?" even though the claimer has absolutely no clue as to how or why. The coverage in this chapter is hopefully an antidote to this problem. The first chapter is very much the clearest in that each diagram has a symbol informing the reader of the correct result of the game. For example, +/= signifies that the position is winning for White if he has the move, and drawn if Black has the move, while =/= means the position is drawn, whoever has the move. Likewise, +/- means that White wins whoever moves first, while +/+ means that whoever moves first wins.