The Survival Guide to Rook Endings 2007

   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.

   The second chapter is devoted to endgames with pawns just on one side of the board. In the majority of cases I've studied positions where one side is trying to exploit a material or positional advantage. I've tried to include practical tips as well as all the tricks and traps awaiting both the attacker and defender.

   The third chapter deals with the common situation where there are pawns on both sides of the board, giving rise to play that is more complex and tactical in nature. Finally, in the fourth chapter, I've looked at the rather neglected subject of double rook endings. Despite being similar to single rook endings, they are important in their own right and contain many of their own characteristics.

   I should also clarify some of the terms used in this book. In general I've labelled the side trying to exploit a material or positional advantage as the attacker (or the attacking side), whereas the side trying to draw the position is labelled as the defender (or the defending side). So the defender's rook is the rook that belongs to the defender (even if the rook itself may be active and attacking pawns).

Author: Emms John
Title: "The Survival Guide to Rook Endings"
Released: 2007
Format: pdf
Size: 5 Mb