For all chess-players - from beginners to grandmasters, and whatever their style of play - one thing is certain: rook endings will arise in a great many of their games.

Yet it is precisely in this area of the game that many players give away hard-earned points, either through lack of knowledge or inadequate understanding. Previous books on the subject have been extremely technical and theoretical, and therefore of little use to the practical player. This one is different. John Emms provides the essential specific knowledge and explains the key concepts, that will enable readers to find the right plan in most common types of rook endings.

• Rook endings are reached in roughly one in five of all chess games

• This volume provides everything you need to know to play rook endings successfully

• The author is a battle-hardened professional player; himself the veteran of hundreds of rook endings

Grandmaster John Emms ist one of the stars of English chess, who shared first prize in the super-strong 1997 British Championship. He is an extremely experienced player and trainer, and part of the team that wrote Everyman´s one-volume openings encyclopedia, Nunn´s Chess Openings.

Content
5 Symbols

5 Bibliography

6 Foreword

8 Introduction

9 1 Basic Rook Endings

9 King and Rook vs King (Delivering Mate)

10 Rook vs Pawn

14 Rook vs 2 Pawns

16 Rook and Pawn vs Rook

29 Rook and 2 Pawns vs Rook

39 Exercises

41 2 Rook and Pawn Endings (Pawns on One Side of the Board)

41 Rook and Pawn vs Rook and Pawn

43 Rook and 2 Pawns vs Pawn and Pawn

64 Rook and 3 Pawns vs Rook and 2 Pawns

73 Rook and 4 Pawns vs Rook and 3 Pawns

84 Exercises

86 3 Rook and Pawn Endings (Pawn on Both Sides of the Board)

86 Tarrasch`s Rule

87 Rook and 1 Pawn vs Rook and 1 Pawn (Both Pawns are passed)

91 Rook and 2 Pawns vs Rook and 1 Pawn (Passed Pawn vs. No passed Pawn)

95 Connected Passed Pawns against Lone Passed Pawn

99 Endgames with More Pawns (One Side has an Extra Passed Pawn)

119 Passed Pawn on the Seventh with the Attacking Rook in Front

125 Endgames with more Pawns (One Side has a Pawn Majority)

132 Tactical and Positional Ideas

138 Exercises

141 4 Double Rook Endgames

141 Exploiting Smart Material Advantages

143 Seventh Heaven

144 Attacking from the Front and Side

148 Exploiting a Pawn Majority

149 Attacking the King in Mid-board

151 Exercises

152 Answers to Exercises

152 Answers to Chapter 1 Exercises

153 Answers to Chapter 2 Exercises

154 Answers to Chapter 3 Exercises

158 Answers to Chapter 4 Exercises

159 Index of Players, Composers and Analysts