The Survival Guide to Rook Endings (Chess Endings)

It's a good book, though one thing I have an issue with is one of the problems you're studying from a side that's forced to lose! So before looking further at the solution I flipped the board over and treated it like a x to play and win problem. Covers Lucena, Philidor, short side defense, Vancura position, and most examples come from practical games instead of some artificial study. It's a good starting point before moving onto Dvoretsky (many problems from studies in the rook section) and the ECE (no experience with this one yet). Before this one though I'd recommend a more basic book such as Silman's Endgame Course or Nunn's Understanding Chess Endings.

In general, this book has some valuable information but falls short due to inaccurate lines and a lack of reinforcing themes.On the first issue, inaccurate lines. I found multiple errors on my own and then, not trusting myself, double checked my calculations with the computer. Surprisingly, the text was wrong. This happened too often to be acceptable.The second issue, “reinforcing themes”, bothered me because once the author teaches the Lucena position or the Philidor, or short side defense, he rarely references those terms again in the ensuing examples.Regardless, there are certainly lessons to be learned by studying this book. Just work through it with a computer.

This is the most welcoming, least intimidating book on rook endings that I know. For me, the main advantage of this book is that I will actually read it and learn from it. This book is easy to read, practical, and covers everything the average player needs to know. Although it is a small volume, it is well worth the money. I'd give it 6 stars if I could.

Very useful book on rook endings.

Excellent Thanks!

I have Fine's BCE for about 20 years, then last year I bought Muller's FCE to keep up with theory. Both of them are too heavy-duty for my class-C level, they are useful some on specific positions. I got Averbakh's Essential as the bridging stone to reach Fine's and Muller. I felt that I needed some focused book for each type of endings, so I got this one. The author said that the frequency of R ending type is about 20%. I guess he's right; therefore it's important to study this type. I have some sad stories about this type of endings.1) I once reached a double-rook ending with pawns (my 7 vs. player A's 5) on both sides of the board. I had P-majority on both sides. Besides enjoying the advantage and waiting for my opponent to resign, I was also clueless about what to do next. I spent nearly 20 min to meditate and figure out how to progress. Finally, I started moving 3 P's on K-side to attack his 2. With my 5 minutes vs. his 30 min, we entered the blitz chess. Wisely he kept enough pieces to keep the position complicated. He won when my flag fell.2) One day, this player A obtained a position in single Rook Ending. He got four Pawns on the K-side, his opponent (player B) had 2 on the Q-side; the Kings were on the rear of their own Pawns. So far so good. Player B had his K on second rank, while player A had his K on the back-rank! Player A kept giving useless checks and ignored advancing his un-opposed Pawns. Player B cleverly advanced his K and Pawns at every opportunity. To our horror, player B got his Pawn and R to the 7th and his K was right behind them. And we know the rest of the story.3) Then later against player A, I again had a single R ending with my 7 vs. his 5 P's. Now I carelessly advanced my P's on the K-side without any preparation to restrict his K on the Q-side. With more active K and R, he got his P to the 7th rank first. I was forced to trade R for his new Q. We reached a new endgame with his R vs. my 2 P's. The rear P was useless. Thanks to his far advanced K in my side, his R now was forced to pin my 7th rank P or give perpetual check. I was lucky to draw this.Above 3 personal examples show that a little knowledge in R endings could save ½ point!In this book, after introducing basic R endings (R vs. 1 or 2 P's and then the side with P(s) having a R of his own) in chapter 1, Emms provides 2 chapters on single R endings. Both sides have the same number of P's, and then one side has the advantage of one extra P. Chapter 2 is where P's are on one side of the board; and chapter 3, on both sides. Various P-types (passed, isolated and doubled) are carefully demonstrated. The techniques to attack and defend these Ps are clearly illustrated. Chapter 4 gives an elementary introduction to double Rs endings. Some important themes on how to handle this type are given. As we know multi-volume books covering this topic and single R have been written before. The difference is this time the positions in this book have been carefully checked with modern computer programs for their accuracy.More than half of the positions in this book are from the GM games. A quick scan through them I see that they can happen in our C-level strength. I don't know how we produce them, :-). Nonetheless, with equal strength and careful play, C-players could reach R or Rs endings with 1 or 2 P imbalance. Studying this book surely gives us some fundamental techniques to handle them reasonably.This book is very practical. It's more helpful to us, C-players, than Nunn's book. Nunn's is good for academic research. I wish I had taken time to study it before playing the above 2 games. Well, if I play 5 games without losing in the theoretical openings or tactical middle-games, I may have 1 chance to utilize the knowledge from this book. Hopefully, my opponents don't care much for endings, especially the R-type.

Funny thing happened while playing internet chess the other night. After an evenly balanced struggle I entered a simple rook and pawn ending. I was a pawn up, but because I had read Survival Guide to Rook Endings by John Emms I knew straight away that the position was dead drawn. But after a confused series of (totally uneccessary) checks from my opponent, which actually drove my king to a much better location, a drawn position became a won one. Now the point is this: many players are strong in the opening and middle phase of a chess game but much weaker in endgame play. So as average players seeking to improve we should study the endgame. This will add greatly to our playing strength and enable us to win many more games.All very well to hand out this trite advice, but look at most endgame books! No wonder the amateur player neglects to study them. Well, here is an exception. I'm pleased to say that Emms has authored a very readable guide to rook endings. His explanations of procedure are engaging and very understandable. Rather than presenting diagram after diagram to rote learn Emms gives us the conceptual tools for correct play. Further, Survival Guide to Rook Endings covers much more material than that required for mere 'survival'. Coverage extends well beyond an introductory level - I doubt I will need another rook book (though to be fair I am only a club player). Perhaps very strong players would find this book too basic but I have seen a big practical benefits from studying the material. Each chapter is logical, interesting and rounded off with excercises to help the reader practice. Previous to reading this book I had tried to teach myself rook endings from Kere's endgame book and Euwe's one as well. Both left me cold although both are actually very good chess authors - such is the difficult nature of the subject. Emms seems to have the magic touch however. I only wish I had a copy of Dvoretsky's acclaimed endgame manual so I could compare his handling of rook material with Emm's. All in all a fine effort.

This is one of several very useful references that I own on rook endings. It gives a very good overview of the topic. I use it to improve my endgame technique and also to teach youngsters how to play these very important endgames.

book was delivered in good quality, content is good too, there is a lot there to study

It's very good :) thank you