Conceptual Rook Endgames Jacob Aagaard by Jacob Aagaard 9781784831943, 9781784831950, 1784831948, 1784831956 instant download after payment.

Practice makes perfect
Rook endings are the type of theoretical ending which occur most often by far. They are worth
studying as there are many positions which occur over the board regularly. Philidor’s draw,
Lucena’swin and Vancura’sdraw are just the three most prominent examples. So there is already
a vast literature on the subject. Why add two more books to the collection?
Rook endings can be regarded as having two aspects. One theoretical and one practical. So Quality
Chess decided to cover each aspect in a separate book. Sam Shankland has a systematic style as
he has proven in his excellent books on pawn play {Small Steps to Giant Improvement and Small
Steps 2 Success).So he was a great choice for the theoretical work, the aptly named Theoretical
Rook Endgames. Equally, Jacob Aagaard’s creative genius, as demonstrated most recently in his
A Matter of Endgame Technique, makes him an ideal choice for the sister work on practical rook
endings, Conceptual Rook Endgames. Whilst the study of each book will be equally valuable to the
practical player, it would be preferable for the reader to start by obtaining a full understanding of
the theoretical aspects of rook endings from Sam’s book. These provide the fundamental building
blocks to the practical aspects of such endings as demonstrated in Jacob’s book, which provides
more advanced material.
In Conceptual Rook Endgames, Jacob Aagaard investigates certain important guidelines, such as
passed pawns should be pushed and the defender should exchange pawns. Numerous motifs are
also examined, one important example being zugzwang. It is well-known that this is a weapon
generally used by the attacker. Readers may be less familiar with the fascinating concept of
mutual zugzwang, where the side to play is in for a disappointment. This arises surprisingly often
in practice. These guidelines and motifs and many others are explained in detail with many wellchosen
examples. These examples clearly demonstrate that the real art of chess is not
…