A PRACTICAL GUIDE TO ROOK ENDINGS

Author: Nikolay Minev

114 pages

Russell Enterprises (2004)

$14.95

Reviewed by John Donaldson

A PRACTICAL GUIDE TO ROOK ENDINGS by International Master Nikolay Minev is a special book. Today there seems to be a steady stream of material appearing on the most common of all endings (Rook and pawns), and there are some really good ones out there, works by Emms, Nunn and Dvoretsky come to mind, but that wasn’t the case when Minev’s book was first published in his native Bulgaria in the early 1980s. Pioneering efforts by Smyslov and Levenfish in the Soviet Union, Gawlikowski in Poland and Cheron in Switzerland had preceded it, but these books were encyclopedic – more for reference than to learn from. A whole generation of Soviet stars like Garry Kasparov and Boris Gelfand praised Minev’s original take on the subject which he treated in two parts.

The second section of the book, the theoretical one, formed the basis of the Chess Informant Encyclopedia of Rook Endgames volumes. What the reader of A PRACTICAL GUIDE TO ROOK ENDINGS has is the first section, 114 pages of gold that explain the strategy and tactics of Rook and Pawn endings. It covers the basics like the Philidor and Lucena positions, how to draw when your King is cut off on the short side and frontal defense but goes well beyond this giving the dedicated student a solid foundation that will last a chess career. Minev is a very experienced teacher that explains these concepts clearly and thoroughly. Study this book well and your opponents will think you learned your chess in the Soviet Union!

Highly Recommended

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