Beautiful Rook Endgame Studies

It is a great idea to solve studies while you are travelling. A friend of mine who is a Grandmaster uses studies to reach a meditative state in the early morning.  Personally, I love solving positions that are cute and reveal aesthetic side of chess.

Benefits of solving studies:

• Improves your calculation skills
• Improves your imagination
• You get to experience the aesthetic side of chess
• Deepens your knowledge of endgame theory
• Refreshes you

You could work on a specific type of endgame or browse through random examples. Compositions by Troitzky, Wotawa, Kubbel and Platov are beautiful. They usually involve fewer pieces and could be used for training purposes.

Books to refer:
*Endgame Magic by Beasley and Whitworth
*Test your endgame ability by August Livishitzz and Jon Speelman (if you want topic oriented studies)
*Zee Boom Bah by Muralimohan (available with 8cross8)
*Endless Endings  by Muralimohan (available with 8cross8)
*Studies for practical players by Dvoretsky (if you want to play out positions with a friend)

In this article, I am sharing a few positions that I enjoyed solving:

White to play in all the positions. You can also check hints at the end if you want to!

Composer : Ivanov
Position 1: 

Composer: Selezniev
Position 2:

Composer:  Didrikhson
Position 3: 

Composer: Selezniev
Position 4: 

Composer: Prokes
Position 5:

Hints:

1. King is an active piece in the endgame, Use it well
2. X-ray attack in the end!
3. Get your knight
4. Wait, and you will win!
5. Offer him an Enpasse that he won’t refuse

Here is a bonus position:

Composer: Pogosyants
Position 6:

Solutions to the Positions: