getting bored in rook endings and losing focus

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PVwl3DyOXiM

Good content. John Bartholomew. He's good.

I guess you know basic rook rolls...

"Endings of one rook and pawns are about the most common sort of endings arising on the chess board. Yet though they do occur so often, few have mastered them thoroughly. They are often of a very difficult nature, and sometimes while apparently very simple they are in reality extremely intricate." - Capablanca

Study rook endgames by Capablanca, Rubinstein, Smyslov, Fischer...

Just win

     If you lose focus and don't keep calculating accurately it's easy to lose in ANY kind of position. Rook endings are more susceptible to this problem as it is possible to play near-perfectly but very few players can manage to do so.

I was recommended this book;

Mastering Endgame Strategy
by Johan Hellsten

Really helped me even in like just 2 days of studying it... I still have a long way to go but finding this book helped me because his writing style is less technical, kindof shows you the big picture and everything seems useful, so I can relate to it... Like I can understand exactly what I am learning from every example... Maybe it won't make me an endgame expert like doing a million drills exercises, or reading the technical endgame books but the examples he gives just makes it a good read. he shows the beauty of endgames other books I peaked in were kinda dull... 

Also on the mental side I realize now like Capablanca said - it's OK that it's f'ing hard to win "won" rook endgames, and this so called "boredom" I described is actually sub conscious fear of throwing a 2 or more pawn advantage... So I now just accept that it's hard and drawing some won rook endgames dosen't make me stupid... This more peaceful and respectful to the opponent state of mind helps with the objectivity in conversion. (rather than the childish "oh c'mon resign already" one)

Thx for the Capa quote @tygxc

What? Instead of doing what I do and playing risky, objectively bad moves in the opening/middlegames so I never have to play an endgame in the first place, you try to improve upon your endgame skills and eliminate your weaknesses in the area? Hey, that might just be crazy enough to work!!

Yes, stop finding them boring.

A trick that has worked for me is treating the endgame like the middlegame. In the middlegame, a player calculates variations, looks out for tactics, and, most importantly, thinks about where their opponent would move. Always assume that your opponent is a cunning genius with many sneaky routes to attack, and your mind should be working on parrying those threats.

Worst case scenario, get up, drink some water, wash your face, sit back down, and focus again

Great stuff. Very functional way of thinking! Thanks bro

Appreciate it! 

First step is to realize that rook endgames are super exciting. More than any other kind of ending, rook endings are about courage. Given a choice between playing passively or actively, 95 percent of the time the active move is correct, even if it means giving up material. If both players realize this, you get a sword fight, where the most courageous player wins. 

In particular, rook endgames offer abundant chances to sacrifice material for tempi. In the opening/middlegame, it's often said that 3 tempi are worth a pawn. Well, in rook endgames, it very often happens that one tempo is worth a pawn... or more! 

It's true that there are some technical R+P endgames where you have to learn the technique. But that's true in any endgame. Overall, though, R+P endgames are my favorite because they more consistently reward the braver player than any other endgame. Once you realize this, you'll never have a boring R+P endgame again.

Well I think it's quite obvious that the one (me) who is bored of rook endgames feels this way due to a sub-conscious fear of them... Especially the feeling of "This should be easily winning but I'm struggling like a 900 against Stockfish, even though both me and my opponent are 1600 ffs what is going on"... All this "getting bored" attitude, similar to "resign already" is basically idiots (me) not being able to admit that they feel dumb not being able to convert cleanly...

This thread was about this "losing focus" that occurs, I think I'm on my way to fixing that...

To actually play a proper drawish rook endgame for a win, or to save a lost one - wow... I'm light years away from that... But thanks for the tips I'll keep that in mind... I've heard this before, but every time I go for active and sacrifice like you say, my opponent just takes all my pawns leaving me with a  Morty face (from Rick and Morty)  

oh and if any of yall @oddodddodo, @MadMagister, or others want to share stuff that helped your rook endings please do, especially exercises and stuff like that... In the book area I think I'm OK I'm reading some cool endgame strategy book but recommend books as well if you want