Chess lessons › Chess endgames
Rook against a pawn
A rook usually beats a pawn, unless the pawn is far advanced, its king beside it and yours far away.
The idea
A rook usually beats a pawn, unless its king helps and yours is far.
- Black’s king is close to its pawn, and White’s king is far away.
- Rf1 cuts the king off along the f-file.
- Rd1 and Ra4 also win: they attack the pawn at once.
In a game: Against a lone pawn, act at once: attack it, or cut its king off before it gets close.
How the lesson begins
As a rule of thumb, a rook beats a lone pawn when the pawn’s king is too far away to help it. Here Black’s king on e8 stands far behind its pawn on e4. White can stop the pawn with the rook and bring the king over: a simple win.
Find the move
Now Black’s king on g5 is close to its pawn, and White’s king on h8 is far away. White must act at once. Find a rook move that wins.
A hint
Attack the pawn now, or put the rook between Black’s king and its pawn.
Show the answer
1. Rf1
Three rook moves win. Rd1 and Ra4 attack the pawn at once. Rf1 cuts Black’s king off along the f-file, so it cannot cross to its pawn. Any other move gives Black’s king time to reach the pawn, and it is a draw.
In numbers
In the puzzle bank
1,545 puzzles in GreyChess’s bank practise it. Half of them are rated between 951 and 2,350.
The piece that makes the first move of the answer: rook 68%, pawn 21%, king 11%, in puzzles from the Lichess puzzle database.
Positions to practise
32 positions in the study, every result proved by the tablebase: 20 are wins, 10 draws and 2 losses for the side to move, with best play on both sides.