Chess lessons › Chess endgames
Rook endings: the short side defence
Defend with the king on the short side and the rook checking from the long side.
The idea
King to the short side, rook checking from the long side, far away.
- Black’s king stands on the short side of the pawn, on b8.
- The rook stands on the long side, five files from the pawn.
- Rh6+ checks from far away, and the position holds.
In a game: A pawn down in a rook ending, send your king to the short side and keep your rook on the long side.
How the lesson begins
White’s extra pawn is on the c-file. The a and b files lie beyond it on one side: that is the short side. The d to h files lie on the other: the long side.
The rule of thumb from the books: the defending king goes to the short side, and the rook to the long side, to check from far away. Black has done both here. The king is on b8, and the rook is on h8, five files from the pawn. With Black to move, it is a draw.
Find the move
Black to move. Find the check that holds the draw.
A hint
Check from the side, as far from the pawn as you can.
Show the answer
1... Rh6+
Rh6+ checks along the sixth rank from five files away. If White’s king walks towards the rook, it leaves its pawn behind; if it stays near the pawn, the checks go on. The other check, Rc8+, comes from right beside the pawn and loses.
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
64 positions in the study, every result proved by the tablebase: 30 are wins, 29 draws and 5 losses for the side to move, with best play on both sides.