Your Shortcut to Rook vs

Rook & Pawn Endgames

YOUR SHORTCUT TO ROOK &
PAWN VS. ROOK ENDGAMES
Lars Bo Hansen

-------------------------------------------

Master Chess
Lesson 5
Text copyright © 2015 Lars Bo Hansen
All Rights Reserved
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Introduction
How to read & study this lesson
The Philidor Position: Sixth rank defense
The Lucena Position: Building a bridge on the fourth rank
Rook on the long side, King on the short side
Capablanca’s Trap and the special case of the knight pawn
The Kling and Horwitz Defense: Attacking the pawn from behind
The Stalemate trick
The Vertical Barrier
The Horizontal barrier
The Vancura position
Zugzwang
The Saavedra Maneuver
The Lasker Maneuver
The Advanced Lucena
Exercises
Tips for self-improvement
Master another chess topic
Introduction
Rook endgames are probably the most common type of endgames. At
first sight, they might seem simple: the material is very limited; all lines
seem pretty straightforward.
Don’t fall for that ILLUSION!
As we shall see, even world-class Grandmasters can slip up in these
deceptively simple positions. Rook endgames require careful study.
There is no way around it if you want to succeed in chess.
The most basic rook endgames are those where one side has Rook and
Pawn and the other side just a Rook. Such endgames eventually occur
as all other pawns are traded. Some of them are won for the side with
the extra pawn, others are drawn. Knowing which basic Rook and Pawn
vs. Rook endgames to enter – and which to try to avoid – is an essential
skill for all competitive players.
That’s the bad news – unless you, like me, actually enjoy studying
endgames. I find this part of the game fascinating. But for some reason,
few chess players seem to share this interest!
The good news is that at this very moment, the SHORTCUT for survival
in almost all Rook and Pawn vs. Rook endgames is right in your hands.
This lesson is your survival guide. I have compiled and outlined the 13
most fundamental principles for how to play endgames of the type
Rook and Pawn vs. Rook. The time spent on studying the 10 principles
presented in the following pages is well invested. Every time you enter
this type of endgame in the future you will do so with greater
confidence, and naturally, with better results.
The 13 principles are:
- The Philidor Position: Sixth rank defense
- The Lucena Position: Building a bridge on the fourth rank
- Rook on the long side, king on the short side
- Capablanca’s Trap and the special case of the knight pawn
- The Kling and Horwitz Defense: Attacking the pawn from behind
- The stalemate trick
- The vertical barrier
- The horizontal barrier
- The Vancura Position
- Zugzwang
- The Saavedra Maneuver
- The Lasker Maneuver
- The Advanced Lucena
How to read & study this lesson
Let me start with the obvious: do the first chapters first. The Philidor
and Lucena positions are the most basic Rook Endgame positions. As
you advance through the subsequent chapters, you’ll notice comments
referring back to Philidor or Lucena. That’s inevitable. So, learn them.
Train them. Make sure you know them to such an extent that you are
able to play them correctly even in a blitz game. Going over the next
chapters you might catch yourself thinking: “… I need to prevent Black
from building a Lucena”. That’s your reward! It shows that you are well
on your way to mastering those tricky endgames!
The next important question for you is: do you need a chess board? If
you decide to go over the endgames without using a chess board it can
take you a little bit more time. However, I would recommend this way
of studying as it will definitely strengthen your calculation ability. Don’t
worry about missing an important point: all key positions are
illustrated by diagrams. Later on, you can put your reading device aside
and demonstrate what you’ve learned on a chess board. For example,
it is very useful to play some practice endgames against a friend.
Almost all examples are from Grandmaster games played within the
last few years. This hopefully helps you identify with the players’
struggles at the board – maybe some of your favorite players are
among the featured. It also goes to show that the principles outlined
here, although some of them hundreds of years old, are still very useful
for modern competitive chess. Moreover, as we shall see, even the
World’s greatest chess players from time to time find these endgames
difficult to master in the tension of a tournament situation. This
underlines the need for a thorough study of the principles.
Enjoy the lesson!
Lars Bo Hansen
The Philidor Position: Sixth rank defense
The critical issue in rook and pawn vs. rook positions is who has his
king in front of the pawn. The king is needed to help stop or promote
the pawn, respectively. If the defending side blocks the pawn with his
king – and the king cannot be dislodged through checks – the position
is an elementary draw. This is known as The Philidor Position. If, on the
other hand, the attacking side’s king is in front of the pawn, the
position is usually – but not always, as we shall see – won. The prime
example of this is The Lucena Position, as we shall see in the next
section.

The defense mechanism in the Philidor Position is straightforward:

The king blockades the pawn, usually on the 7th rank, while the rook
cuts off the attacking king horizontally on the 6th rank. As soon as the
pawn advances to the 6th rank – but not before – the rook shifts to the
first rank and starts giving checks from behind.
The attacking king has nowhere to hide and the draw is inevitable.
Remember though that the defensive side only shifts his rook from the
6th to the first rank when the pawn advances to the 6th rank – not
before! Otherwise the king would be able to hide in front of the pawn
once the defender starts giving check from behind, and that is exactly
what needs to be avoided!
Let’s see these principles in action in a game between the two best
players in the US. Gata Kamsky is a former World Championship
Challenger; in 1996 he lost a World Championship match against the
legendary Anatoly Karpov. Hikaru Nakamura, the younger of the two
(born 1987; Kamsky 1974), is currently (July 2013) ranked 7th in the
World, Kamsky 11th. Any game between the two comes with a lot of
prestige at stake. Here Kamsky survives an unpleasant position by
exploiting the Philidor Position.
Nakamura – Kamsky
Zug 2013
White has the more active king and Black has some problems holding
on to his f5-pawn. But Kamsky of course knows his “rook ending ABC”
and simply gives up the pawn to reach the theoretical drawn Philidor
Position:
62…Ra6+! 63 Kxf5 Kf7!
The Philidor Position has been reached. The king is placed in front of
the pawn, securely blockading its path on either f7 or f8 and preventing
any chance of the pawn promoting! The rook is placed on the 6th rank,
prohibiting White’s king from advancing.
64 Rb7+ Kf8 65 Kg5 Rc6! 66 f5 Ra6!

As long as the pawn has not yet advanced to the 6th rank, Black just
waits, cutting White’s king off horizontally.
67 Rb8+ Kf7 68 Rb7+ Kf8 69 Rb8+ Kf7 70 Rb7+ Kf8 ½–½
Nakamura did not bother to try 71 f6, threatening 72 Kg6 – of course
Kamsky would know the drawing move 71…Ra1!
Now that the pawn has advanced to the 6th rank, White’s king has no
shelter from Black’s checks from behind. A draw is inevitable.
The Lucena Position: Building a bridge on the
fourth rank
The Lucena Position is one of the oldest theoretical concepts in chess.
There is some dispute as to the exact origin of the concept – some
attribute it to Lucena’s famous book on chess from 1497, Repeticion de
amores y arte de axedres (Repetition of Love and the Art of Playing
Chess), others instead to Salvio’s work from 1634.

But while the origin is in doubt, the concept itself is clear:

Having conquered the space in front of the pawn and with the
defending king cut off vertically, the attacking side builds a game-
winning bridge on the fourth rank to win.
The original Lucena Position looks like this:
Lucena, 1497

1 Rf4!
This maneuver is what characterizes the winning method in the Lucena
Position. White’s king has decisively conquered the space in front of
the pawn and helped push the pawn to the penultimate rank, but to
allow the pawn to queen the king needs to be freed from d8 while
being shielded from checks from Black’s rook. The rook lift to the 4th
rank ensures this.
1…Rc1 2 Ke7 Re1+ 3 Kd6 Rd1+ 4 Ke6!

4…Re1+

This allows the bridge on the 4th rank, but the alternatives are not
better: 4…Kg6 loses to 5 Rg4+ Kh5 6 Rg8 followed by 7 d8Q, while 4…
Rd2 allows a bridge on the 5th rank instead after 5 Rf5! and 6 Rd5.

5 Kd5! Rd1+ 6 Rd4!

The bridge is complete and the pawn queens. 1–0

The Lucena Position helped the current World Champion, the Indian
Vishy Anand, retain his title in the dramatic 2012 World Championship
Match against the Israeli Boris Gelfand. After the ordinary match
finished 6-6, the World Championship had to be decided in a four-
game rapid tiebreak. Anand won the only game – the other three
tiebreak games were drawn although, as we shall see, Gelfand missed a
clear win in a different Rook and Pawn vs. Rook position in game 3 – by
using the Lucena Position.

Anand – Gelfand
World Championship Match, Rapid Tiebreak Game 2, Moscow 2012

Gelfand’s last move, 71…Rf7-f5, was a mistake which allowed Anand to

trade into a winning version of the Lucena Position:
72 Ne6+! Kc8 73 Nd4! Rf8 74 Nxf3 Rxf3
75 Kb6!

Brings the king in front of the pawn and prepares to reach the Lucena
Position. Black’s king cannot maintain the position in front of the pawn
because of the threat 76 Rg8+, smoking out the king.
75…Rb3
The only way to prevent 76 Rg8+ was 75…Rf8. This would be a better
practical attempt but White still wins after 76 Ka7! (threatens 77 Rc6+,
cutting off Black’s king) 76…Rf7+ 77 Ka8! Rf5 78 Rb6! (78 b6?? Ra5+
mate would be embarrassing!) 78…Kc7 79 Ka7 (again threatens 80 Rc6+)
79…Rc5 80 Rb8, and the pawn advances, ultimately leading to the
Lucena Position. This line is very similar to the game Volokitin-Eljanov
which we will examine below but with one critical difference: the
placement of Black’s king. Such subtleties can be the difference
between a win and a draw. The more such endgames you have studied,
the better are your chances of getting the little details right.
76 Rg8+ Kd7
77 Rb8! 1–0

The last difficult move and a good maneuver to take to heart. The rook
frees the king to advancing, setting up the Lucena Position. Gelfand
resigned as there is no way he can prevent that from happening. A
sample line is 77…Rb1 78 Ka7! Ra1+ (78...Kc7 79 b6+ wins ) 79 Kb7 Rb1
80 b6 Rb2 81 Ra8 Rb1 82 Ra2 Rb3 83 Rd2+ Ke7 84 Ka7 Rb1 85 b7 Ra1+
86 Kb8 Ra3 87 Rd4! (here comes Lucena!) 87…Ra1 88 Kc7 Rc1+ 89 Kb6
Rb1+ 90 Kc6 Rc1+ (as we know, 90…Ke6 loses to 91 Re4+ Kf7 (91…Kf5 92
Re8) 92 Re5!, while 90…Rb2 is met by 91 Re5! and 92 Rb5) 91 Kb5 and
wins.
Rook on the long side, King on the short side
In Anand-Gelfand in the previous section, Black’s problem was not just
that his king was eventually smoked out of its blockading position in
front of the pawn – even worse, the king would end up on the wrong
side of the pawn.

Not all positions where the defending king is forced away from the
promotion square are lost. In fact, quite some of them are drawn if the
defender manages to arrange his king and rook in the right way. What
is the right way?
To draw, the king must be on the short side of the pawn and the rook
on the long side.
Preferably, the rook should be all the way at the edge of the board,
away from the pawn. From that remote position, the rook can harass
the attacking king with disturbing side checks while hoping to bring his
king back to blockade the pawn. Let’s take a look at a game with this
principle from my own career. My opponent is my old friend Curt
Hansen who in 1982 became European Junior Champion and in 1984
World Junior Champion. A year later, he became Denmark’s second
Grandmaster – following in the footsteps of legendary Bent Larsen who
earned the title in 1956. I became the third Danish GM in 1990. At the
height of his career, Curt was ranked 14th in the World. He has now
retired from competitive chess.
Lars Bo Hansen – Curt Hansen
Skanderborg Samba Cup 2005
Black is to move and can check White’s king away from blockading the
f-pawn, but the position is still a draw because White will be able to
arrange the king on the short side and the rook on the long side of the
pawn.
57…Rb2+ 58 Kg1! Kg3 59 Rg5+! Kf3
60 Ra5! Rb1+ 61 Kh2
There we have it – the king is on the short side of the pawn and the
rook as far off to the long side as possible, ready to give side checks.
61…Re1 62 Ra8 Rd1 63 Ra7 Ke2 64 Re7+ Kf2 65 Ra7 Rd2
66 Ra1!
A key part of the “king on short, rook on long” defensive strategy. By
covering the first rank, White prevents Black from building the Lucena
Position with the king on f1 and the pawn on f2.
66…f3 67 Kh3!
White just waits as Black cannot improve his position.
67…Rb2
67…Re1 68 Ra2+! Ke3 (68…Re2 69 Ra1 just repeats while 68…Kg1 69 Kg3
Rf1 70 Rb2 f2 71 Ra2 wins the pawn) 69 Ra3+ Kf4 70 Ra4+ Re4 71 Ra1
does not help Black; White is ready to bring his king back to f1 via h2
and g1; if the Black rook prevents that with 71…Re2 White resumes side
checks with 72 Ra4+.
68 Kh2 Re2 69 Kh3 Rd2 70 Kh2 Ke3+
By using triangulation Black tries to lure White’s rook away from its
optimal position on the a-file but that does not matter – there is plenty
of scope on the long side of the pawn even on the b-or c-files.
71 Kg1 Ke2
72 Rb1! Rc2
After 72…Ra2 White simply stays put on the first rank with 73 Rc1,
preparing to give side checks if Black’s rook leaves the second or third
rank. 72…f2+ 73 Kg2 Rc8 74 Rb2+ Ke1 75 Rb1+ draws – but not 75 Rxf2??
Rg8+, winning.
73 Ra1 Rb2 74 Rc1 Rb3
74…f2+ 75 Kg2 Rb8 76 Rc2+ Ke1 77 Rc1+ (again not 77 Rxf2?? Rg8+) 77…
Kd2 78 Rf1 picks up the pawn and draws.
75 Rc2+ Ke3 76 Rc1!
Again taking possession of the first rank, preventing the Lucena setup.
76…Rb2 77 Rc3+ Ke2 78 Rc1 Rb8
The last attempt, Black threatens to decisively cut off White’s king with
79…Rg8+. But White simply returns to the saving side checks strategy.
79 Rc2+ Ke1
79...Kd3 is simply met by 80 Ra2 and 81 Kf2 with a draw.
80 Rc1+ Ke2 81 Rc2+ Ke3 82 Rc3+ Kf4
83 Rc7! ½–½
The last important move – now it is the Philidor Position where Black
has advanced the pawn to the sixth rank! The White king now safely
blocks the pawn on f1 or f2 with an easy draw as in Nakamura-Kamsky
above. Although I was down to my last minute at this point, Curt
therefore sportingly offered a draw.
Capablanca’s Trap and the special case of the
knight pawn
As we saw above, the defender can usually hold with the king on the
short side and the rook on the long side. But there are some special
cases that need to be considered.
The first one is sometimes referred to as “Capablanca’s Trap”. No less a
player than the current World Number 1 Magnus Carlsen fell into that
trap early in his career. At the time the Norwegian prodigy was only 15
but already a strong GM. His opponent, the Armenian Levon Aronian, is
currently ranked 2nd in the World after Carlsen and is a serious World
Championship contender.
Aronian – Carlsen
Moscow Tal Memorial 2006

The contours of the “king on short side, rook on long” defensive

strategy are clear but the position differs from my game against Curt
Hansen in that Black currently does not control the back rank. This
gives White some hope of reaching the Lucena Position.
71...Ra7+!

The correct move to regain control of the back rank. As 72 Ke8 (72 Kd6
Ra6+) 72…Kf6! is an immediate draw White has to relinquish control of
the back rank to Black.

72 Rd7 Ra8! 73 Rd6!?

This move is the one that characterizes Capablanca’s Trap! The rook
has no other business on d6 than setting a cunning trap which the
young Carlsen unexpectedly falls into.

73…Ra7+??

This is exactly what White was hoping for. With White’s rook on any
other square on the d-file (e.g. d1 or d8) the check would be correct,
but here it loses. Instead, Black could draw by the waiting move 73…
Kg6! and only after e.g. 74 Rd1 play 74…Ra7+ with the idea 75 Ke8 (75
Rd7 Ra8 changes nothing) 75…Kf6! with a draw.

74 Ke8! 1–0

Now Carlsen realized what had happened and immediately resigned.

White will obtain the Lucena Position.

The problem is that if Black plays 74…Kf6 (which would draw with the
White rook on any other square on the d-file) then 75 e7+ comes with
discovered check. That is why the rook went to d6 – to set up this
discovered check by the advancing pawn.
That is Capablanca’s Trap. Then after 75…Kg7 the easiest win (of many)
is probably the Lucena concept of using the fourth rank by 76 Rd4! Kf6
77 Re4! Ra8+ (otherwise 78 Kf8, winning) 78 Kd7 Ra7+ 79 Kd6 – the king
escapes and the pawn queens. 74…Ra8+ 75 Rd8 followed by 76 e7 also
does not help Black; White will eventually get the Lucena Position and
win (you can try it out for yourself!). Remember this trap; it is good to
know from either side!
So far we have looked at positions where the stronger side had a
central pawn – either c, d, e, or f.

In these cases the defensive strategy of “King on Short, Rook on Long

side” applies.
But with b- or g-pawns this defensive method no longer works.

Why? Because the short side for the king will be too short – the king
risks getting trapped in a mating net at the edge of the board.

Fighting a knight pawn (b or g) therefore requires a different defensive

strategy. Fortunately there is one and ironically this one exploits the
fact that the short side is too short, only this time for the attacker.

Against b- and g-pawns a draw can be reached through passive defense

on the back rank.
----------
Alekseev – Matlakov
Russian Higher League 2013
In this position the game was drawn. White trusted that his opponent
– a 2665 GM – knew the right drawing method – simply waiting
passively on the back rank:

68…Rf8!
By simply keeping the rook on the back rank Black draws against a
knight pawn. The problem for White is that he cannot dislodge the
Black king because the board is too small – for that he would need a
check on the (non-existing) i-file!
69 Rh7 Re8! 70 Rg7+ Kh8 71 Ra7 Kg8 72 Kh6 Rf8 73 g6 Rb8 74 Ra6

74 g7 Rb6+ 75 Kg5 Rc6 draws.

74…Re8 75 g7 Rd8
And White cannot make progress – if his rook leaves the sixth rank
Black will check White’s king away with a draw. And 76 Kg6 allows 76…
Rd6+! 77 Rxd6 stalemate. As we shall see, stalemate is a survival
mechanism that can be used also in other circumstances. But beware!
This passive defensive strategy only works against a knight pawn (b or
g), not against central pawns! It also works against a rook pawn (a or h)
but as we shall see, in those cases the Vancura Position is the most
common way to draw.
As mentioned, the reason the knight (and rook) pawns are different
from central pawns is the lack of space on the short side of the pawn.
The attacking king may even get in some trouble on the short side if he
is not careful.
----------
Volokitin – Eljanov
Ukrainian Championship, Kiev 2013
Black doesn’t have time to set up the passive back rank defense against
the b-pawn as 69…Rh8 70 Ka7 prevents 70…Kb8 and forces a
transposition to the game. But the position is still drawn because
White’s king is not comfortable at the edge of the board. Notice how
the position resembles Anand-Gelfand from earlier, but contrary to the
World Champion, Volokitin cannot reach the Lucena Position because
Eljanov’s king is more active than Gelfand’s.

69…Rh6+ 70 Ka7 Rh7+! 71 Ka8

The only way to play for a win; otherwise Black obtains either the
Philidor Position or the back rank defense.

71...Kc7!

Threatens 72…Kb6, so White’s reply is forced.

72 Rf6 Rh4! 73 Rf7+

73 b5 Ra4+ 74 Ra6 Rxa6+ 75 bxa6 Kb6 76 a7 Kc7 is another stalemate.

73…Kb6!

Eljanov has accurately calculated that this bold king maneuver draws as
White cannot get a Lucena Position because of the lack of space on the
short side of the pawn.
74 Rb7+ Ka6 75 b5+ Ka5

This is the position Black was aiming for. White cannot win as he is not
able to free his rook and obtain a Lucena Position.
76 Ka7

76 b6 Rh6 77 Ka7 Rg6 is similar to the game.

76…Rh5 77 b6 Rh6! 78 Rb8 Rg6!

This is drawn as 79 b7?? Ra6++ would be mate! White has no way to
improve his position.
79 Rc8 Rxb6 80 Rc5+ Rb5 81 Rxb5+ ½–½
The Kling and Horwitz Defense: Attacking the
pawn from behind
Sometimes it is not possible for the defender to obtain the “king on
short, rook on long side” constellation. But all is not lost even in this
case. There is a different drawing method that Black can revert to: The
Kling and Horwitz Defense, published as far back as 1851. This defensive
strategy prescribes that

The pawn must be attacked by the rook from behind.

The Kling and Horwitz Defense exists in different versions. Former
World Championship Challenger Viktor Korchnoi, who lost dramatic
World Championship matches to Karpov in 1978 and 1981, in his
excellent Practical Rook Endings gives this position to illustrate the
principle:
Kling and Horwitz, 1851

1…Re1!
This is the only move that draws. It is the core of the Kling and Horwitz
Defense. The rook attacks the pawn from behind. Why this is so critical
will soon be clear.
2 Ra8+
2 e6 Rd1+ is the Philidor Position with an easy draw. More tricky is 2
Ke6 but in this case Black saves himself by reverting to the “king on
short, rook on long” defense with 2…Kf8! 3 Ra8+ Kg7 4 Re8 (Anand’s
idea from the game against Gelfand – 4 Kd6 is calmly met by 4…Kf7!
with a draw) 4…Ra1!, and Black has managed to coordinate his pieces
in the right way in time.
2…Kf7

This is the key position in the Kling and Horwitz Defense and also
explains why the rook belongs behind the pawn: together, the rook
and the king now prevent the pawn from advancing.
White has nothing better than 3 Ra7+ but this allows Black’s king to
blockade the promotion square with 3…Ke8 – draw.
The Kling and Horwitz Defense has the advantage that the defender can
sometimes hold even if his king is on the long side.
----------
Larsen – Tal
Candidates Match Bled 1965, game 9

Although I generally use modern games in this What Would a GM Do?

series, I decided to include this game because it – in addition to being
an excellent example of the Kling and Horwitz Defense –
potentially had a critical impact on chess history. In the second half of
the 20th century only two Western players had a realistic chance of
challenging the Soviet stronghold on the World Championship in chess
– The American Bobby Fischer and my Danish countryman Bent Larsen.
From Mikhail Botvinnik won the title in 1948 and for the rest of the
20th century only Soviet (later Russian after the fall of the Iron Curtain)
players held the World Championship title, apart from Fischer’s brief
stint as World Champion from 1972 to 1975. Larsen never made it to a
title match and in terms of the World Championship many chess
players seem to mainly remember the Fischer-Larsen match in 1971
which Fischer sensationally won 6-0. But in 1965 – before Fischer made
his run – Larsen was in fact close to forging his way through the mass of
Soviet Grandmasters to a match against World Champion Tigran
Petrosian. In his semifinal match of the Candidates tournament against
former World Champion Mikhail Tal, who held the title 1960-1961, the
score was tied 4-4 with two games to go when Larsen reached this
winning position – only to allow Tal to escape with a draw. Following
this close call, Tal then won a highly dramatic last game, earning a
finals match against Boris Spassky. Had Larsen won this endgame, chess
history may have unfolded differently. Spassky would go on to win the
finals against Tal 7-4 when Tal collapsed and lost the last three games
after initially holding the lead. But Spassky then lost to Petrosian in
1966 before winning a second World Championship match against the
same opponent in 1969. Enough of history, let’s see how the game
progressed:

55 Ke6?

Oh no! White misses the win which was available with 55 Ke7! Rh3 56
Ra4! Rh7+ 57 Kf6 Rh6+ 58 Kg7 Rh4 (58...Re6 59 Rd4!, and Black’s king is
cut off in a vertical barrier – a concept we will return to below) 59 Rd4!
(vertical barrier again!) 59...Kc7 60 Kf6 Kc6 61 Kg5 Rh8 (61...Kc5 62 Rd5+
wins) 62 e5, and the pawn advances decisively. Notice that Black’s
downfall is caused by the fact that his king and rook are both on the
wrong side – the king is on the long side and the rook on the short; as
we know it should be the other way around!

55…Rh3 56 Ra8+ Kc7 57 Rf8

57…Re3!

The Kling and Horwitz Defense! The rook attacks the pawn from behind
and White can no longer win. Note that this defense holds even if the
king is on the long side.

58 e5 Re1! 59 Re8!
A good try, as we saw in Anand-Gelfand earlier. But here Black can still
draw because he can give side checks and bring his king closer.
59…Rh1!

Getting ready to switch to side checks if needed.

60 Ra8 Re1!

Back to hit the pawn from behind.

61 Ra7+

61 Kf6 Kd7! illustrates the basic idea of the Kling and Horwitz Defense –
the pawn cannot advance and 62 Ra7+ Ke8 is a draw.

61…Kd8 62 Ra2 Re3 63 Ra8+ Kc7 64 Ra6 Kd8 65 Ra8+ Kc7 66 Re8
66…Rb3?
This must be a relay error in the notation from the game. This loses to
the simple 67 Ke7 and White is well on his way to the Lucena Position. I
am sure that the drawing 66…Rh3! was in fact played, as on move 59
and later on move 76.
67 Rf8 Re3 68 Rg8 Re1! 69 Rg2 Kd8 70 Ra2 Re3 71 Ra5 Re1 72 Rb5 Re2
73 Kf7 Rf2+ 74 Ke6 Re2 75 Rb8+ Kc7 76 Re8 Rh2! 77 Kf7 Rh7+!

Now the side checks draw as the king is brought in to blockade.

78 Kg6
78…Kd7! ½–½

The last precise move. 79 Kxh7 Kxe8 is obviously a drawn king and
pawn ending and otherwise Black obtains the Philidor position with his
king blocking the pawn.
The Stalemate trick
As we have seen earlier, a saving defense against a knight pawn is
passively waiting on the back rank. With central pawns this strategy
does not work. However, there is an additional trick that can save you
in some circumstances: stalemate. In one of the rapid tiebreak games
at the US Championships 2013, Gata Kamsky tried to make something
of an extra pawn in a rook endgame, but young Alejandro Ramirez –
one of the hopes of US chess – defended staunchly and secured a draw
with a cunning stalemate trick. Kamsky would go on to win the title
anyway, though.

Ramirez – Kamsky
US Championships, rapid tiebreak game 2, St. Louis 2013

At first sight White appears to be in trouble as passive defense on the

back rank – which would work if Black had a g-pawn instead of the f-
pawn – does not save White here: 64 Ra1? Rb2 65 Rc1 Rg2+ 66 Kf1 Rh2
67 Kg1 f2+ 68 Kf1 Rh1+. But in fact White just needs one precise move
to pocket the draw:
64 Rg2+! ½-½
64…fxg2 is stalemate and 64…Kf4 65 Rg8 leads to a Philidor draw.
The Vertical Barrier
The Lucena Position arises because the defending king is cut off along a
file. This is known as a vertical barrier. If the defender is not able to
cross the barrier in time to contest the advance of the pawn, his
position is lost along the Lucena lines.

But what if the pawn has not yet advanced to the 7th rank as in the
original Lucena Position? In that case the defender can sometimes
break the vertical barrier in time and earn a draw by rushing his king
back to the defense, aiming for one of the drawing mechanisms we
have examined earlier.
The critical issue is how far advanced the pawn is and how far the king
is cut off. This type of position was analyzed closely by the French
(although he lived much of his life in Switzerland) Master André Chéron
in the 1920s. The variations are pretty complex and we will not go into
the details here, but the general conclusions are:
If the sum of the rank the pawn is on and the number of files the king
is cut off is equal to or less than five, the position is drawn. This is
known as “The Rule of Five”. The way to draw is to attack the rook
that builds the vertical barrier with the king while the defending rook
in turn harasses the king and pawn by a frontal attack.
A good example of this rule is the following position:
Chéron, 1923
The White pawn is on the 4th rank and Black’s king only cut off
vertically by one file. The sum is therefore five – small enough to hold
the draw. The rook is optimally placed to perform a frontal attack on
the pawn, preventing White’s king from advancing. The king too is on
the best possible square – from e6 it can move forward to e5 to harass
a White rook on d4.
1 Kb4 Rb8+ 2 Ka5 Rc8!

This frontal attack on the pawn is the key drawing mechanism.

3 Kb5 Rb8+ 4 Ka6 Rc8! 5 Rd4

5…Ke5!
Breaks the vertical barrier. The king will retreat and block the pawn –
White has no winning chances.

6 Rh4 Kd6 ½–½

If, however, the vertical barrier is pushed one more file to the right, so
that the White rook is on the e-file and the Black king on the f-file, the
position is lost for Black. The Black king is too far away and the sum of
the pawn’s rank and the number of files the king is cut off rises to six –
one too much.
While the theory of this type of ending is well established, playing it
over the board is difficult even for the World’s best players. India is an
emerging super power in chess, not just because Vishy Anand holds the
World Championship title but also because of a host of young talented
Grandmasters. One of these GMs is Krishnan Sasikiran who in this
example outfoxes the current World Number Two Levon Aronian in a
tricky rook endgame:
----------
Sasikiran – Aronian
Bursa World Team Championship 2010

The pawn is on the third rank and the king is cut off by two files – the
sum is five and Black should be able to draw. But it requires utmost
precision and after Aronian’s next inaccurate move the position is
already lost.
53…Rg8+??

The decisive error! The only way to draw was 53...Kd5! The king must
harass the White rook in order to break the vertical barrier. The
German GM and endgame expert Karsten Müller gives this drawing
line: 54 Kg6 (54 g4 Rg8+ 55 Kf5 Rf8+ 56 Kg6 Rg8+ 57 Kh5 Rh8+ 58 Kg5
Rg8+ 59 Kh4 Rh8+ 60 Kg3 Rg8! draws) 54...Rg8+ 55 Kf7 Rg4! 56 Kf6 Kd4!
(using the king to break the barrier) 57 Kf5! (57 Ra3 Ke4 is a draw)
57...Rg8 58 Ra3 Rg8+ 59 Kg6 Ke4! (The barrier was broken and Black
draws!) 60 Ra4+ Kf3! 61 g4 Rg8+ 62 Kf5 Rf8+ 63 Kg6 (63 Ke6 Rf4!)
63...Rg8+ with a draw.

54 Kf6 Kd5 55 Re5+! Kd6

After 55…Kd4 it is a horizontal barrier which is even worse for Black (see
next section).
56 Re3 Kd5 57 Re5+ Kd6

58 Rg5!

After repeating the position once White gets back on track. By using
both vertical and horizontal barriers, White slowly advances his pawn
and eventually reaches the Lucena Position.
58…Rf8+ 59 Kg7 Rf3 60 g4 Rf4

60...Ke6 61 Ra5 followed by 62 g5 and 63 g6 wins as Black cannot

prevent White from reaching the Lucena Position. Notice that Black’s
king is on the wrong side of the pawn – the long side.

61 Kh6!

Clearing the way for the rook and the pawn.

61…Ke7 62 Rg7+ Kf8

Black is close to obtaining a draw by rushing his king back but won’t
quite make it in time.

63 g5 Rf1 64 Ra7!
If Black could now make two moves at once he would have a draw –
Kg8 and Rf8 with the well-known draw against the knight pawn. But
after 64…Kg8 65 Ra8+ Rf8 (65…Kf7 66 g6+ and the pawn queens) 66
Rxf8+ Kxf8 67 Kh7, the king and pawn ending is lost for Black.

64...Rg1 65 Kg6 Rg2 66 Ra8+ Ke7 67 Ra5

Threatens 68 Kg7 with an eventual Lucena Position coming up. Notice
that White is in no hurry here, a key principle in many endgames.

67…Kf8 68 Ra8+ Ke7

69 Rg8!
The same maneuver as in Anand-Gelfand above. Now White wins after
e.g. 69...Kd6 70 Kh7 Rh1+ 71 Kg7 Rg1 72 g6 Ke7 73 Ra8 and 74 Ra4 with a
Lucena win.

69…Kd6 1–0
The Horizontal barrier
As mentioned in the notes to Sasikiran-Aronian above a horizontal
barrier is often even worse than a vertical barrier. The reason is that it
cannot really be broken.

A horizontal barrier is when the defending king is cut off on a rank (as
opposed to a file as in a vertical barrier) and thus cannot rush back to
stop the pawn.
Getz – O’Toole
Hastings 2009/2010

White is winning because of the possibility of building a horizontal

barrier on the fifth rank. Since the pawn is going forward, the Black king
– cut off on the fourth rank – will be helpless.
70…Rg8 71 Ra5 Re8+ 72 Kf5 Rf8+ 73 Kg5 Re8 74 Kf4 Rf8+ 75 Rf5!
Here is the problem for Black – his king is cut off horizontally on the
wrong side of the pawn.
75…Re8
76 Rf6!
White slowly moves the horizontal barrier forward, one step at a time.
Black is helpless against that.

76…Kd4 77 Rd6+ Kc5 78 e5!

The pawn advances and the black king remains fatally cut off
horizontally.

78…Rf8+ 79 Rf6! Rd8 80 Kf5 Rd7 81 Ra6 Rf7+ 82 Kg6 Rf1 83 e6 Rg1+ 84
Kf7 Rf1+ 85 Ke8 Kb5 86 Rd6 Kc5 87 Kd7 Rf6 88 Rd1! Rh6 89 e7 Rh7 90
Kd8 1–0
The horizontal barrier concept is a tricky one and even the World’s best
player recently got it wrong. Magnus Carlsen is a natural talent and a
fabulous endgame player, but mainly excels in strategic endgames
more than technical ones of the type discussed here. Curiously, this is a
trait that he shares with another natural prodigy from chess history,
former World Champion (1921-1927) José Raul Capablanca of Cuba.
Carlsen’s opponent in this game, the Italian/American (dual citizenship
but represents Italy internationally) Fabiano Caruana, is another young
prodigy who is already rated 3rd in the World after Carlsen and Levon
Aronian. Carlsen (born 1990), Aronian (born 1982), and Caruana (born
1992) will certainly be in a fierce and very interesting battle with other
young stars like e.g. Sergey Karjakin (born 1990), Hikaru Nakamura
(born 1987), and Anish Giri (born 1994) for the World Championship for
years to come.
----------
Carlsen – Caruana
Moscow Tal Memorial 2013
The World Number 1 has been a pawn down since early in the game
following an uncharacteristic one-move blunder on move 17, but now
he has a draw within sight. But White’s next move loses as he
underestimates the power of a horizontal barrier.

49 Rf8?
Correct was 49 Rb8 with good drawing chances for White.

49…Rxh4 50 Rxf7+ Kg6 51 Rf6+ Kxg5 52 Rxb6

This was the position Carlsen was aiming for – but unfortunately it is
lost as his king is cut off on the wrong side of the horizontal barrier.
The winning path is not easy, though – no less than five times (on
moves 53, 54, 57, 58, and 61) Black needs to find an “only move” to
win. Caruana solves this technical task perfectly.

52…Ra4 53 Rb8 Kg4! 54 Rg8+ Kf3! 55 Rf8+ Kg3 56 Rg8+ Kh2

The position of the king has been optimized and the h-pawn is now
ready to advance. There is nothing White can do about it with his king
cut off.

57 Kf5 h4 58 Rb8 h3!

59 Kg5!?
The best chance, although it does not save White. 59 Rb2+ Kg3 60 Rb3+
Kh4! 61 Rb2 Ra1 followed by Rf1+ wins for Black. With the cunning text
move Carlsen attempts to take away the h4-square from Black’s king
and now threatens drawing side checks. But Caruana is alert and does
not let the win slip away.
59...Re4! 60 Kf5
60 Rb2+ Kg1 61 Rb1+ Kf2 62 Rb2+ Re2! now wins for Black.
60…Re2 61 Rg8
61 Kf4 Kg2 62 Rg8+ Kf1 followed by 63…h2 doesn’t help White.

61…Rg2! 62 Rd8 Rf2+ 0–1

After 63 Kg4 Kg2 or 63 Ke4 Kg2 64 Rg8+ Kf1 65 Rh8 h2 66 Ke3 Kg1 the
pawn cannot be stopped.
The Vancura position
The Vancura position is one of the most famous theoretical concepts in
rook endgames. This is because this particular endgame was long
misjudged in the literature before Josef Vancura finally showed the
correct way to draw in 1924.

The Vancura Position occurs when the attacking player has an extra a-
pawn (or conversely an h-pawn) and his rook is placed in front of the
pawn.
Vancura showed that in such positions, a draw can be made by
attacking the pawn from the side, so that the rook cannot be freed.
Importantly, the king must be on g7 or h7 against a White a6-pawn (or
b7 or a7 against an h-pawn). Notice though that the Vancura Method
only works against an outside pawn on the edge of the board!
Vancura, 1924

This is the position which was initially misjudged. In his book on the
World Championship match Lasker-Tarrasch in 1908, Tarrasch
evaluated this position as winning for White. He demonstrated that the
Black rook cannot prevent White’s king from advancing, as White will
simply bring his king to b3 if Black tries to build a horizontal barrier
with 1…Ra4. And Black can never run his king to the queenside as 1…
Kf7 2 Ke4 Ke7? loses to the well-know shot 3 a7 Kd7 4 Rh8! Rxa7 5 Rh7+
and wins. This is the reason why the king has to stay on g7 or h7: to
avoid the skewer from behind on the 7th rank. But in 1924 Vancura
demonstrated the correct defensive method for Black:
1…Rf1+! 2 Ke4 Rf6!

This is the Vancura Position. The rook attacks the pawn from the side,
freezing White’s rook. His king stays on g7 or h7, so that 3 a7 can be
safely met by 3…Ra6! – there is no skewer on the 7th rank. White
cannot win.
3 Kd5 Rb6 4 Kc5 Rf6 5 Kb5
5…Rf5+!
An important check. Now that the White king “touches” the a-pawn, he
threatens to free his frozen rook – if White were to move, 6 Rc8 would
win. But Black is in time to check White’s king away from the pawn, one
of the key motifs in the Vancura Position.
6 Kb6 Rf6+
Because it is an a-pawn White’s king cannot find shelter on the other
side of the pawn. This is why the Vancura Method only works against
an outside pawn!
7 Kc5 Rf5+ 8 Kd4 Rf6! ½-½
We have already seen how the Lucena Position played a critical role in
the rapid tiebreak between World Champion Anand and his challenger
Gelfand in the 2012 World Championship match. That position helped
Anand win game 2 of the four-game tiebreak match and eventually
decided the match. But in game 3 Gelfand missed a chance to equalize
as he misjudged a rook endgame based on the Vancura Position:
----------
Gelfand – Anand
World Championship Match, Rapid Tiebreak Game 3, Moscow 2012

The contours of the Vancura Position are clear, but Black is not in time
to actually obtain the position with the rook on the sixth rank hitting
the pawn and the king safely tucked away at b7 or a7, preventing a
skewer.
61 Rh7??
Misses the win which was so close. Probably Gelfand miscalculated in
time trouble and assumed Black would obtain the Vancura Position
after 61 Kf3 Rf5+ (otherwise the king advances decisively, as Tarrasch
demonstrated in 1908!) 62 Kg4 Rf6. But in this case White can win in
not just one but two ways: Either 63 h7 Rh6 64 Rc8+, when Black is a
tempo short from safe-guarding his king from checks or skewers with
Kc6-b7; or 63 Kg5, when White’s king “touches” the pawn with tempo
and allows him to decisively free his rook. Now, on the other hand, the
position is drawn. Gelfand’s move may appear as just waste of time but
it does have logic to it: having miscalculated and being under the false
impression that the natural 61 Kf3 would allow Black to revert to the
Vancura Position, Gelfand instead tries to exploit the principle of a
horizontal barrier. But since the rook now blocks its own pawn Black has
time to bring his king over.
61…Kd6! 62 Kg3
Black’s king arrives in time after 62 Rh8 Ke6! 63 h7 Kf7! 64 Ra8 Rxh7 65
Ra7+ Kg6 with a draw. Usually Black does not have time to bring his
king to the other side in the Vancura Position; this was only possible
because White wasted two tempi with 61 Rh7. If White’s rook was on
h8 rather than h7, he could win with 62 h7! Ke7 (or 62…Ke6 63 Re8+) 63
Ra8! Rxh7 64 Ra7+, picking up the rook.
62…Ke6 63 Kg4 Rh1 ½–½

After 64 Rh8 Kf7 Black’s king is too close, and after 64 Kg5 Rg1+ the king
cannot escape the checks as White’s own rook blocks its path to h7.
Finally, 64 Ra7!? Kf6! (not 64…Rxh6?? because of the skewer 65 Ra6+)
65 h7 Kg6 draws.
Zugzwang
It may be surprising given the open board, but a last important
principle in rook and pawn vs. rook endings is Zugzwang.
Zugzwang occurs when one of the sides cannot make a move without
jeopardizing his own position.
At the Chess Olympiad 2000 in Istanbul two interesting rook endgames
occurred in the last round match Denmark-Bulgaria. I successfully
managed to hold the typical rook endgame a pawn down with 3 vs. 3
on the kingside and an extra a-pawn for White against Alexander
Delchev, and my teammate and namesake Curt Hansen (no relation – in
this match, and many others, Denmark fielded three unrelated “GM
Hansen”; the third one was Sune Berg Hansen) was only a whisker from
saving another pawn-down rook ending against the later FIDE World
Champion (2005-2006) Veselin Topalov. But in the end the future
World Champion and World Number 1 crashed through by exploiting a
cunning Zugzwang motif.
Topalov – Curt Hansen
Istanbul Olympiad 2000
63 Rf8!
This strong move puts Black in a lethal Zugzwang. If he moves his rook
along the 7th rank, e.g. 63…Ra7, White will eventually obtain a Lucena
Position after 64 Kf6.
63…Kxh6
This does not help either because of a clever mating idea. With the king
on the edge of the board such mating ideas often surface.
64 Kf6! Re6+
Anything else leads to the Lucena Position after f7 falls.
65 Kxf7 Rxe5

66 Kf6! 1-0
The mating threat on h8 costs Black his rook.
The Saavedra Maneuver
In my view, the most interesting studies in chess are the ones that have
practical relevance. One such study was invented in 1895 by the
Spanish priest Fernando Saavedra.
The Saavedra Maneuver is characterized by a battle between a rook
and a pawn close to promotion, supported by the king. Being
unfortunately placed on the adjacent file, the rook is not able to catch
the pawn but has to seek salvation in checks. But by approaching the
rook in an accurate way, the king and pawn eventually prevail.

Saavedra, 1895

1 c7 Rd6+
Black has no other way of catching the pawn.
2 Kb5!
The only square to win! Of course, 2 Ka7 or 2 Kb7 are met by 2…Rd7
with a draw, 2 Ka5? even loses to 2…Rc6, and 2 Kc5 runs into 2…Rd1!
Now the rook catches the c-pawn from behind because of the skewer 3
c8Q? (3 Kb6 Rc1 4 Kb7 draws) 3…Rc1+, and Black wins. This skewer trick
is the defense White needs to bypass with the king march that is now
known as “Saavedra’s Maneuver”.
2…Rd5+
Black has nothing better than keep checking.
3 Kb4! Rd4+ 4 Kb3! Rd3+ 5 Kc2!
Finally the king can approach the rook and escape the checks, as there
is no skewer from behind.
5…Rd4!
The last chance – Black set a clever trap: The hasty 6 c8Q? misses the
win…
…because of 6…Rc4+! 7 Qxc4 stalemate!
6 c8R!

Now there is no stalemate trick, but instead mate is threatened on a8.

Black’s reply is forced.
6…Ra4 7 Kb3! 1-0

The double threats 8 Rc1+ mate and 8 Kxa4 decide the game.
Saavedra’s Maneuver has since proven to be a powerful tool in rook
endgames. Here is a great example where Peter Svidler exploits
Saavedra’s idea to defeat then-FIDE World Champion Veselin Topalov.
----------
Svidler – Topalov
Morelia/Linares 2006
 With the advanced f-pawn, White is clearly better in this endgame,
coming out of a Berlin Ruy Lopez. But the win is still not trivial. For
example, in his notes to the game Svidler gives the line 47 f7?! Rf8 48
Be5 49 Kd5 49 h5?! (49 Kf3 or 49 Bf6 might still win) 49…gxh5+ 50 Kxh5
Bc1! 51 Bg7 Rxf7 52 Rxf7 Bxb2 53 Ra7 a3 54 Rxa5 Ke4!,
…and despite his extra rook White cannot prevent Kd3-c2-b1 followed
by a2 and a1Q with a draw. Instead, the seven-time Russian Champion
(tied with the legendary former World Champion Mikhail Botvinnik for
the most Championships in the Soviet Union/Russia, counting
Botvinnik’s win in the “Absolute Championship” in 1941) finds a clever
forced win, based on the Saavedra motif.
47 Bf4! Bxf4 48 Kxf4 Rh5!
Topalov finds the toughest defense, trying to cut White’s king off and
threatening to catch the f-pawn from behind with 49…Rf5+. 48…Rxh4+
loses to the instructive line 49 Ke5 (49 Kg5 also wins, but bringing the
king closer to the queenside helps stifle Black’s potential counterplay
with a4-a3 and Kb5-a4) 49…Rh5+ 50 Ke6 Rh2 51 f7 Re2+ (51…Rxb2 52
Rc7+! Kxc7 53 f8Q wins) 52 Kf6 Rxb2 53 Kg7 Rb8 (53…Rf2? 54 Re6+! Kb5
55 Rf6, and the pawn queens) 54 Kxg6! (cleaner than 54 Re8 Rb7,
although that would also win) 54…Rf8
55 Re2! (very instructive; before playing Kg7 and queening the pawn,
White first eliminates Black’s counterplay, making sure Black’s king
cannot advance) 55…a3 56 Ra2! Kd6 (56…Kb5 57 Rxa3, followed by 58
Kg7 wins) 57 Rxa3 Ke6 58 Rxa5 Rxf7 59 Ra6+, and the rook falls.
49 Re5!
Preventing 49…Rf5+ and forcing Black’s hand.
49…Rxh4+ 50 Kg5 Rh5+

51 Kxg6! Rxe5 52 f7
Now White wins with the Saavedra Maneuver. But because of the
presence of queenside pawns, some technical accuracy is still needed.
52…Re6+ 53 Kg5! Re5+ 54 Kg4! Re4+ 55 Kg3! Re3+ 56 Kf2!
Following Saavedra’s king maneuver, the f-pawn cannot be stopped.
But Topalov still has some tricks up his sleeve.
56…a3! 57 f8Q
57 bxa3 Rxc3 58 f8Q Rxa3 might be a win for White, but there is a risk
of a fortress that the queen would not be able to break down.

57…axb2
57…Rd3 58 bxa3 is hopeless, as 58…Rxc3 59 Qf6+ wins the rook. But
57…a2 was a serious alternative, where White would need to avoid a
cunning trap to win. 58 Qa8+? Kb5 59 Qh1 seems at first sight to be
winning, as White picks up the a2-pawn, but after 59…Rh3! 60 Qa1 a4
61 Qxa2 Black has 61…Rh1!
 …tying White’s queen to a2 and securing a positional draw. However,
by a more accurate series of checks White is able to maneuver his
queen to a4 to pick up the a2-pawn without having the queen
imprisoned: 58 Qc8+! Kb6 59 Qd8+ Ka6 60 Qd6+ Kb5 61 Qd7+ Kb6 62
Qa4, winning.
58 Qc8+ Kb5 59 Qb7+ Ka4
With the king on the edge of the board and low on squares, White
needs to circumvent several stalemate traps to win. As we know from
earlier, stalemate is an important principle in all types of endgames.
The first one to avoid is 60 Qxb2? Rf3+!
60 Kxe3 Ka3
61 Qb5!
61 Kd2? a4! 62 Kc2 b1Q+ leads to another stalemate no matter how
White captures the new queen.
61…a4
Black could also try 61…Ka2, hoping for a different stalemate after 62
Qa4+ Kb1 63 Kd2?, but simply 63 Ke2 wins (63…Kc1 64 Qd1+ mate).
62 Qxc5+
Of course not 62 Kd2? b1Q, again with stalemate.
62…Kb3 63 Qb4+ Kc2 64 Qxa4+ Kxc3
64…Kc1 65 Qxc4 b1Q 66 Qf1+ wins.
65 Qa5+!
Avoids 65 Qd1? b1Q 66 Qxb1 stalemate.
65…Kc2 66 Qf5+ Kc1 67 Qf1+ 1-0
White picks up the c4-pawn and wins trivially after 67…Kc2 68 Qxc4+
Kb1 69 Kd1 Ka1 70 Qa4+ Kb1 71 Kc3 Kc1 72 Qc2+ mate.
The Lasker Maneuver
Another famous study with practical implications, albeit somewhat less
common, is that of former World Champion Emanuel Lasker. The
German mathematician and philosopher was World Champion from
1894 to 1921, longer than anyone else in chess history. In 1890, four
years before he would go on to win the World Championship title from
Wilhelm Steinitz, he composed a beautiful study.
The Lasker Maneuver is a zigzag march by the king, systematically
driving the opponent’s king to an unfavorable square while supporting
an advanced passed pawn.

----------
Lasker, 1890

Strictly speaking, this principle, along with the next one (The Advanced
Lucena), goes beyond the others in that there is a pawn on both sides.
However, both principles feed off the original Lucena and add to the
understanding of such positions. In Lasker’s study, the contours of the
Lucena position are clearly visible – without the Black h2-pawn, it
would be a standard Lucena win. At first sight, the presence of this
pawn appears to secure Black a draw as White is not able to use his
rook to build a bridge as in the original Lucena. But Lasker showed that
White can still win with a clever king maneuver.
1 Kb8!
Threatens 2 c8Q+, so Black’s reply is forced.
1…Rb2+ 2 Ka8 Rc2

3 Rh6+! Ka5
Also forced as 3…Kb5? allows 4 Kb7, winning as the Black king blocks
the saving check on b2.
4 Kb7 Rb2+ 5 Ka7! Rc2
6 Rh5+!
Rank by rank, the Black king is being pushed back. Notice the White
king’s zigzag pattern – that is what characterizes Lasker’s Maneuver.
6…Ka4
Again the Black king cannot step onto the b-file as 6…Kb4? 7 Kb7 wins
immediately because of the lacking check on b2.
7 Kb7 Rb2+ 8 Ka6! Rc2 9 Rh4+!
You get the picture by now – but what is White’s objective? Driving
Black’s king all the way to the second rank, after which Rxh2! deflects
Black’s rook.
9…Ka3 10 Kb6
For once White does not actually threaten to queen the c-pawn – but
11 Rxh2 is the threat, again leaving Black with no choice.
10…Rb2 11 Ka5! Rc2 12 Rh3+! Ka2
Mission accomplished, now the king has been pushed to an
unfortunate square, allowing White to deal the decisive blow.
13 Rxh2! Rxh2 14 c8Q 1-0

White still has a little work to do, as queen vs. rook is sometimes not
so easy to win if Black defends stoutly. But here it is a rather easy win
because Black’s king is already in the corner. The so-called chess
tablebases, which currently cover all positions with up to seven pieces
on the board and provide an “oracle answer” as to whether the
position is a win or a draw with best play from both sides, informs us
that White wins in no more than 19 moves from here.
Lasker’s study was later expanded by Paul Keres, the Estonian
Grandmaster who finished second in four consecutive Candidates
tournaments from 1953 to 1962, but never got to play a World
Championship match. Already in 1938, after winning the super strong
AVRO tournament (tied with the American Grandmaster Reuben Fine
but with better head-to-head) in the Netherlands, Keres was in
negotiations for a World Championship match against the reigning
World Champion Alexander Alekhine, but World War II put an end to
these efforts.
----------
Keres, 1947

The contours of Lasker’s original study are clearly visible, but White’s
pawn is one more file away from Black’s king, which adds an interesting
twist to the situation. Furthermore, Black’s rook is less active on a1
than on the second rank in the original Lasker version. White’s king has
to zigzag even more, and once the pawn on a2 is conquered, the
struggle is not yet over.
1 Ra3!
Working with Zugzwang to force Black’s king to a less favorable square,
setting up Lasker’s zigzag maneuver.
1…Kh4
As in Lasker’s study, the king has to stay on the edge of the board. 1…
Kg4 loses to 2 Kf7 Rf1+ 3 Kg6! Re1 4 Ra4+ Kg3 (4…Kh3 leads to the main
line) 5 Kf6 Rf1+ 6 Kg5 Re1 7 Ra3+, and the a2-pawn falls with check.
2 Ra5!

Zugzwang. Black has to allow White’s zigzag maneuver.

2…Kg4
2…Kh5 3 Kf7 eventually leads to the position after move 8 in the main
line.
3 Kf7 Rf1+ 4 Kg6! Re1 5 Ra4+ Kh3
As before, 5...Kg3 6 Kf6 Rf1+ 7 Kg5 Re1 8 Ra3+ wins.
6 Kf6 Rf1+ 7 Kg5 Rg1+ 8 Kh5!

Setting up the check on the third rank that will eventually doom Black
by forcing his king to the second rank.
8…Re1 9 Ra3+! Kg2 10 Rxa2+ Kf3
With Lasker’s shrewd maneuver White won the a2-pawn, but the game
is not yet over as White’s king in the process drifted far away from the
e7-pawn. To win through the original Lucena pattern, the king has to
return to the pawn.
11 Ra7 Re6!
The best chance. Black attempts to cut White’s king off from the pawn.
11…Kf4 12 Kg6 is trivial.
12 Kg5 Ke4 13 Rb7 Ke5
13…Kd5 14 Kf5 wins; Black is in Zugzwang and the king breaks through
to the pawn and sets up a Lucena win.
14 Rd7!
Again Zugzwang is the deciding factor.
14…Ke4 15 Rd1!
Threatens a skewer on e1, so Black cannot grab the pawn.
15…Kf3 16 Rf1+ Ke2
16…Ke4 17 Re1+ wins.
17 Rf7
Now Black cannot prevent White’s king from breaking the horizontal
barrier on the 6th rank, leading to the Lucena Position.
17…Ke3 18 Kf5 1-0
----------
As noted, Lasker’s Maneuver occurs comparatively rarely in tournament
practice. Levenfish and Smyslov, in their classic work on rook endgames,
provide an instructive example.
Gilg – Tartakower
Semmering 1926
This position should be drawn, but White’s next move is an instructive
error which Saviely Tartakower, one of the strongest and most
entertaining players of the day, finds a cunning way to take advantage
of. His winning method bears a strong resemblance to Lasker’s
Maneuver.
86 Kh6?
Looks very natural, but turns out to be insufficient to draw. Correct was
86 Rg5! Rf3 87 Kg4, freeing the king and securing the draw.
86…e3 87 Rd5+ Ke4 88 Rd1 e2 89 Re1 Ke3 90 h5 Kf2
91 Ra1
91 Rxe2+ loses by one tempo after 91…Kxe2 92 Kh7 Kf3 93 h6 Kf4 94 Kh8
Kf5 95 h7 Kg6! 96 Kg8 Ra3!
97 h8N+ (only move to avoid mate) 97…Kf6 98 Kh7 Rd3 99 Kg8 Rd7!,
and wins. With 91 Ra1, White hopes to gain the tempo he needs to
draw; 91…e1Q? 92 Rxe1 Kxe1 93 Kh7 Kf2 94 h6 Kf3 95 Kh8 Kf4 96 h7 Kg5
(96…Kf5 is stalemate) 97 Kg7 draws. But Black has better.
91…Rg1! 92 Ra2

92…Kf3!
A Lasker-like zigzag maneuver commences.
93 Ra3+ Kf4! 94 Ra4+ Kg3! 95 Ra3+
95 Re4 is still a tempo short after 95...e1Q 96 Rxe1 Rxe1 97 Kg7 Kg4 98
h6 Kg5 99 h7 Re7+ 100 Kg8 Kg6! 101 h8N+ Kf6, winning.
95…Kh4! 96 Ra4+ Rg4! 97 Ra1 Re4!

98 Rh1+
98 Re1 Re6+ 99 Kg7 Kxh5 wins.
98…Kg4 99 Rg1+ Kf5 100 Re1

100…Kf6!
Now Zugzwang decides. White will lose his h-pawn and the game.
101 Kh7 Kg5! 102 h6 Re7+! 0-1
Fittingly, the combination of a king maneuver and a rook check to force
the White king one further rank down provides the final blow.
The Advanced Lucena
The Advanced Lucena is my term for a position where the one side has
obtained the contours of the Lucena Position with a pawn on the 7th
rank and his king in front of it, but where the opponent also has a
passed pawn that has to be taken into account. In a sense, the
Advanced Lucena is therefore closely related to the Lasker Maneuver,
but with different winning methods.
In the Advanced Lucena, the winning method consists of first using the
rook to safeguard a file for the king to escape, and then at the right
time allowing both sides to queen, winning through an attack against
the opponent’s king with queen and rook.
Chernin – Drasko
Rubinstein Memorial, Polanica Zdroj 1988

White has the Lucena Position with the pawn on b7 and the king on b8,
but can he really win when Black has a passed pawn on g2 that requires
constant attention? Furthermore White is in a kind of Zugzwang and
must move his rook, leaving the e7-pawn en prise. But the Hungarian
(he relocated to Hungary from Ukraine in 1992) Grandmaster finds a
brilliant way of showing that White can nonetheless win. Chernin won
the Soviet Championship in 1985 (tied with Gavrikov and Mikhail
Gurevich) and qualified for the Candidates tournament in the same
year, but in the new millennium he has mainly been active as a coach
with the current World No. 2 Fabiano Caruana as his most prominent
student.
66 Rg4!
As we know from the original Lucena, the rook belongs on the fourth
rank.
66…Rc2
At closer inspection it turns out that Black cannot capture the e7-pawn
after all, as his king will be poorly placed on that square, allowing
White to win with a kind of Lasker Maneuver: 66…Kxe7 67 Kc7 Rc2+ 68
Kb6 Rb2+ 69 Kc6! Rc2+ 70 Kd5! Rd2+ 71 Kc4! Rb2

72 Rxg2! Rxb7 (72…Rb1 73 Rg8! Rxb7 74 Rg7+) 73 Rg7+!, and wins.

67 Re4! Ke8
Forced, as 67…g1Q 68 e8Q+ eventually leads to mate. This idea of
transposing into a queen + rook endgame with a subsequent decisive
king hunt is one of the key mechanisms in the Advanced Lucena.
68 Re1
68…Rf2
This allows Chernin to demonstrate another key point of the Advanced
Lucena with the following sequence, exploiting the a-file. Black had two
natural alternatives, but none of them work. 68…Ra2 (trying to keep
the a-file under control) loses to 69 Rc1! (exploiting the c-file instead)
69…Kd7 70 e8Q+! Kxe8 71 Kc7 wins, as does 68…Re2!? 69 Rc1 Rc2 (or
69…Kxe7 70 Kc8 Rc2+!? 71 Rxc2 g1Q 72 Rc7+ followed by 73 b8Q) 70
Ka7! Rxc1 (70…Ra2+ 71 Kb6 Rb2+ 72 Kc7) 71 b8Q+ Kxe7 72 Qe5+, picking
up the rook or the g2-pawn.
69 Ra1! Kxe7
69…Rf1 70 Kc7! g1Q (70…Rxa1 71 b8Q+ Kxe7 72 Qb4+ wins) 71 b8Q+
leads to the familiar king hunt. White needs to be a bit accurate to
finish Black off, though: 71…Kxe7 72 Qd8+ Kf7 73 Qd7+ Kg8 (73…Kg6 74
Qe6+ Kg7 75 Qe7+ Kh6 76 Ra6+, winning)
74 Qe8+! (and not the hasty 74 Ra8+? Rf8!, and Black escapes with a
draw) 74…Kg7 75 Qe7+ Kh6 (now 75…Kg8 76 Ra8+ obviously mates) 76
Ra6+, and White wins.
70 Ka8! Rf1

71 Ra7! 1-0
The final point of the Advanced Lucena. Now Black cannot avoid the
emergence of a new queen on b8 with check, after which the king hunt
begins.
----------
The following final example highlights the benefits from a thorough
study of technical rook endgames. My familiarity with some of the
motifs from the Chernin – Drasko game helped me win a crucial game
in the Danish Championship in 1994.
Lars Bo Hansen – Steffen Pedersen
Danish Championship, Ålborg 1994
Despite the even material, Black is lost here. Compared to the previous
example, his queenside pawns haven’t even gotten started yet. To win,
White exploits some of the learning points from the Chernin – Drasko
game.
63 g7 Rh3+ 64 Kg8
As in the original Lucena, White first hides his king in front of the
passed pawn, controlling the promotion square. The task at hand is
now to free the king by using the rook as a bridge, as taught by Lucena,
while keeping Black’s pawns under control.
64…c5
Black could try 64…b3 instead, in order to go after the b2-pawn when
White redirects his rook to act as a Lucena bridge. However, White wins
with 65 Rf7+! Ke8 (65…Ke6 66 Kf8) 66 Rf6! Ke7 (66…c5 67 Re6+ Kd7 68
Kf7 Rf3+ 69 Rf6 wins) 67 Rxc6 Rh2 68 Rc3! Rxb2
69 Rh3!, and the threat 70 Kh8 decides (69…Rg2 70 Rxb3 leads to the
standard Lucena Position).

65 Rf5
As in the previous note, the intermediate check 65 Rf7+! was more
precise, but the text move also wins.
65…Rh2
The alternatives are no better: A) 65…c4 66 Rf4 Rb3 (66…c3 67 Rxb4 c2
(67…cxb2 68 Rxb2 is Lucena) 68 Rc4 Rh2 69 b4, and wins) 67 Re4+! Kd6

68 Rg4!, Black has no defense against Kf7-g6 or Kh7-g6. His rook cannot
block both escape routes. B) 65…Kd6 66 Kf8 (or 66 Kf7 Rh7, leading to
the same thing) 66…Rg3 67 g8Q Rxg8+ 68 Kxg8 c4 69 Kf7
With his king cut off horizontally, Black’s pawns are not dangerous, e.g.
69…c3 70 bxc3 bxc3 71 Rf3!, winning.

66 Rxc5 Rxb2
67 Rh5!
This and the next two moves decide the game by replicating Chernin’s
maneuver.
67…Rg2 68 Kh8 Kf7
69 Rh7! Ke6!
The only chance. Black hopes to sacrifice his rook on the g-pawn and
then bring his king to support the b-pawn to gain a draw.
70 Rh4!
The last accurate move. The hasty 70 g8Q+? Rxg8+ 71 Kxg8 Kd5! would
only be a draw.
70…Kd6
Now 70…b3 71 g8Q+ Rxg8 72 Kxg8 wins, as Black’s king is cut off
horizontally.
71 Rxb4
Appropriately, we are now back at one of our original core principles,
the Lucena Position.
71…Rh2+ 72 Kg8 Ke7 73 Re4+ 1-0
Exercises
This section contains two exercises with multiple sub-questions. Both
are from games by former World Champion Bobby Fischer, each
highlighting one or more of the 13 principles discussed above. Each
exercise starts from a strategic endgame position with several pawns
on the board, and in the continuation both sides have to make critical
decisions about which technical positions to strive for and which to
avoid. In the exercises, I will ask you to pause to consider specific
questions or decisions. The questions and the subsequent answers will
be in italics. Take your time before deciding on your answer and
remember to use the 13 principles actively!
If you are working with a study partner, I recommend that you play out
the initial exercise position with 20-30 minutes on the clock. Notate the
moves and analyze the game together afterwards while going over the
game and the comments. Pay particular attention to which of the 13
principles are used.
If you are working alone, I suggest you try to guess each move before
moving on. Take your time; the positions are not easy and even the
Grandmasters playing made mistakes!
----------
Exercise 1:
Gligoric – Fischer
Bled-Zagreb-Belgrade Candidates Tournament 1959

White is to move and will obviously win a pawn, transforming the game
into a rook and pawn vs. rook endgame.
Question 1a) Is the position after 48 Kxa6 Rxa3+ 49 Kxb5 a win or a
draw?
Don’t just give an evaluation, also refer to one or more of the 13
principles to support your evaluation!
48 Kxa6 Rxa3+ 49 Kb7!?
For the time being, Gligoric avoids grabbing the b5-pawn, because the
resulting position (answer to question 1a) would be a draw as Black can
reach the Philidor Position with 49 Kxb5 Kc7! 50 b4 Kb7 51 Rh1 Rg3 52
Rh7+ Kb8 53 Ka5
53…Rg6! Since White has a b-pawn, Black can also draw with 53…Rg8,
exploiting the Special Case of the Knight Pawn. But remember, this
passive defense only works with knight pawns. Gligoric’s move is a nice
practical attempt, but it does not alter the evaluation of the position,
which remains drawn. However, it does force the young Fischer – 16
years old at the time – to solve some more problems before being able
to escape into the safe haven of a technically drawn position. White
now threatens to cut off Black’s king one more file with 50 Rd1+.

49…Kd6
49…b4 was also possible, but understandably Fischer did not like his
king being cut off another file with 50 Rd1+ as there is always a risk
when being on the wrong side of a vertical barrier. However, the
position after 50…Ke7 51 Rd3 Ra1 would still be drawn.
50 Kb6
Gligoric renews the threat of cutting off Black’s king with 51 Rd1+. The
alternative was 50 b4, also threatening to cut off Black’s king with 51
Rd1+.
Question 1b) How can Black draw after 50 b4?
Answer to question 1b) Black has only two moves that draw in this
position: 50…Rd3 or 50…Kd5. Both prevent White from cutting off the
Black king. 50…Rd3 aims to reach the Philidor Position after 51 Kb6 Rd4!
52 Kxb5 Kc7! 53 Ka6 (or 53 Rh1 Rd6! 54 Rh7+ Kb8=) 53…Kb8! (not 53…
Rd6+?? 54 Ka7!, and because White controls the b8-square he will
eventually reach the Lucena Position and win; as in Anand – Gelfand
above) 54 b5 Rd6+ 55 b6 Rd2! and a Philidor draw. 50…Kd5 is perhaps an
even simpler draw after 51 Rc1 (51 Kb6 Kc4=) 51…Rb3! 52 Rc5+ Kd4! 53
Rxb5 Kc4 with a draw.
50…Kd7
Again Fischer prefers to steer towards a Philidor Position rather than
allowing his king to be cut off after 50…b4 51 Rd1+, although that
would still be drawn. Now 51 Kxb5 Kc7 will lead to Philidor, so again
Gligoric tries to set other problems for his young opponent.
51 b4
Question 1c) How can Black draw now?
51…Rh3!?
Answer to question 1c) Fischer prepares to set up one of two other
drawing mechanisms: Either the King on the Short Side, Rook on the Long
Side or Frontal Checks according to the Rule of Five. This is sufficient to
draw. Black had to other alternatives that also lead to a draw. The first is
51…Kc8, aiming for either the Philidor Position, the Kling & Horwitz
Defense of attacking the b-pawn from behind or the Special Case of the
Knight Pawn. After 51 Rc1+ Kb8 52 Rh1 Kc8 53 Rh8+ Kd7 55 Rh7+ Kc8 56
Kxb5…
…Black draws with 56…Rb3! (the Kling & Horwitz Defense; 56…Rg3??
would lose, as after 57 Kb6 Rg6+ 58 Ka7! White takes control of the b8-
square and wins with the Lucena Maneuver as in Anand – Gelfand above)
57 Ka5 Kb8! (again the only move, White’s king must be prevented access
to a7) 58 b5 Rg3 59 Ka6 Rg6+ 60 b6…
…60…Rg8! with a draw according to the Special Case of the Knight Pawn.
Going back to the position after 51 b4, Black can also draw with 51…Rc3!,
preventing White from cutting off his king and preparing to set up a
passive defense on the back rank (the Special Case of the Knight Pawn
again). Black draws after 52 Kxb5 (52 Rh1 Rc2 53 Rh7+ Kc8 54 Rh8+ Kd7
55 Kxb5 Kc7=) 52…Kc7 53 Rh1 Kb7 54 Rh7+ Kb8 55 Ka5 Rc8!, with a draw.
52 Rc1!
White continues to set new problems for Black, again avoiding the
Philidor Position after 52 Kxb5 Kc7 53 Rg1 Kb7 54 Rg7+ Kb8.
Question 1d) How can Black draw now?
52…Rh8??
Answer to question 1d) Fischer goes for a Rule of Five draw with frontal
checks, but this is a blunder that should lose the game if White does not
capture the b-pawn immediately. Fischer’s idea is correct, but not in this
specific position. This highlights the importance of the need to adapt
general principles to specific positions. 52…Rh5! was the only move to
draw here. After 53 Rc7+ Kd8! is the only move to hold (53…Kd6? loses to
54 Rc5!, when Black’s king will not be able to reach the back rank), e.g.
54 Rc5 Rxc5 55 Kxc5 (55 bxc5 b4 56 Kb7 b3 57 c6 b2 58 c7+ Ke7 59 c8Q
b1Q+=) 55…Kc7! 56 Kxb5 Kb7!, with a draw as Black has the opposition.
Question 1e) How can White win in the following position?
53 Kxb5??
Answer to question 1e) This only draws, as Fischer can now exploit the
Rule of Five Defense with frontal checks. As we shall see, the path to
victory is narrow and requires utmost precision, but 53 Rc7+! wins. Black
has two options, but both lose. If he tries 53…Kd8, White wins with 54
Rc5 Kd7 55 Rxb5! (but not 55 Kxb5? Rb8+ 56 Ka4 (56 Kc4 Rc8!=) 56…Ra8+
and now either 57 Ra5 Rb8= or 57 Kb3 Rc8!=, as in the game) 55…Kc8 56
Ka7! Rh7+
57 Ka8!, and White will eventually reach the Lucena Position and win as
in Anand – Gelfand earlier. If Black tries 53…Kd6 (instead of 53…Kd8) in
response to the check on c7, White wins with 54 Rc6+!
Again Black has two options, but both lose. After 54…Kd5 55 Kxb5 White
exploits the Horizontal Barrier Principle to win, e.g. 55…Rb8+ 56 Rb6 Rh8
57 Rb7! Kd4 58 Ka6! (not 58 Kb6? Kc4 59 b5 Kb4!=, as in Volokitin –
Eljanov above) 58…Rh6+ (58…Kc4 59 b5 Kb4 60 Rg7! wins, with the king
on b6 Black would draw here with 60…Rh6+)

59 Ka5!, and White wins. White has to be careful, though, as 59 Ka7?

would only be a draw, as Black can use the same maneuver as Eljanov in
his game against Volokitin above: 59…Kc4! 60 b5 Kb4! 61 b6 Ka5!,
…and White is in Zugzwang and cannot win. Going back to the diagram
after 54 Rc6+, Black can also try 54…Kd7, but this also loses as in Anand –
Gelfand above: 55 Kxb5 Rb8+ 56 Rb6 Rh8 57 Rb7+ Kc8 58 Ka6 Rh6+ 59
Ka7 Rh1 60 b5 Rg1 61 Rh7 Ra1 62 Kb6 Rb1 63 Rh8+ Kd7
64 Rb8!, and in this position Gelfand resigned against Anand, as Black
cannot prevent White from obtaining the Lucena Position. Following this
reciprocal blunders from both sides, the position is now again a draw.
53…Rb8+ 54 Ka4 Ra8+ 55 Kb3
Question 1f) How can Black draw this position?

55…Rc8!
Answer to question 1f) Fischer finds the right way to secure the draw.
This is the point of the Rule of Five Defense. When the pawn is on the 4th
rank and the Black king only is cut off by one file (4+1=5), then it is a
draw, and the drawing mechanism is to go into a king and pawn ending
at the right moment.
56 Rxc8
After 56 Rh1 Kc7, Black can either draw with the Philidor or simply stay
passive on the back rank, exploiting the Special Case of the Knight
Pawn.
56…Kxc8 57 Kc4
Question 1g) How should Black play now to draw?
57…Kb8! ½-½
Answer to question 1g) The key here is to make sure that Black gets the
opposition, and 57…Kb8 ascertains that. After 58 Kc5 Kc7 or 58 Kb5 Kb7,
the draw is inevitable.
Exercise 2:
Fischer – Portisch
Stockholm Interzonal Tournament 1962

Material is even here, but White is of course clearly better with more
active rook and king and a passed pawn on the f-file.
Question 2a) Are these advantages enough to secure the win for White,
or can Black draw?
52…bxc4?
Answer to question 2a) This natural move appears to be Black’s decisive
mistake. Despite White’s advantages, Black is still able to draw with
accurate defense. The drawing margin is quite wide in chess! The only
move to draw was 52…Rd3!, sacrificing a pawn but taking advantage of
two key drawing principles, Kling & Horwitz and Rook on the Long Side,
King on the Short Side, respectively. If you know your technical rook and
pawn vs. rook endgames, this is often a better defensive strategy than to
passively hang on to material! After 53 cxb5 axb5 54 Rxb5 Kf7 55 Rb7+
Kf8 56 Ke6 (56 Kf6 Rd6+ Philidor) and now...
56…Rf3!, using the Kling & Horwitz Defense, Black is able to hold. Now
neither 57 Rb8+ Kg7 nor 57 f6 Re3+ 58 Kd5 Rc3! helps White, so he
seems to have nothing better than 57 Kf6 Kg8! (of course the Black king
goes to the short side, according to the Rook on the Long Side, King on
the Short Side Defense) 58 Rb5 Kh7 59 Rxc5 Rxb3…
… and Black has obtained a standard Rook on the Long Side, King on the
Short Side draw.

53 bxc4 Rd4
The alternative was 53…a5, but this doesn’t save Black either, although
White’s winning path is narrow. The main line goes 54 Ra7 Ra1 55 Ke6
Re1+ (55…a4 loses to 56 Ra8+ Kh7 57 f6 Re1+ 58 Kf7 Ra1 59 Ke7 Re1+ 60
Kf8 Ra1 61 f7, and the threat 62 Ke7 is decisive) 56 Kd6 Ra1 (56…Rf1 57
Rxa5 Rxf5 58 Rxc5 wins; with a c-pawn Black’s king is now on the wrong
(long) side!) 57 Kxc5 a4 58 Kb4 Rb1+ 59 Kc3.

Now Black has a choice – should he go after the f5-pawn or keep

checking?
Question 2b) Is the position after 59…Rf1 60 Rxa4 Rxf5 61 Ra1 Kf7 62 Re1
a win or a draw?
Answer to question 2b) This is a win according to the Rule of Five – with
the pawn on the 4th rank and the Black king cut off by two files; 4+2=6
If Black instead keeps checking with 59…Rc1+, a different situation
arises: 60 Kd4 Rd1+ 61 Ke5 Re1+ 62 Kf6 Ra1 63 c5 a3 (63…Rc1 64 Rxa4
Rxc5 65 Kg6! wins, Black is a tempo short to reach a Philidor draw) 64 c6
Rc1 65 c7 a2
Question 2c) Is this position a win or a draw, and how should White
continue?
Answer to question 2c) This is a win, but White has to be accurate. 66
c8Q+! Rxc8 67 Kg6! wins.

The a2-pawn is picked up next, and Black is not in time to exploit any of
the defensive principles.
However, 66 Rxa2? (instead of 66 c8Q+!) would be too hasty and would
allow Black to draw.
Question 2d) How could Black draw in that case?

Answer to question 2d) Black can hold a draw with the Rook on the Long
Side, King on the Short Side Defense after 66…Rxc7 67 Ra8+ Kh7 68 Re8
Rc1 69 Kf7 Ra1! 70 f6 Ra7+ 71 Re7 Ra8!, with a draw by controlling the
8th rank.
Back to the game.
54 Ke6!
Question 2e) How does White win if Black now plays 54…Rxc4 ?
Answer to question 2e) White wins after 55 Rb8+ Kh7 56 f6 Re4+ 57 Kf5!

… as the checking distance is too short. The rook needs three free files or
ranks to be far enough away from the king when checking. Portisch
instead tried:
54…Re4+
Question 2f) Where should White go with his king and why?
55 Kd5!
Answer to question 2f) Fischer finds the right way! Going after the c5-
pawn is the right approach because a passed c-pawn is much better than
a passed f-pawn with Black’s king on the kingside. With a c-pawn the king
is on the long side, and as we know it has to be on the short side!
Therefore 55 Kf6? would have been inaccurate and allows Black to draw
by taking advantage of the Rook on the Long Side, King on the Short Side
principle after 55…Rxc4 56 Rb8+ Kh7 57 Ke7 Re4+ 58 Kf7, and now…
58…Rb4!, and the rook gives saving side checks.
55…Rf4 56 Kxc5

Black now has a choice – should he capture the f5-pawn with the rook
or try to rush his king to the queenside?
Question 2g) Evaluate the position after 56…Kf8 and support your
evaluations with some key lines grounded in our 13 principles.

Answer to question 2g) It turns out that the position is lost for Black after
56…Kf8. Without White’s f5-pawn, 56…Kf8 would lead to a draw, but
unfortunately for Black his rook will be misplaced on f5 when he later has
to capture the f-pawn. White wins with 57 Ra7, when Black can choose
between two losing options. 57…Rxf5+ loses to 58 Kb6 Rf6+ 57 Kb7 Ke7
60 Rxa6 Rf4 61 Rc6! Rf1 62 c5 Rc1 (62…Rb1+ 63 Rb6 Rc1 64 c6 Kd6 65
Rb2! wins) 63 Rc8!
… and White will eventually obtain the Lucena Position. 57…Ke8 (instead
of 57…Rxf5+) loses to 58 Rxa6 Rxf5+ 59 Kc6! (Black is now lost because
his king is on the long side of the pawn) 59…Rf6+ (59…Rf1 60 c5 Rc1 61
Ra8+ Ke7
62 Rc8! is the familiar winning maneuver from Anand – Gelfand in the
section on the Lucena Position) 60 Kb5 Rf5+ (if 60…Rf1, White cuts Black’s
king off vertically with 63 Rd6!, winning) 61 c5 Kd7 62 Ra7+ Kb6 63 Kb6!

Here we see the impact of the misplaced Black rook on f5. If the rook
instead were on f1, Black could draw here with Kling & Horwitz’ 63…Rc1!,
but as it is here it is lost. Portisch instead tried his second alternative:
56…Rxf5+
Question 2h) Why is this position winning for White?
57 Kd6!
Answer to question 2h) White is winning because the checking distance
for Black’s rook is too short. Additionally, Black’s king is too far away and
on the long side.
57…Rf6+ 58 Ke5!
This is why a rook needs a checking distance of three files. With only
two files, the king can approach and harass the rook.
58…Rf7
58…Rf1 59 c5 is an easy win; the pawn just runs.
59 Rb6 Rc7
59…Ra7 60 c5 Kf7 (60…a5 61 c6, threatening 62 Rb8+ and 63 Rb7+,
winning) 61 Kd6, and the c-pawn decides.
60 Kd5 Kf7 61 Rxa6
Now we have reached the pure rook and pawn vs. rook position which
is the main theme of this book.
Question 2i) Why is this position winning for White?
Answer to question 2i) This final question gives us one last chance to
review the drawing mechanisms for the defender in this type of
endgame. In general, Black has three possible drawing setups – the
Philidor Position, the Kling & Horwitz Defense, and the Rook on the Long
Side, King on the Short Side. Unfortunately for Black, none of these are
possible here because his king is too far away and on the wrong side
while the rook is passive and neither able to get behind the pawn nor on
the long side.
61…Ke7
Trying to rush the king over, but it is too late, mainly because of the
unfortunate placement of Black’s rook.
62 Re6+ Kd8 63 Rd6+!
There we have it. The king and pawn endgames after 63…Rd7 64 Kc6
Rxd6+ 65 Kxd6 or 63…Kc8 64 Rc6 are lost for Black, so he has to allow
his king to be cut off vertically.
63…Ke7 64 c5 Rc8 65 c6 Rc7
66 Rh6! Kd8 67 Rh8+ Ke7

68 Ra8! 1-0
Stalemating the rook on c7 and putting Black in a lethal Zugzwang –
68…Kf7 69 Kd6 wins.
Tips for self-improvement
The ability to play rook endgames is essential for any competitive chess
player. Apart from reading this book, how can you work at home on
improving this skill? Here are four tips for self-improvement.
Build a database of games with instructive rook endgames. Just as I
recommend that you build databases with all of your own games and
your openings, it is a good idea to build a database with rook
endgames. This will make it much easier for you to review these
endgames from time to time to keep your rook endgame ability
current. You can start by putting all the examples from this book into
your rook endgame database, and then add new games with instructive
rook endgames every time you happen to see such a game.
Use tablebases. Chess is currently in the process of being “solved”
through so-called retrograde analysis. Retrograde analysis is the
process of working backwards from checkmate positions with few
pieces on the board to determine the optimal play for both sides. At
present, all positions with up to seven pieces on the board have been
solved through this process. You set up the position and the tablebase
can immediately tell you whether this is a win or a draw and what
optimal play for both sides is. Using this tool to check rook endgames
and to learn patterns of best play is very helpful. For example, in
preparing this lesson I have checked all positions in the tablebases to
make sure the lines and evaluations are accurate. Tablebases can be
bought in combination with commercial chess databases but are also
available for free on the internet – just search for “Nalimov
Tablebases”, named after the computer programmer Eugene Nalimov
who has helped pioneer development and use of tablebases for chess.
Play practice endgames with chess friends. The best learning from chess
study occurs when training emulates tournament conditions as much
as possible. To practice rook endgames, I recommend that you practice
them with a friend. For example, take some of the games from this
book or other games with rook endgames that you have added to your
rook endgame database, set the clock at maybe 10-15 minutes for both
sides (as in tournament practice rook endgames often occur late in the
game where both sides are low on time), and play out the position.
Notate the moves and afterwards compare your play to the examples
in this book or use the tablebases to see how close you were to
“perfect play”.
Go over the examples in this lesson at least once a year. Some players
seem to believe that endgame study is something you just need to do
once, but that is not the case. You have to revisit the most critical
technical endgames from time to time to make sure you remember key
ideas. Even Grandmasters do so. Former World Champion Vishy Anand
was asked about how he gets ready for World Championship matches
in the last few days or weeks before the match, and he replied that
among other things he checks some critical rook endgames to make
sure that he will be able to play them accurately should they occur
during the match. The knowledge of rook endgames is critical for
tournament players, even if the specific endgames may never actually
appear on the board in your games. The British Grandmaster Luke
McShane summarizes this point very well, so keep this concluding
quote in mind:
In my own experience, the main benefits are often realized when the
endgames you have studied never make it onto the board. Endgames
often arise in variations, and it’s important to develop a good ”feel” for
which ones are likely to pose practical problems for the opponent.
Likewise, the confidence to simplify into an inferior but tenable endgame
safe in the knowledge that you know how to handle it is invaluable.
Master another chess topic