Rook Endgame: Connected Pawns Escorted by the Rook
White to play and win
PlayConnected passed pawns are easiest to push home with the king behind them. Here your king is stuck on b1, a whole board away. It still works: the rook can escort them by itself.
Updated
New to this ending? Learn the method first: Rook Endgames
No signup needed. The opponent never gives up, and every mistake gets explained.
Connected Pawns Escorted by the Rook Alone
White to play and win · Win against perfect defense
Waking the engine…
The theory
Watch the method: press play to see the winning idea run, or step through it move by move.
Do not push yet. g5 only draws. So does every king move, and every rook move but two. The pawns cannot advance until your rook takes the square in front of them away from the black rook.
Two extra connected pawns are easiest to convert when the king walks in behind them. Sometimes there is no time for that, and the rook must do the work alone.
The rook goes in front. Placing the rook on the square ahead of the rear pawn cuts the defending rook off the file and covers the square the front pawn needs. From there the pawns roll.
Do not push first. Advancing a pawn before the rook is placed throws the win away. The move order is the whole point.
In this drill the white king is on b1 and stays there. Rg6 is the move that wins.
Keep going
Kling and Horwitz: The King Blockades
White to play and draw
The King March and the Zugzwang Squares
White to play and win
The Rook at the Side of the Pawns
Black to play and win
All 96 rook endgames positionsFollow the full curriculum (free)