Rook vs Pawn: Winning the Race by Counting
White to play and win
PlayRook against a lone pawn, and you want the win. The rule: when the kings stand on opposite sides of the pawn and no check gains time, count. Your moves to control the queening square with king and rook, against his moves to queen. With equal counts, whoever moves first gets there: you win if it is your move, and he draws if it is his.
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Just Counting: The Promotion Race
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.
Mind the order. Starting with the rook, Rc8, is the mistake: his king comes to c3 and guards d2, the square your king is heading for. The position is a draw.
Most rook-versus-pawn endings hide a special trick, but the plainest ones are decided by counting. Before anything else, check where the kings stand.
When counting works. With the kings on opposite sides of the pawn, and no rook check that gains a tempo, there are no tricks left. Add up the moves each side needs: the pawn's march to queen against your king and rook taking control of the queening square.
Five against five. Here both counts are five, so the tempo is everything: White to move wins, Black to move draws. Start the king at once with Kg5, and mind the move order, since 1.Rc8 first lets 1...Kc3 interfere.
In this drill the defender will push the pawn and try to distract you with the king. Ignore the noise, count the race, and bring king and rook to c1 on time.
Keep going
Outflanking From Behind the Pawn
White to play and win
The Attacker's Shoulder-Charge
White to play and win
Cut Off One Rank Ahead of the Pawn
Black to play and draw
All 96 rook endgames positionsFollow the full curriculum (free)