Adjacent Pawns: The Defender Holds

Black to play and draw

Play

With pawns on neighboring files and the move in your hands, the defense stands. Rook and pawn keep the queen out and the draw is within reach.

No signup needed. The opponent never gives up, and every mistake gets explained.

Adjacent Pawns: The Defender Holds

Hold the draw against perfect play

Waking the engine…

The theory

When both sides have a pawn, the defender can still build a fortress against the queen. With the move, this rook and pawn hold the balance.

The shelter. King and rook coordinate behind the pawn, denying the queen a fork or a clean path to invade.

The tempo matters. Here whose move it is can decide the game. Spend your move to keep the wall intact and hand the problem back to the attacker.

In this drill you defend a razor-thin fortress against perfect play. Guard the coordination and the draw holds.

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