Knight Pawn Rook Ending: Checking from the Front
Black to play and draw
PlayYou defend with your rook against rook and knight pawn. The rook on d1 cuts your king off two files from the b-pawn, and with a knight pawn that is not enough for White to win. His king on a4 wants to walk up beside the pawn. The rule: keep your rook far up the board, in front of the pawn, and check his king on the file where it stands. Ra8+ when it is on the a-file, Rb8+ when it is on the b-file.
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Knight Pawn: the Defender Checks from the Front
Black to play and draw · Hold the draw against perfect play
Waking the engine…
The theory
Watch the method: press play to see the winning idea run, or step through it move by move.
First, what you must not do. If you do not check, for example with Rc8, White pushes b5. Now the pawn is past the middle of the board, your rook is too close to it, and White wins. Even a king move such as Ke5 loses to b5.
Here, with a knight pawn on b4, cutting the defending king off by two files is not enough to win. The defender's weapon is the check from the front.
Rook in front, far away. While the pawn has not crossed the middle of the board, the defending rook can stand in front of it, at a distance. When the attacking king walks up beside the pawn, it is checked on the file where it stands.
No shelter. With a knight pawn the edge is too near: the attacking king finds no square where the checks stop, and it goes back.
The mistake. In the starting position, a quiet rook move such as Rc8, or a king move such as Ke5, lets White push b5 and win: once the pawn has crossed the middle, the rook is too close to it.
In this drill you defend. Each check is the only move that holds.
Keep going
Philidor's Defense on the Fifth
Black to play and draw
The Fifth-Rank Fortress: 1.Kf6 Does Not Win
White to play and draw
Rook Behind the Pawn, King to the Side
Black to play and draw
All 96 rook endgames positionsFollow the full curriculum (free)