Knight Pawn Rook Endgame: The Long-Side Draw
Black to play and draw
PlayThe pawn sits near the edge of the board and you are cramped, but the draw is real. It rests on one thing only: getting your rook far enough down the first rank that it stays free to reach the eighth.
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Knight Pawn: The Long Side or Nothing
Black to play and draw · Hold the draw against perfect play
Waking the engine…
The theory
A pawn near the edge does not make the ending simpler for the defender. It makes the margin thinner, and the drawing move comes down to counting files.
The first rank, off the f-file. From the first rank, Ra1, Rb1, Rc1, Rd1 and Re1 all hold. Rf1 loses on the spot for a concrete reason: the white rook is on f6 and simply takes it. The other squares are not about checking distance, they keep the rook free to swing to the eighth rank for the passive knight's-pawn defence: 1...Ra1 2.Rb6 Ra8, and Black holds without giving a single check.
The rear attack fails. Rg1 is the move most players reach for, and here it loses. The white king on g6 is standing behind its own pawn on g5, which screens it from every check along the g-file. A pawn used that way is called a refuge, and it is why attacking from behind achieves nothing.
No stalemate, no short side. With a knight pawn there is almost no short side, and there is no stalemate resource in these lines. Do not go looking for one.
In this drill the first move decides the game. Take the long side.
Keep going
Pawn on the Sixth: The Rook Goes to h7
White to play and win
Holding the Sixth-Rank Pawn
Black to play and draw
The Wrong Side of the Pawn
White to play and draw
All 96 rook endgames positionsFollow the full curriculum (free)