Queen and Pawn vs Queen: The Perpetual

Queen and pawn versus queen is two different endings depending on which chair you sit in. We drill the attacker's grind elsewhere; this is the defender's half, and it is the more common fate: most long pawn races end with someone a pawn down in exactly this material.

The anchor. The defending queen's home is the file behind the passed pawn. From there she does three jobs at once: the pawn cannot promote through her, the attacking king cannot shelter in front of its own pawn, and every escort maneuver opens a check. Amateur defense checks first and asks questions later; correct defense anchors first and saves the checks for the moments the king actually emerges.

Check discipline. Perpetual check is a geographic fact, not an act of desperation. Whether the checks run out depends on the pawn's file and the defending king's address, and rook pawns leave the attacker the smallest shelter of all: the promotion corner is exactly where his own pawn needs to stand. Check when the king steps out, stop when it hides, and the position repeats until the counter or the repetition rule calls it.

The one forbidden move is the queen trade. Every exchange offer must be read as a threat: with your king out of the pawn's square, any swap converts his practical problems into a one-move win. Holding these endings is patience arithmetic: you cannot lose while the anchor holds and the queens stay on, so the only way to lose is to abandon one of the two.