Rook Endgame: Smyslov's Defence With All Pawns on One Wing
White to play and draw
PlayAll the pawns are on one wing and you are a pawn down. That is usually a draw, but here only a rook far back holds it. The rule: keep your rook on the eighth rank, so that it can always reach h8 and check his king from behind on the h-file.
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Smyslov's Method: The Rook Goes Back
White to play and draw · Hold the draw against perfect play
Waking the engine…
The theory
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With all the pawns grouped on one wing, a single extra pawn is usually not enough to win, because the attacker can never open a second front.
Smyslov's method. The defending rook goes far back, to the seventh or eighth rank. Its job is to be able to reach h8 the moment the enemy king tries to penetrate down the h-file, checking it from behind and refusing it a shelter.
Distance, not passivity. Rook moves that stay close to the action lose here. The rook needs room behind it.
In this drill only Rb8 and Rb7 hold the draw. Everything else loses.
Keep going
The g-File Defence: The King Tucks in on h3
White to play and draw
Connected Pawns Escorted by the Rook Alone
White to play and win
Kling and Horwitz: The King Blockades
White to play and draw
All 96 rook endgames positionsFollow the full curriculum (free)