The g-File Defence: Holding a Pawn Down on One Wing
White to play and draw
PlayBlack's pawns are less advanced than in Smyslov's game, which looks like good news and is not. Your rook can never reach h8 here, so Smyslov's method is unavailable. The replacement is a different shape: the king tucks in on h3 and the rook holds the g-file.
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The g-File Defence: The King Tucks in on h3
White to play and draw · Hold the draw against perfect play
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The theory
Same-wing rook endings a pawn down are usually held, but the standard method does not always exist.
When Smyslov's method fails. Smyslov's defence meets a king penetration down the h-file by getting the rook to h8. Here the rook simply cannot get there, so a new idea is needed.
The g-file defence. Play Kh3, tucking the king in behind the h-pawn, and bring the rook to the g-file: g3, then g1 and g2. The rook screens the king from checks and holds the file the black king wants to use.
In this drill only Kh3, Kg3 and Ra3 hold. Everything else loses.
Keep going
Connected Pawns Escorted by the Rook Alone
White to play and win
Kling and Horwitz: The King Blockades
White to play and draw
The King March and the Zugzwang Squares
White to play and win
All 96 rook endgames positionsFollow the full curriculum (free)