The g-File Defence: Holding a Pawn Down on One Wing
White to play and draw
PlayA pawn down with all the pawns on one wing again, but here your rook cannot reach h8 to check from behind. So the defence takes another shape. The rule: tuck your king in on h3, behind the h-pawn, and put your rook on the g-file. From there it stops his king from coming forward.
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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
Watch the method: press play to see the winning idea run, or step through it move by move.
Only Kh3, Kg3 and Ra3 hold here. Rb6 looks active, and it loses: f5 comes with check, his rook comes round with checks, and it ends on h3, attacking your h-pawn.
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)