Rook and Pawn vs Knight and Pawn: The Knight Goes to h5
White to play and draw, after Larsen - Tal, Bled 1965
PlayYou are down the exchange: knight and pawn against rook and pawn. The knight on e4 keeps the black king out of the kingside for now, but ...Ke6 and ...Ke5 will push it away. So give it a new job right now, on the edge of the board.
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The Knight Belongs on h5
White to play and draw · Hold the draw against perfect play
Waking the engine…
The theory
Larsen played this against Tal in 1965. White is down the exchange, and the natural instincts (keep the knight central, trade the pawns off) both lose. Averbakh showed the draw, and it runs through a single square.
Give the knight a job, not a safe square. The rule you may have learned, keep the knight off the rim, applies to a LONE knight being hunted by a rook. With pawns on, the knight has work to do: it must control the square the enemy king wants to invade through and attack the enemy pawn at the same time. Here that square is h5, on the edge.
Reroute before you are kicked. The knight on e4 is well placed until ...Ke6 and ...Ke5 arrive. Only 1.Ng3 keeps the draw; every other knight move loses. From g3 it goes to h5, where it hits f6 and covers g7.
Do not trade into the bare ending. Rook against a lone knight is drawn, but 1.Nxf6 loses on the spot, and so does 1.g5. Simplification is not a plan here, coordination is.
In this drill the rook probes for the moment your knight has nothing to defend. Get it to h5 and hold.
Keep going
Imprison the King, Then Zugzwang
Black to play and win
Maizelis: Cage the King in the Corner, Then Squeeze
Black to play and win
Play for Zugzwang, Not a Breakthrough
White to play and win
All 30 rook vs minor positionsFollow the full curriculum (free)