Rook and Pawn vs Bishop and Pawn: The Winning Method
White to play and win, after Rohacek - Stoltz, Munich 1942
PlayRook and pawn against bishop and pawn. Black's pawn on f4 stands on a dark square, the colour of his own bishop, and such positions are almost all lost. The method: walk your king in on the other colour, push his king away from the pawn, then give the rook for the bishop and win the pawn ending.
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The Pawn on the Bishop's Colour Is Lost
White to play and win · Win against perfect defense
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The theory
Watch the method: press play to see the winning idea run, or step through it move by move.
This is the standard technique for rook and pawn against bishop and pawn when the pawns stand on the same or adjacent files, and it comes in three parts.
The defender's rule. Do not protect your pawn by placing it on a square of your own bishop's colour. If the bishop and the pawn both cover the same colour, the other colour is wide open and there is nothing to stop the enemy king. Almost every such position is lost.
The attacker's route. Advance your king where the bishop cannot reach it. The bishop is chained to its own pawn, so the squares of the other colour are a free road in. Drive the defending king away from its pawn, which is now undefendable.
The attacker's finish: the exchange sacrifice. The rook comes off for the bishop. Here it is Rxf4, and after Bxf4 Kxf4 the resulting king and pawn ending is winning. Giving the rook up for a bishop looks absurd until you count the pawn ending.
In this drill the bishop shuffles and the king clings on. Push the king off the pawn, then cash in.
Keep going
The Knight Does Two Jobs on h3
White to play and draw
The Knight Belongs on h5
White to play and draw
Imprison the King, Then Zugzwang
Black to play and win
All 30 rook vs minor positionsFollow the full curriculum (free)