Rook Endgame: The Stalemate Draw
Black to play and draw
PlayA rook down, you can still draw with your rook pawn, because the corner gives you stalemate: king on a1, pawn on a2, and nothing left to move. The rule: keep your king beside the pawn or in his king's way, and go to a1 only when his king cannot help the rook mate you there.
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The Stalemate Resource
Black 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.
Do not push at once. After a2 Rb8+ Ka3 Kc2, the knight you make on a1 is trapped: Kc3 covers its last squares, b3 and c2.
Stalemate is the defender's great equalizer, and the rook-pawn corner is where it lives.
One move holds. Kb2 is the only draw. Pushing the pawn with a2 loses, and so does every other king move.
The fortress. Aim for king on a1, pawn on a2. The pawn is blocked by its own king, the king has only b1 and b2, and White's rook has to cover the b-file to stop the pawn. That is stalemate.
No capture either. Rxa2 is met by Kxa2 and the board is bare. So keep the king glued to the pawn all the way into the corner.
Learn the ladder, and mind two traps. This is the critical position of the whole rook-pawn fight, worth knowing by heart because long analyses keep landing on it. With you to move it is a draw; hand White the move and Rb8+ wins on the spot. Slide the whole picture one rank down and it is a draw no matter who moves; one rank up, White wins no matter who moves. First trap: do not push the pawn before the king is ready. Push a2 now and Rb8+ drives your king away, leaving a corner knight that is lost. Second trap: do not fall in love with the stalemate, it needs White's king close enough, so hiding on a1 too soon can just be met by a rook check and mate. Check his square before you park in the corner.
Keep going
King Trapped in Front of the Rook Pawn
White to play and draw
Freeing the King From Its Own Rook Pawn
White to play and win
The Frontal Attack: A Pawn Short of the Mid-Line
White to play and draw
All 96 rook endgames positionsFollow the full curriculum (free)