Rook Pawn Endgame: Counting Tempi to the Win

Watch the method: press play to see the winning idea run, or step through it move by move.

This is the winning half of the two-rook-pawns-plus-extra-pawn theme, and it is decided by arithmetic, not by patience.

The count. It scores three to two. Black gets two tempi, because the rook pawns stand two squares below their normal blocked position. White gets three: two because his f-pawn is two squares below f5, the point where the h3-c8 diagonal crosses the f-file, plus one because his king is in front of the pawn. Three beats two, so White wins.

The march. Only Ke4 keeps it. The king walks toward the a3 pawn, and Black's king must follow or the f-pawn runs. He cannot do both jobs, and after Kd4 he is lost in every line.

Leave the f-pawn alone. It is not a battering ram. Standing still it forces Black's king to stay near it, and that is worth more than any push.

The move that throws it away. Ke3 loses the win outright. Step next to the pawn instead of in front of it and you give the tempo back: the count falls to two against two, and two against two is a draw. The extra tempo you counted only exists while your king shepherds the passer from in front.

Two shortcuts before you count. First: if your rook pawn has already crossed the middle of the board, the ending is simply won, no counting needed. Second: the count is a tie-breaker, not a replacement for ordinary technique. If you can win with the opposition alone, the blocked rook pawns change nothing. And when the passed pawn is a centre pawn, close to the enemy king and not far advanced, trust no shortcut: calculate the capture race move by move.

In this drill do the count before the first move. If the count is against you, no amount of maneuvering will fix it.