Two Rook Pawns Plus a Distant Passed Pawn

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

When you have a rook pawn blocked against the enemy rook pawn plus a passed pawn elsewhere, there is a fixed winning plan and a geometric rule that tells you when it works.

Trade the passer for the rook pawn. Push and sacrifice the distant passer to capture the enemy rook pawn. What remains is your own rook pawn against a lone king, which wins only if the defending king can be shut out of the queening corner.

Keep the passer far back, and find the drawing zone. The farther the passed pawn is from promotion, the longer the enemy king spends winning it, and the less time it has to race back. To judge the result, find the drawing zone, the file his king must cross to reach the corner in time: here it is the f-file, and if he gets past it before you shoulder him away, he holds. With the rook pawn already on the fifth rank, the win here is secure.

In this drill the defender will run for the corner. Trade at the right moment, use the shoulder, and keep him out.