Vancura With an Extra Rook Pawn
Black to play and draw, after Vancura
PlayWhite has thrown in a second rook pawn on h5, and nothing changes. Rook pawns on opposite rims cannot help each other, and the same side attack that saves the Vancura position saves this one.
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Vancura With an Extra Rook Pawn
Black to play and draw · Hold the draw against perfect play
Waking the engine…
The theory
Two extra rook pawns look frightening and are not. Split to opposite rims they cannot support each other, and the Vancura defence handles them both.
The side attack. Bring your rook to the fifth or sixth rank, where it keeps the a-pawn under fire from the side and the white rook chained to a8 defending it. The white rook is never released.
The king stays home. Your king holds the corner next to the h-pawn, denying the white rook the h8 escape and dealing with the second passer on its own.
In this drill you defend and prove that the Vancura method scales: the extra rook pawn changes nothing.
Keep going
Doubled Pawns and the Philidor Draw
White to play and draw
Connected Pawns Escorted by the Rook Alone
White to play and win
Kling and Horwitz: The King Blockades
White to play and draw
All 83 rook endgames positionsFollow the full curriculum (free)