Rook Endgame: Winning the Rook for the Pawn on the Seventh
White to play and win
PlayYour rook stands in front of your own pawn, and freeing the rook is not the plan. Once the pawn is on the seventh rank, the plan is to win his rook for your pawn. His king is safe on g7 and h7, where it covers the squares your rook would need, so you have to make him give something up. Here your king marches across the board and wins the f5-pawn by zugzwang.
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Winning the Rook for the Pawn
White to play and win · Win against perfect defense
Waking the engine…
The theory
Watch the method: press play to see the winning idea run, or step through it move by move.
The real winning method. With your rook in front of its own pawn on the seventh, you do not free the rook. You win the enemy rook for the pawn.
The decoy. For that, the defending king must be lured into the path of a rook check. It is safe on g7 and h7, where it covers the squares your rook would need, so it has to be dragged out. Here a long king march does it, and the f5-pawn falls to zugzwang.
The bishop's pawn rule. Normally the eviction is done by creating a kingside passed pawn, and only a bishop's pawn works, because only a bishop's pawn arrives with check. A knight's pawn or a rook's pawn is generally useless.
In this drill the pawns are locked on the f-file, so the king has to make the decoy on its own.
Keep going
The f-Pawn Breaks the a8 Fortress
White to play and win
The Umbrella: Hiding Behind an Enemy Pawn
Black to play and win
Vertical Checks Against the Far-Advanced Pawn
Black to play and draw
All 96 rook endgames positionsFollow the full curriculum (free)