General R+P vs. R+P Endgame Strategies

I'm wondering what some basic, general principles are for R+P vs. R+P endgames. Questions I'm wondering are...

1. The sooner you move your king out into the middle of the board, the better?
2. Should rooks be in front of your own pawns (between your pawns and your opponent's back rank), or behind them?
3. Are certain pawn formations easier to defend, or attack, than others?

(Full disclosure: Currently I have a R+P vs. R+P game, Game 10421748, in progress. I'm asking for general advice, not specific move suggestions. If this is still a breach of RHP's TOS, then please feel free to remove or ignore my thread altogether. For what it's worth, I've PM'ed my opponent to let him know about the existence of this thread, too. Thank you in advance.)

#1. Yes,if you can do so safely. #2. No,Rooks belong behind passed pawns in most instances-they support your pawn(s)as they advance and keep watch on enemy passers. #3. The more pawn groups,or islands,your opponent has makes it difficult to protect or manover them.

In a pinch, you can find surprisingly good information on wikipedia.com.

I have multiple books devoted exclusively to rook endings, but my two favorites are [i]Practical Rook Endings[i/] by GM Edmar Mednis, and [i]Your Shortcut to Rook & Pawn vs Rook Endings[i/] (amazon kindle book) by GM Lars Bo Hansen. Both can be had for very cheap.

Hansen's book/booklet is a model of clarity- he is one of those rare GMs whole can talk and teach chess as well as he can play it. His writing style is such that you feel like he writes just for you, rather than a broad audience, and it just makes you want to keep reading.

Mednis is also a brilliant endgame writer, but he was a poor lecturer, and I think the younger generation has missed out on his superb literature because they have been shocked and bored by exposure to his videos.

There are plenty of other good books, but I thought these were the best in terms of "learning the most the fastest and easiest way".

Originally posted by wittywonka
I'm wondering what some basic, general principles are for R+P vs. R+P endgames. Questions I'm wondering are...

1. The sooner you move your king out into the middle of the board, the better?
2. Should rooks be in front of your own pawns (between your pawns and your opponent's back rank), or behind them?
3. Are certain pawn formations easier to defend, ...[text shortened]... M'ed my opponent to let him know about the existence of this thread, too. Thank you in advance.)

For endgames in general, centralizing the K is good. With R's on board, you have to make sure to shield any critical checks.

Tarrasch said "the Rook stands best behind the passed pawn." That is usually (but not always) true.

It may be more crucial to create passed pawns rather than win a pawn in a Rook ending.

Rook endings have a tendency to be drawish, although not as much as the cliche "All Rook endings are drawn" implies. The main reason is that Rook endings have quite a few drawn setups with pawns only on one side of the board, even when one side is a pawn down.

Rook endings are full of exceptions to these rules. There is no substitute for accurate assessment of the position.

get Jeremy Silmans fundamental chess endings. Great book, its a move by move will take you a little while to get through it but well worth it

Originally posted by wittywonka

(Full disclosure: Currently I have a R+P vs. R+P game, Game 10421748, in progress. I'm asking for general advice, not specific move suggestions. If this is still a breach of RHP's TOS, then please feel free to remove or ignore my thread altogether. For what it's worth, I've PM'ed my opponent to let him know about the existence of this thread, too. Thank you in advance.)[/b]

I also wanted to add that I think this full disclosure is excellent.

People on the internet are very quick to assume everybody else is a crook or a cheat or a fraud by focusing on exceptions.

As a rule here, I have met and played a bunch of nice and interesting people. Threads like this make lots of players better- including both players in the game.

You've got a splendid opportunity for an endgame study going on. Ask me after you finish it.