Rook Endings

[FEN "R7/2P2k2/8/2K5/6b1/6r1/8/8 w - - 0 58"]

58. c8=Q Bxc8 {Don't take it. Rook and Bishop v Rook is a draw, the wins only appear in some positions if the lone Rook player's King is cut off on the rear ranks. Here White's King is centralised. Don't take the Bishop, it's a draw. Do Not Take The Bishop.} 59. Rxc8 {He took it.} 59... Rc3+ {White resigned.}

[FEN "6K1/4k1P1/R7/8/6r1/8/8/8 w - - 0 82"]

82. Kh7 {This is won. Rh4+ meets Rh6 Black resigned. No not yet, These Rooks endings hid terrors that will keep you awake for years.} 82... Kf7 {It's over. White can promote to a Queen with CHECK. Rxg8 and White plays Ra7+ winning the g8 Rook.} 83. Ra7+ Kf6 {I'd love to say that White promoted to a Queen and Black gave checkmate here with Rh4 but alas that did not happen. (see what I mean about hidden terrors.)} 84. g8=N+ {Good Grief. Ra6+ and going into the previous note wins. At least White saw the checkmate. This is now a standard draw. The Black King can go to e5, e6 or g5 the only square he must avoid is.....} 84... Kf5 {And alas that is what did happen.} 85. Nh6+ {Black resigned.}

[FEN "8/3n1R2/2k5/5K2/8/8/8/7r w - - 0 64"]

64. Ke4 Re1+ 65. Kd4 Rd1+ 66. Kc3 Kd5 {OOPS!} 67. Rxd7+ Ke4 68. Rxd1 {I told you it was a White win.}

[FEN "8/4K3/4P3/8/1R6/2k5/1p6/1r6 w - - 0 58"]

58. Rb8 Re1 {This is drawn White can now play Rxb2 and the Black King is to far away to help the Black Rook stop the e-pawn. The Rook will eventually have to give itself up for the e-pawn.} 59. Rc8+ {Silly checks in Rook endings are the cause of a lot of defeats. Here however it is OK because the e-pawn is so far up the board.} 59... Kd4 60. Rb8 b1=Q 61. Rxb1 Rxb1 {And it's still a draw.} 62. Kd6 Rb6+ 63. Kd7 Kd5 {Still a draw.} 64. e7 Rb7+ 65. Kd8 {It's drawn. One last try.} 65... Kd6 {Now e=N+ CHECK and it's a book draw. Instead.....} 66. e8=Q Rb8 {Now it’s a book checkmate.}

[FEN "r5k1/P5P1/7K/R7/8/8/8/8 w - - 0 1"]

1. Ra1 {That is the Zugzwang attempt. 1.Rf5 wins easily.} 1... Rxa7 {In the game White took the Rook and it was stalemate.} 2. Rb1 {A trick aimed at 2...Rxg7 3.Rb8+ winning the Rook. so...} 2... Ra6+ 3. Kg5 Rg6+ {And 4.Kxg6 is stalemate. Anything else is met with 4....Rxg7 and a draw. Store these ideas and patterns they appear in your games.}

[FEN "3k4/8/p6R/8/r6P/5K2/8/8 w - - 0 1"]

1. h5 a5 {Both players have nudged their pawns up one square.} 2. Rh7 Ra3+ 3. Ke4 a4 4. h6 {Both players have nudged their pawns up another square.} 4... Rh3 {Black spots the skewer. If White now plays 5.Ra7 Rxh6 6.Rxa4 then 6...Rh4+ wins the White Rook.} 5. Rh8+ Ke7 6. h7 {White is hoping Black blunders here with 6...Ke6 when 7.Re8+ and h8=Q will win. It is important to remember is such situation the King cannot leave it's second rank and allow a free check. However also note if were White move here and not Black's he can win with the skewer trick 6.Ra8 Rxh7 7.Ra7+. A very common winning trick.} 6... Kf7 {Black does not have on his blunder socks today and sneaks up on the White pawn, Now White cannot use the ploy mentioned in the last note because...} 7. Ra8 {...The Black King is close enough to protect it's Rook after 7...Rxh7 8.Ra7+ Kg6.} 7... Kg7 8. h8=Q+ {At least White got to promote his Rook's pawn even though....} 8... Rxh8 {....it only stayed on the board for one move. White should now play 9. Rxh8 Kxh8 When the White King can play 10. Kd4 entering the pawn's Queening Square and it's a draw.} 9. Rxa4 {What is it they say here, poetic justice, White who has been looking at sneaky ways to skewer Black's Rook gets skewered himself.} 9... Rh4+ {White resigned.}

[FEN "8/8/1k6/2R5/P5r1/3K4/8/8 w - - 0 48"]

48. Rc4 {Black can just knock off the Rooks here and it's a cold draw.} 48... Rg3+ 49. Kd4 Ka5 50. Kc5 {This is drawn. The Rook stays on the Kingside and just keeps checking the White King if the King should approach the Black Rook then Black waits till the King is on the f-file and then goes to a3 and picks up the pawn. A draw.} 50... Ra3 {Of course Black can go to a3 right away but now he has to be careful. A rule of thumb we are learning in Rook endings is if your defending and if possible, then keep your Rook away from your King.} 51. Re4 {Now is the time for thoughtful play. Why is he playing on - what am I missing? Black should play Ra1 and if Re8 as in the game Black plays Rc1+ and then take the a-pawn.} 51... Rxa4 {Black can not see it, little did he suspect that this his last move of the game.} 52. Re8 {Black is either checkmated or losses his Rook. Black resigned.}

[FEN "8/6R1/8/8/5k1p/r7/7K/8 w - - 0 51"]

51. Rh7 Kf3 52. Rxh4 Ra2+ {White should now play Kh3 and we are close to a mirror image of the previous game. Ra1 intending the h1 skewer won’t work because Black can play Kh3-h2.} 53. Kg1 {A big blunder. 53.Kh3 and Black can make no progress. Now Black wins.} 53... Kg3 {A King Mate-Fork. (I must stop inventing new tactical terms). Black hit's the h4 Rook and at the same time sets up a King and Rook mating pattern. There is a famous study involving the player Saavedra who busted a study with this move. Let us call this tactic a Saavedra. By the way the game continued.} 54. Rh8 Ra1{Mate.}

[FEN "8/2P5/8/8/3r4/8/2K5/k7 w - - 0 1"]

1. c8=R {Now of course the stalemate stunt with 1...Rc4+ no longer works and White is threatening Ra8+ with mate next move.} 1... Ra4 {Only move to stop Ra8 mating.} 2. Kb3 {Hopefully you saw this winning Mate-Fork before clicking on a button. After being shown this the composer G. E. Barbier. had ‘a sad rave’ (that is anagram of Saavedra) says I trying to desperately to inject something new into this famous piece of chess lore.}

[FEN "8/8/p6r/K1R5/3k4/8/8/8 w - - 0 53"]

53. Rc7 {White can just keeping going up the down the c-file like a yo-yo. Black cannot make any progress. A draw.} 53... Kd5 54. Ra7 {White gets impatient and does not want a Rook yo-yo.} 54... Rh1 {That my friends is Capzwang. (surely 10 out of 10 for that new tactical term....I'm going to patent it.) Black loses if he takes the pawn with either the King or the Rook. Rxa6 loses to Kc5 and....as in the game...} 55. Kxa6 Kc6 {White resigned. White should have left the pawn alone and played Rg7 (get the Rook away from the King.)}