Hi ,
I am Beginner on chess and I am playing "Majestic Chess" computer chess game.
I am stuck on Chapter 2: Zotar's Gate.
White King with a Rock against Black King with three Pawns.
White:
King on E1
Rock on D1
Black:
King on E8
First Pawn on E7
Second Pawn on D7
Third Pawn on C7
Whites play first.
I have no idea how to capture those three Pawns without losing my Rock
PLEASE HELP ME
use your king !
chess is all about piece cooperation , and in the endgame the king is not under the threat of being mated (usually!), so use it as a piece, it's very effective at blocking the pawns!
Your king has to march towards the center (a good idea in endgames), while your rook should be best placed on the side (a or h file)
Why? because it will be able to check the king behind the pawns and prevent him from coordinating with them.
But you will get nowhere by just checking the king, the idea is to keep him out of the game. you will NOT checkmate him with a lone rook (without first eating the pawns)
2 more advices :
- avoid useless checks.
your rook isn't going to checkmate the king all by himself so just use the rook to keep the king out of the game and to check him when he gets in an annoying place
- infiltrate your king "inside" the pawn chain
This is a key idea to win that endgame !
if you have a chessboard at home try playing around with just the 3 black pawns and the white king : the ideal setup is for example :
black pawns on c6 d5 e4
the pawns form a diagonal line, but they don't control the black squares, allowing the white king to infiltrate and block them :
king to d4 (or e3) and the black pawns are blocked
On the opposite : if you setup the pawns abreast (e5 and d5 for example), they control all the squares in front of them (f4, e4, d4 and c4), preventing the king from advancing.
So here you have 2 possible strategies to infiltrate your king :
- go around the pawns with your king (e3-f3-g4-g5-f6)
- keep your king in front of the pawn and use your rook to force them to advance, then infiltrate your king.
either method should work fine
And don't forget the key word :
COORDINATION !
coordonate your king and rook
prevent black from coordinating his king and pawns (by a timely check usually)