100 Endgames You Must Know by Jesus de la Villa

Author:Jesus de la Villa
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: New in Chess

Position 10.6

It is clear to see that Black will not reach the Philidor Position. I have deliberately chosen an unfortunate position for the black rook in order to illustrate all the problems that may arise. However, this is not the worst possible scenario: black rook on d5 and white king on f5 is a losing position for Black. You can check it after studying the example.

1…Rf1

If the defender cannot reach the Philidor Position, the rook must be ready to move to the rear of the pawn. We will see the reason in a moment. This is the only correct method, but Black can also draw with other moves, such as …Rf2, as long as the rook can get to the rear of the pawn on the following move. Concrete analysis is complicated, but finding the right move is easy if you are familiarised with defensive techniques in rook endings: if the Philidor Position is out of reach, let us try to reach K&H; what if this also fails? Sometimes life is really hard!

2.Kd6

The most challenging move, as Black now has a range of options. White threatens a back-rank check followed by unstoppable promotion.

2.Ke6!? is an annoying alternative, but less practical because Black’s answer is clearly forced: 2…Kf8! (not 2…Kd8? 3.Rh8+ Kc7 4.Ke7 and the rook fails to get to the rear of the pawn as in the main line) 3.Ra7 Re1! and basically we have reached the main line.

2…Re1!

Only move, difficult to find if you do not know the position. This is the K&H ‘trademark’. The rook stands behind the pawn to prevent its advance.

2…Rd1+? would be a ‘logical’ mistake, interesting to analyse: 3.Ke6 Kf8.

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