Rook Endgames are the most common endgames you’ll encounter. There are 5 main principles you should always keep in the back of your head when approaching them.
Sometimes, multiple principles can be applied at the same time. We’re going to look at each of them in this article
Let’s get started.
- Principle 1 – Cutting the king off
- Principle 2 – Rooks are placed best behind passed pawns.
- Principle 3 – Rooks are best on the 7th
- Principle 4 – Transpose into won pawn endgames where possible.
- Principle 5 – Rook Activity
Principle 1 – Cutting the king off
This endgame is won for white, but you need to make sure black doesn’t get their king too close to the pawn, making it hard to push forward.
With black’s king three files away from the pawn, you want to begin by cutting the king off with the rook.
2. Rf1 Kg5
Now with the rook cut off, the dance begins between the king and the rook.
Navigate your king towards c7 while keeping an eye that the pawn is always protected when threatened.
3. Kc4 Rc8+ 4. Kb5 Rd8 5. Kc5 Rc8+ 6. Kb6 Rd8
Now that the king is in position, the goal is to apply our second principle: Rooks are placed best behind passed pawns. We will discuss that below in its own section, but it absolutely applies here.
7. Rd1 Kf6
It’s time to help the pawn come forward. Let’s attack the rook.
8. Kc7 Rd5 9. Kc6 9… Ra5
Now that the pawn can move forward, let’s abide by the first principle again and cut the king off.
10. Re1
10…Ra6+ 11. Kb5 Rd6 12. Kc5 Rd8
We can now push the pawn forward.
13. d5 Rc8+
This position will now turn into the Lucena. The technique is discussed here.
A second example of cutting the king off
1… Kb6
Cutting the king off is a valuable maneuver to keep in mind against a rook and king, but also king and pawn as well. If black gets enough time, and white’s king is far out of the picture, then the game can be drawn.
In this instance, however, white can apply the first principle and cut off the king.
Getting behind the pawn with Rc8 is not enough to win as black can support the pawn to promotion and the rook will have to sacrifice itself for the pawn.
2. Rg5 c3
If the pawn decides to move forward, we can now attack the pawn in time to stop it.
Note that this doesn’t work if the pawn starts on the 3rd rank as there isn’t enough time to attack from the side and get behind the pawn.
3. Rg3 Kc5
4. Rxc3+
Principle 2 – Rooks are placed best behind passed pawns.
Alekhine – Capablanca 1927
53. Rd4
We took a brief look at the second principle in the first lesson, but now we’ll examine it more closely in a game by two world champions in the early 1900s.
In this situation, white’s rook is defending the passed pawn from behind. In order to make progress, the rook belongs behind the passed pawn.
It’s not enough to maneuver to d1 and then a1. The reason being behind the passed pawn works well is because you have more space and control of the board since your rook can protect the pawn, but also cut the king off from making progress.
Ra6 54. Ra4 Kf6
Now that our rook is behind the passed pawn, our goal is to activate the king.
Kings should be very active in end games so they can assist the rook by giving passed pawns the chance to turn into a queen.
55. Kf3 Ke5
We want to move towards the pawn. If we get the chance, we will move to b5 so we can push our pawn forward.
If black plays correctly to defend this, then we can create a counter-threat on the kingside and attack the weak pawn on f7.
56. Ke3 h5 57. Kd3 Kd5 58. Kc3 Kc5
In the game, Alekhine brought his rook to a2 to defend f2 and force the black king to make a decision which way it wants to go.
59. Ra2 Kb5
Now that the king is fully distracted by the passed pawn, we are free to navigate towards the weak f pawn.
Black can never capture the a pawn because his king will be too far out of position.
In the meantime, we can navigate along the dark squares towards the pawn on f7 and eventually win the game.
60. Kd4 Rd6+ 61. Ke5 Re6+ 62. Kf4 Ka6
Principle 3 – Rooks are best on the 7th.
Wesley So – Vidit Santosh Gujrathi
This principle is true because in many cases, pawns are on the 7th rank and the king is on the 8th rank.
Because of our first principle of cutting off the king and reducing its activity, our rooks are best on the 7th if they are not behind passed pawns.
You will want to achieve this position in a lot of middle games as they are transitioning into endgames.
Going to the 7th right away isn’t ideal in this situation because we want to reduce the activity of the king. Let’s force him to the h file.
29. Rb8+ Kh7
Now that the king is further away and we’ve saved ourselves a tempo for later, we can occupy the 7th rank.
This is useful because it puts pressure on the f and g pawns so black must continue defending them.
Meanwhile, our goal is to get behind the a pawn so we keep the rook limited to b6, c6, and d6.
30. Rb7 Kg6 31. Ra7
Now the rook is stuck defending the passed pawn and white will start making progress towards the weak 1 pawn.
There isn’t anything that can be done by the pawns on the kingside so white will also start bringing the a pawn to a5 and working to create a passed pawn by bringing the rook to b7 and then b6.
Principle 4 – Transpose into won pawn endgames where possible.
Vassily Ivanchuk – Baadur Jobava
Rook endgames always have a theme to them: create and queen a passed pawn.
Because of this theme, you’ll want to identify when the right time to transpose into a won pawn endgame occurs.
Always keep this idea in the back of your mind when your opponent offers a rook trade.
In this game, Jobava offered a rook exchange in the hopes that the passed a pawn would win the game. However, what he overlooked was a pawn break that will win the game on the kingside.
43. Rxa4 bxa4 44. Kc4 gxf5 45. gxf5 Kc6
We now want to make progress towards the pawn while still staying in the square.
Black’s king can never approach the pawns or we will create the pawn break. Let’s see how it occurs.
46. Kd3 Kd5
Our goal is to create passed pawns for the c and f pawns. Try to find the best way to accomplish this.
47. e6 fxe6
If black did not capture, we would be able to capture the f pawn and have two passed pawns anyway.
48. f6 Kd6
The black king is unable to approach the f pawn, so we can start to push our c pawn.
Nothing else can be accomplished by black for counterplay.
49. c4
49…e5 50. c5+ Kd7
If black captures the c pawn, he is outside the square and the f pawn will queen.
51. c6+
51…Kxc6 52. f7 Kd7 53. f8=Q
Principle 5 – Rook Activity
Salomon Flohr – Milan Vidmar
This principle is the last we’re mentioning, but it’s probably the most important. If your rook is stuck protecting a pawn, then it’s unable to accomplish other tasks.
Sometimes, having fewer pawns doesn’t matter as much as rook activity does.
Right now, black’s rook is inactive because it’s stuck defending the c6 pawn. Because black’s rook is inactive, there’s no rush to move our own rook. Activating the king is the first step.
Playing Ra5 right away allows black to gain activity with a pawn sacrifice of c5. This then creates an open file for black and the rook is much more active.
32. Ke2 Ke7 33. Kd3 Kd6
Now that our king is more centralized and our rook is threatened to move, we can go after the weak a6 pawn, forcing black’s rook to remain inactive behind it.
This time, white’s king is more centralized and can help prevent black from playing c5. c5 also comes with a check right away now if black plays it.
34. Ra5 Ra8
c5 didn’t work because white captures the pawn with check.
35. Kd4 f5
In the game, white made progress with b4 then a3
36. b4 Rb8 37. a3 Ra8
Now the goal is to open the 5th rank so our rook can gain even more activity.
38. e4
38…fxe4 39. fxe4 dxe4
The 5th rank is now open and the rook both attacks the a pawn, but also maintains control of the 5th rank to stop the kingside pawns.
black’s rook is stuck behind its own pawn, but it is not passed, so this is not where it wants to be.
40. Kxe4
White will now begin to make progress with its king and work towards the weak h7 pawn.
A second example of rook activity
40… Rb3
Rudolf Spielmann – Akiba Rubinstein
This scenario is drawn from a game from the masterful Rubinstein.
Despite having a passed pawn, Rubinstein was able to win the game, but it wasn’t by playing Rb3 as this example shows.
This is a sideline to show what happens if you go after material rather than getting your rook active.
Black should have played Ra8 to get the rook in front of the passed pawn and stop it.
Instead, we have chosen for black to go after the d pawn to create their own passed pawn, going up in material, but down in rook activity.
Playing as white, let’s push our pawn and follow our principles.
41. a4 Rb4
Follow the second principle and get your rook behind the passed pawn.
42. Ra2 Rxd4
Black has gone up material (4 pawns vs 3) but the activity of the black rook is sacrificed as it has to get in front of the pawn and will end up stuck on a8.
43. a5
43…Rb4 44.a6 Rb8 45. a7 Ra8
Now you have a very active rook that controls much of the board while black is stuck to the 8th rank, protecting the pawn from queening.