Basic Endings: Rook vs Knight

vs

This is one of the 100 endgame you must know, says GM Jesus de la Villa. It was also the subject of the first recorded chess endgame study by Al-Aldi in 842 AD.

I. Evaluation & Principles

• 71% draws.
• Usually won if the knight ventures away from his king's protection.
  
• Usually won if the knight's in a corrner (red zone).
  
• Winning chances with a knight on the rim (yellow zone¹).

[08-Oct-2008 update: Added b4, b5, d2, d7, e2, e7, g4, and g5 to the yellow zone.]

II. Technique

While the above will help you determine whether to enter a rook vs knight endgame, you need to know more to actually play it well. Read on to learn more. :)

Trapping a Separated Knight

[FEN "7R/k7/8/1K6/8/1n6/8/8 w - - 0 3"]
3. Rd8 Nc1 4. Rd2 Nb3 5. Rd1

1.Rd8! confines the knight, the first step towards winning it. Finishing off the knight is straight-forward: 1...Nc1 2.Rd2 Nb3 3.Rd1 or 1...Na1 2.Rd2 Nb3 3.Rd1.²

Surviving on the Rim

[FEN "3KN3/7r/8/3k4/8/8/8/8 b - - 0 5"]
5... Ke6 6. Nc7+ Kd6 7. Ne8+ Kc6 8. Kc8 Rh8 9. Kd8 Rh7 10. Kc8 Ra7 11. Kd8

White's knight prevents the Black king from occupying d6, e6, or f6. If the rook attacks on the eighth rank, White can survive by escaping via the e7 flight square.

More Complicated Cases

These examples may mislead you into believing this ending is simple. Nothing could be further from the truth. Even super-GMs can goof, and amateur games are often comedies of errors.

rn-pos-3.pgn

As you play over the above game, can you spot all the mistakes? Every ?? indicates one side blundered so badly the result changed from won to drawn or vice-versa.

III. Mastery

"This time, let go your conscious self and act on instinct." -- Obi-Wan Kenobi

When your clock is down to 5 seconds/move, it's not enough to know the winning technique. You must be able to play on instinct, as smoothly as you swim or ride a bike. Once you reach this level of mastery, you never forget. You've never forgotten how to swim, have you? ³

GM Yasser Seirawan learned this endgame by playing a simple game. He put only a white rook, white king, and black knight on the board. He then moved the White pieces and Black pieces in turn (Black is allowed to pass!) and saw how quickly he could hunt down the knight.

Play this for a few minutes a day for the next month. :)

Footnotes

¹ - Specifically, if the knight's in the red zone it can be immediately trapped by either the king or rook. If the knight's in the yellow zone it can be trapped by the king and rook together. I find this a useful way to gauge the relative danger of squares.

² - This position arises in a line from the Al-Aldi 842 AD endgame study.

³ - For the scientifically inclined, It's stored in your procedural memory. Experimental evidence proves this knowledge even survives many forms of amnesia.

dktransformation's ending

 


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This is an exciting ending played by my friend dktransformation. I think it's practical and it contains interesting positions, mistakes, and nuggets of wisdom that we can learn from.

Frontal Defense IV

 


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This is my final article on the Frontal Defense. We look at positions from real games. These are complicated positions, so don't feel bad if you miss a move.

Frontal Defense III

 


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We're going to look at Frontal Defense on the knight file today, and then examine some interesting games between strong players.

Frontal Defense II

 


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Now that you know how wage a Frontal Defense, we're going to learn how to quickly evaluate whether a position can be drawn via this method.

Frontal Defense

 


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The Frontal Defense was invented by Tarrasch. It's a method that a defender can use to draw a R+P vs R ending when his king is cut-off from the pawn.This technique is only effective if the pawn hasn't crossed the middle of the board.

Rook f-, & h-pawns vs Rook

This is one of the few ways to draw when you're two pawns down. I found an interesting resource on the Internet for mastering this ending:

Rook endings with rook and bishop pawns

In this free lesson Peter Joseph covers 32 R+P vs R endings and 16 R+2P vs R endings. There are some real gems in his writings:

• Why against a central pawn the defender's rook needs 3 files of checking distance, but against a bishop pawn the defender's rook only needs 2 files of checking distance.


• A simple formula you can use in frontal attack positions with bishop pawns to determine if the endgame is a draw without having to calculate.


• How the attacker can try to win... by sacrificing the rook pawn to arrive at a won R+P vs R ending, or by driving the enemy king to the back rank.

Enjoy at your leisure, and have a great weekend.   :)

Rook vs Bishop

 


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For players under 2100, Rook vs Bishop is won 40% of the time. The drawing technique is counter-intuitive, so if your opponent doesn't know it, you have chances to win.

Week in Review, Sep 28

Rook and Pawn vs Rook endings are the most common ending in practice, and they're more complex than most players realize.

Rook Endings - [External] An introduction to Lucena and Philidor.

Lucena, not so simple? - An average player believes he wins easily if he reaches Lucena. We learn that's often not the case!

Not Quite Lucena - Describes the proper defense and common mistakes.

Not Quite Lucena II - Describes how the attacker can break down an improper defense--a misplaced king.

Not Quite Lucena III - Describes how the attacker can break down an improper defense--a misplaced rook.

Kopaev, An Instructive Endgame - An incredibly instructive endgame that tests your knowledge of zugzwang and the previous lessons.

Kopaev's Instructive Endgame

Read my new article, Kopaev's Instructive Endgame. It's a practical, instructive, and challenging Rook & Pawn vs Rook position.



The animated diagrams make it easier to explain on my other blog.   :)

Not Quite Lucena III

Not Quite Lucena positions feature the attacker's pawn on the sixth rank with his king in front of the pawn and are quite common in practice.

This is the final article in my series on Lucena. You may want to read through the earlier ones here, here, and here if you haven't already.



Today, we'll learn how to crush another inaccurate defense--a misplaced rook. Defenders goof in over 80% of such positions. So my advice to you is to be patient until an opportunity presents itself, and then be swift in exploiting it!

Mistake #3: The defending rook is less than 3 files away

Black to move. White is threatening Rg1+, initiating a Lucena maneuver, so Black must either initiate a passive defense with Rg1 or an active defense with Rb8+. By now, you know that an active defense is almost always the best plan.

1...Rb8+ 2.Kd7 Rb7+ 3.Kd6 Rb6+ 4.Kc7 and we reach this position:



An important point is that Black can't reposition his rook on the b-file. The only moves that stop White from queening this turn are:

4...Re6 5.Kd7 +-.

4...Kf7 5.Kxb6 +-.

White wins, because Black's rook was misplaced on the b-file.

Mistake #4: Thinking a misplaced piece is always fatal

Black to move. It's important to know that a misplaced rook or king is not always fatal, especially if the attacker's pawn is not too far advanced. In this position, Black can miraculously save himself with an active defense in spite of his misplaced rook.

1...Rb7+ 2.Kd6 Rb6+ 3.Kd7 Rb7+ 4.Kc6 and we reach this position:



As in the last position, two of Black's defenses fail:

4...Re7 5.Kd6 +-.

4...Kf6 5.Kxb7 +-.

But now, Rb2 or Rb3 or Rb4 draw! Moving along the b-file fell to e8=Q in the last position, but here e8=Q is impossible. What about e7?

4...Rb2 5.e7 Kf7!! 6.Re1 Ke8 and it's a Lucena no more.



I hope this series of articles has helped to deepen your understanding of one of the most important endgames in chess. I know I learned something.

Not Quite Lucena II

Not Quite Lucena positions feature the attacker's pawn on the sixth rank with his king in front of the pawn. They're quite common in practice. If you haven't already, I recommend reading my previous articles, Lucena I and Lucena II, before proceeding.



Today, we'll learn how to crush a couple inaccurate defenses. Defenders goof in over 80% of such positions. So my advice to you is to be patient until an opportunity presents itself, and then be swift in exploiting it!

Mistake #1: The defending king is on the eighth rank

Black to move. Black has a few defenses he can try:

1...Kg7 - Black places his king where it belongs, on the sixth or seventh rank. The refutation is simply 2.Rg2+!, beginning a Lucena maneuver.

1...Ra7+ - Black's best try is an active defense. This would work if the Black king were on the sixth or seventh rank, but now it fails to 2.Kf6 Ra6 3.Rd8+ Kh7 and with the Black king more than one file away, the win is inevitable. An important point is that 2...Kf8 was impossible due to 3.Rd8#.

1...Rg1 - Black mounts a passive defense, preventing a check on the g-file. In rook endings, passive defenses usually fail and this is no exception. 2.Ke8 Kg7 3.e7 and now either 4.Kd7 or 4.Rg2+ is unstoppable and wins.



White wins, with Black to move, if his rook's on any of the green squares. These squares (a) allow White to initiate a Lucena maneuver if Black moves his king to g7 and (b) prevent 2...Kf8 due to 3.Rd8#.

Mistake #2: The defending king is on the fifth rank

1...Kg6 - Black places his king where it belongs, on the sixth or seventh rank. The refutation is simply 2.Rg2+!, beginning a Lucena maneuver.

1...Ra7+ - Black's best try is an active defense. This would work if the Black king were on the sixth or seventh rank, but now it fails to 2.Kf8 Ra8+ 3.Kf7 Ra7+ 4.e7. The problem is, White's rook must stand alone, and a strong defense usually requires coordination between the rook and king.

1...Rg1 - Black mount a passive defense, preventing a check on the g-file. In rook endings, passive defenses usually fail and this is no exception. 2.Ke8 Kg6 3.e7 and now either 4.Kd7 or 4.Rg2+ is unstoppable and wins.



White wins, with Black to move, if his rook's on any of the green squares. These allow White to initiate a Lucena maneuver if Black moves his king to g6.

I hope you enjoyed this article and learned something, too. :)

Not Quite Lucena

An interesting position, similar to Lucena, is when the attacker's pawn is on the sixth rank with his king in front of it. If defender plays carefully and checks from the side he can draw, but in practice he mucks it up 80% of the time.

After this lesson, hopefully you and I will never muck up this defense.   :)



The Rules:

  1. The defender's rook must be on the long side and his king on the short side.
  2. The defender's rook must be at least 3 files away.
  3. The defender's king must be only 1 file away, on the 6th or 7th rank.



Black to play. Aronian-Carlsen, Moscow 2006. This should be a draw, but Carlsen accidently allowed the White king to advance. This is a common mistake. 73...Ra7+? 74.Ke8! and Carlsen resigned. Much better was 73...Kg6=, preventing an advance and holding the draw.



Black to play. Sorin-Deumie, France 2004. Black's rook is already well-positioned, so a proper move might be 74...Kg6. Instead, Deumie blundered with 74...Kg8? and lost to 75.Kf6! That's a typical won position where the White rook will cut-off, skewer, or mate the Black king. The moral of the story is to keep your king on the 6th or 7th rank to hold a draw.


Black to move. Kosten-Scrholl, Austria 2003. Here Black made the dubious decision to check from below with 93...Rd2?. White advanced with 94.Ke8! and soon won. Much better here was 93...Ra8, preventing an advance and holding the draw.



Black to move. Jablonski-Bouton, France 2003. Here Jablonski comes up with the 'bright idea' to attack from above with 68...Rd8. Continuing to attack from the side with 68...Rh8 is the only move that draws.



Black to move. Feletar-Mrkonjic, Kaposvar 2001. After fighting courageously for 20 moves, Mrkonjic played 81...Rg8? This loses because now there is no longer 3 files between his rook and the pawn. The White king is able to approach the rook and soon White wins.

This time we focused on the hard part... proper defense. Next time I will show you how an attacker can exploit a defender's mistakes to obtain victory.

Lucena, not so simple?

Lucena is the most important position in Rook & Pawn vs Rook endings, so why do most books use only one or two diagrams to explain it?


Let's begin with a quiz. White to move. If you had the White pieces, which of the above positions could you win over the board?

...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...

You should win them all. If that surprises you, read this Lucena lesson.

You win Rook & Pawn vs Rook if your pawn is on the 7th rank, your king is in front of it, and you have the move. Rook pawns are exceptions.


Let's try another quiz. Black to move. If you had the White pieces, which of the above positions could you win over the board?

...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...



Draw. Black can draw by checking the White king from the side. 1...Ra8+! 2.Kd7 Ra7+! 3.Kd6 Ra6+! 4.Kc5 Re6 =.



Win! The Black king is misplaced on the eighth rank. 1...Ra8+ 2.Kd7 Ra7+ 3.Kd6 Ra6+ 4.Kc5 Re6 5.Rf8+! Kg7 6.e8=Q Rxe8 7.Rxe8 1-0.



Win! The Black rook is misplaced on the b-file. 1...Rb8+ 2.Kd7 Rb7+ 3.Kd6 Rb6+ 4.Kc7 Re6 Kd7 1-0. The rook requires three squares of checking distance, and in this case it only has two... a fatal problem.

If Black realizes that flank checks won't work, he may try a more sophisticated defense. 1...Rb8+ 2.Kd7 Rb7+ 3.Kd6 Rb8 4.Kc7 Ra8 5.Ra2!! Rxa2 6.e8=Q +/-. Now White needs to win a Queen vs Rook ending.



Win! But, you couldn't prove it over the board, so "Draw" gets the credit. As proof, 13 out of 14 top titled players failed to solve it within an hour.

This is a great illustration of how complex such endings can be. If you're curious about the solution, read about it at The Chess Mind.

Generally, you win Rook & Pawn vs Rook if your pawn is on the 7th rank and your king is in front of it, even without the move. Rook pawns are exceptions.

I hope this helped you learn more about Lucena.  :)

Rook vs 2 Pawns

An interesting thought about these endings is, the side with the rook wins just as often against two pawns as it does against one pawn.


A rook vs 2 pawn(s) wins 43%, draws 40%, and loses 17% of the time.
A rook vs 1 pawn(s) wins 45%, draws 55%, and loses 1% of the time.

I. The side with the rook wins when...

Connected or Isolated pawns
    The rook's king can get in front of them
    The pawn's king is away, and the pawns haven't reached the 6th rank.

Doubled pawns
    Evaluate as you would Rook vs 1 Pawn... consider the pawn in front.

II. The side with the pawns wins when...

Connected pawns
    They both reach the 6th rank, and the rook's king is away.
    They're protected by their king, and the rook's king can't get in front.

Isolated pawns
    They're protected by their king, and the rook's king can't get in front

Doubled pawns
    Practically never.

The drawing technique for the side with the pawns, is to push only one pawn, and reach a drawn Rook vs 1 Pawn ending. The side with the rook should sacrifice his rook for the lead pawn, and then stop the other with his king.

Let's consider some interesting positions:


Exner-Leussen, White to move. Either Exner didn't understand that the only way to win was to get his pawn in front of the h-pawn, or he didn't realize that after Kd4 the black king would be forced to retreat.

The game continued: 64.Ra3? Kg4 65.Ke4 h3 1/2-1/2. The winning line was: 64.Kd4 a4 65.Ra3 Kg4 66.Ke3 Kg3 67.Ke2 Kg2 68.Rxa4 Kg3 69.Kf1 1-0.


Saemisch-Reti, Black to move. A rare oversight by two great players. Black missed the chance to cut-off the opposing king and thus score an easy win.

The game continued: 72...Kc4 73.Kf5 Rf1+ 74.Kg6 Rg1+ 75.Kf6 1/2-1/2. The winning line was: 72...Rf1! 73.h6 Rf7 0-1.


Karpov-Seltzer, Black to move. Amateurs often believe connected passed pawns are stronger than they really are. Black should have won this position.

The game continued: 67...Rxb3. The winning line was: 67...Rh6 68.b4 Rh5+.

Rook & Pawn vs Rook

Today we delve deeper into rook endgames. I assume you already know Lucena and Philidor--if not, or you need a review--read this R & P vs R lesson first.

While the Philidor position and the sixth-rank defense are essential knowledge, if that's all you know, you will still be regularly crushed in R+P vs R endings by good players.


Consider 1.Rd2!?. Black's king will never be able to get in front of the pawn.

But there is a defense:   The Frontal Attack

The Frontal Attack is a defensive technique that works if the pawn has not crossed the middle of the board. The defending rook must perpetually attack the enemy king and pawn.

In the above diagram, 1.Rd2!? Rc8 2.Kb4 Rb8+! 3.Kc5 Rc8+! 4.Kb5 Rb8+! 5.Ka6 Rc8! and White's king is forced backwards 6.Kb5 =.

Key points:
    1. The defender's rook must stay on the 8th rank.
    2. The defender's king must stay on the 5th or 6th rank.

Do not forget these points, or punishment will be swift and deadly.


This is a position from Kochiev-Smyslov. It can be drawn by the frontal attack method you just learned. However, Kochiev fatefully played 1.Ke2??.

"His grave error had fatal consequences. A draw would have maintained excellent chances of his qualifying for the International tournament. After losing, he failed to qualify and the whole career of this young talented grandmaster fell steeply down thereafter." -- Dvoretsky

The game continued: 1.Ke2?? Kb5 2.Rb1+ Ka4 3.Rc3 Kb4 4.Rb1+ Ka3 5.Rc1 Rd5 6.Ke3 Kb2 7.Rc4 Kb3 0-1. It's instructive to play it out to see how you can punish opponents who have not mastered the frontal attack, and how you'll be punished if your forget.

Know the frontal attack... or suffer the fate of Kochiev!

[Addendum: If the defending king is cut off by more than one file, the attacker can win, unless the pawn is a knight- or rook-pawn. Rook pawns are very, very drawish.]

ChessLecture.com on Rook Endgames

Some people wonder what content ChessLecture.com contains. I'll try to answer that, from an endgame perspective, of course!

Rook Endgames 101: A Review - IM Jean-Paul Wallace - Covers the Lucena position and how to "build a bridge" to win K+R+P vs K+R endings. Also covers Philidor and how to use the "sixth-rank defense" to draw K+R+P vs K+R endings. Some practical insights are shared.

Rook Endgames 102: Building a Repertoire of Snapshot Positions - IM Jean-Paul Wallace - Covers various K+R vs K+P positions, shouldering, and how the attacker can use well-timed checks to gain tempi and win.

Rook Endgames 103: Checking Distance and Frontal Attack - IM Jean-Paul Wallace - How to draw K+R+P vs K+R with side checks or a frontal attack when a sixth-rank defense is impossible, as in Carlsen-Gelfland.

Rook Endgames: A Real Life Example - IM Jean-Paul Wallace - A practical example from Ivanchuk-Nisipeanu, 2006. Discusses not rushing and the principle of two weaknesses.

That's decent coverage for 80 minutes of video, and you get the big picture much faster than you would from reading a book. But do remember to practice the positions you watch, to make sure you truly grasp all the variations.

If you're on a budget, subscribe for one month, and then watch everything.   :)

Rook vs Pawns III

It's White to move unless otherwise noted. If you're new to such positions, check out Rook vs Pawns and Rook vs Pawns II before reading this.

I chose these positions because top players didn't handle them correctly!

1. Variation of Klovsky-Azmaiparashvili, Moscow 1979



White will promote in 6 moves, but Black can defend the promotion square in 5 moves. Obviously, accurate maneuvering will be vital to success.

1.Kh5? Kf3. Black's king has no trouble reaching the promotion square.

1.Kg4?! seizes the opposition, but Black has a counter-measure: 1...Rg8! It's the same trick we saw in Reti, 1928. White's in zugzwang and must give way. Play could continue 2.Kh5 Kf3 -/+ or 2.Kf5 Kh3 -/+.

1.g6! Only this move secures the draw. 1...Kf3 2.Kg5 Ke4 3.Kf6. White successfully shouldered out Black's king.

2.Wagner Michel-Burchardt, Halle 1982


Annett Wagner Michel had fought tenaciously in a pawn-down rook endgame to reach this drawn position. How should she continue?

1.Kh6?? Rg1! -/+ : Allows Black to entomb the White king and thus win easily.

1.Kg6? : White (with the move) is 6 tempos away from promoting, while Black is 6 tempos away from defending the promotion square--it looks like White will promote, forcing a draw. However, since it's a rook pawn, White needs an extra tempo to draw and this move doesn't provide it (see next diagram).

1...Ke3 2.h5 Kf4 3.h6 Re6+ 4.Kg7 Kg5 5.h7 Re7+ 6.Kg8 Kg6


White gets to promote, but that doesn't salvage the game. 7.h8=Q Re8# or 7.h8=N Kf6 8.Kf8 Ra7 -/+. Underpromotion would have worked with any pawn except the rook pawn. Good try, Annett.

1.Kg5!! : Shouldering out. After 1...Ke3 2.h5, Black's king doesn't have any effective way to penetrate so the position is drawn.

3. Tomorhuyag-Borkowski, Gdynia 1985


This position takes some calculation. Where to move Whits's king?

1.Kh8?? : Never put your king in front of your pawn without a good reason. Mate follows: 1...Kf6 2. Kg8 (forced) Rb7 3.Kh8 (forced) Kg6 4.h7 Rb8#

1.Kg8?! : A good try, but a little calculation shows 1...Kf6! 2.h7 Rg7+! -/+. White's king is forced in front of his pawn, as in the last line.

1.Kg6! : Black's king is opposed and has no way to make progress. If 1...Rg6+ 2.Kg7! and we've already repeated the position--draw.

4. Toth-Fernandes, Rio De Janeiro 1986


White's only drawing move is 1.Kc4!, shouldering out the Black king. In the actual game White played 1.a5 allowing 2.Kd3! and Black wins easily.

5. Seul-Hjartarson, Bundesliga 1990


Black to move. Black's only drawing move is 1...Kc5! Again, shouldering out the opposing king is the only way to secure the draw.