Endgame with Rook pawn
We have seen that we had to be carefull in the endgame with the Knight game, but the endgame in itself was almost the same. For the Rook pawn, which means a Pawn on the a-file or the h-file, however the endgame is very different. The side of the board provides a natural barrier which nearly always results in exceptional endgame positions.
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RookPawn |
( 2.a4? The pawn should have waited. Because the pawn is on the edge of the board a vertical opposition is possible that prevents to move the pawn forward. 2... Kd7 3.Kb6 Kc8 4.Ka7 Kc7 The vertical opposition. 5.Ka6 Kc6 6.Ka7 Kc7 7.Ka6 Black is able to continue this opposition forever which results in a draw, but he may also place his King on b8 7... Kb8 8.Kb6 which will lead to a Stalemate 8... Ka8 9.a5 Kb8 10.a6 Ka8 11.a7 because the edge of the board forms a natural barrier. )
( 3.Kb6? White makes a mistake. Now the black King is able to reach b8. 3... Kc8 4.a4 Kb8 5.a5 Ka8 6.a6 Kb8 7.Kb5 Ka8 8.Kb6 Kb8 9.a7+ Ka8 )
I assume that you already have seen the lesson about the Knight pawn. The next chess lesson will probably make it easier to understand this kind of endgames by teaching something about Key squares.
August 9th, 2007 at 6:44 pm
I wrote a tutorial and exercises for this endgame, very useful for anyone trying to master it.
http://blog.chess.com/likesforests/final-moves-2
White’s king is 3 tempi from b7, while Black’s king is 3 tempi from c8. So whoever moves first wins. To solve complex endings, one must first learn to solve simple ones near-instantly.
August 9th, 2007 at 6:46 pm
By “wins” I meant “gets the best result”.