Simple Rook Endgame Studies

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I enjoy solving endgame studies, but many of them are very difficult and that's why many players under 1800 don't find suitable studies for them. In this post, I present some simpler rook endgame studies and also a couple of theoretical positions to give you an introduction to studies. At the end, I have also written explanations to the solutions which should give an insight into how I approached these positions.

All studies with the name of the composer and the date of the composition are taken from Laszlo Polgar's book 'Chess Endgames'. Some studies are not given from their original position. In such cases I have added an asterisk to the name of the composer.

1. Philidor position
White to play and draw


2. Lucena position
White to play and win


3. Vencura position
Black to play and draw


4. Theoretical position
White to play and win


5. Duras, 1902
White to play and win


6. Troitzky, 1910
White to play and win


7. Cook*, 1927
White to play and win


8. Cook, 1864
White to pkay and draw


9. Stamma, 1737
White to play and win


10. Kruchkov*, 1926
White to play and win


11. V. Platov and M. Platov, 1923
White to play and win


12. Chekhover*, 1949
White to play and draw


Solutions

1. Philidor position


The Philidor position is a very important theoretical rook endgame and the position you should be aiming for when you are a pawn down in a rook ending. The defending side (in our case white) has their king on the queening square of the pawn and prevents the opponent's king from coming to the third rank with their rook.
1.Ra3
Now black's king cannot come to e3 and threaten mate. If black is waiting by moving their king or rook, white will keep their rook on the third rank.
1...e3
This is the only way for black to try and make progress.
2.Ra8
White will start giving checks from behind and prevent the black king from entering the position.
2...Kf3 3.Rf8+ Ke4 4.Re8+
And black cannot make progress.

2. Lucena position


The Lucena position is together with the Philidor position the most important theoretical rook endgame. But in the Lucena position, the side with the extra pawn has a win. At first it is not clear how white can get their king away from the queening square to make room for the pawn, since the black rook can always give checks and if white's king steps too far up the board, black will win the pawn. So white has to find a way to block the checks from the black rook when their king steps out of the way of the pawn.
1.Rg2+!
White starts with this check to get the black king far enough away from the pawn.
1...Kh7
It makes no difference where the black king goes on the h-file and white wins immediately after 1...Kf6 2.Kf8 and the pawn will promote on the next move.
2.Rg4!
The rook comes to the fourth rank to build the so-called Lucena bridge.
2...Re1
Black prevents 3.Re4, but white can bring their rook to the e-file with assistance from the king.
3.Kf7 Rf1+ 4.Ke6 Re1+ 5.Kf6 Rf1+ 6.Ke5 Re1+ 7.Re4!
That's why the white rook needs to be on the fourth rank and this also shows why the black rook needs to be 2 files away from the pawn (that was the point of white's first move). Black cannot stop the promotion.

3. Vencura position


The Vencura position is another well known theoretical rook endgame where the attacking side (white in our case) has an extra pawn, but cannot win the game. It is important that white's pawn is a rook's pawn, because the definding side will hold the game by giving a lot of checks with their rook (like in the Philidor position) and the attacking side's king will not be able to hide behind the pawn.
1...Rf1+ 2.Ke4 Rf6
Black has cut off the white king and tied the white rook to the defense of the pawn.
3.Kd5 Kh7
Black waits for now, but it is important that the king stays on g7 or h7 since white would win otherwise: 3...Kf7?? 4.a7 Ra6 5.Rh8 Rxa7 6.Rh7+ or 3...Kg6?? 4.a7 Ra6 5.Rg8+ Kh7 6.a8=Q
4.Kc5
White tries to bring their king in to support the pawn. Pushing the pawn to a7 also leads to a draw: 4.a7 Ra6 5.Kc5 Kg7 6.Kb5 Ra1 7.Kb6 Rb1+ and black checks the king away.
4...Kg7 5.Kb5 Rf5+!
It is important that black checks the white king away as soon as it reaches b5 since the white rook would be free to move otherwise. Now white cannot make any progress: if the king steps onto the seventh rank, we will continue with the checks and if the king goes back to the fourth rank, the black rook will return to f6.

4. Theoretical position


White needs to find a way to bring their king out of a8 and promote the pawn. White achieves this by taking control of the b-file with their own rook. So my first thought was 1.Rc7+? Kd6 2.Rb7 but black has 2...Rh1! (or going to the e-, f- or g-files) and white cannot get the king out because of the mate threat. So white needs to implement the same idea (getting their rook to the b-file) in a different way:
1.Rc8!
White brings their rook to the b-file without allowing any back rank mate threats.
1...Kd7 2.Rb8 Ra1 3.Kb7 Rb1+ 4.Ka6 Ra1+ 5.Kb6 Rb1+ 6.Kc5
White managed to get their king out of the way and the pawn will promote on the next move.

5. Duras, 1902


This position is very similar to the Lucena position, but white cannot move the king to b6 like in the Lucena position. So white needs to find another way to get their king out off the way of the pawn. It is important to note that the b6-pawn shields the b7-pawns from attacks of the black rook along the b-file, so this makes white's task easier than in the Lucena position in that regard.
1.Rc7+ Kd8 (Not letting white's king out) 2.Rc6 Kd7 3.Rd6!
This is the point of the rook checks. The black king has to take the rook, since the white king can go to c7 and the b7-pawn will promote otherwise. But white can use the black king as a shield after it takes on d6.
3...Kxd6 4.Kc8 Rc3+ 5.Kd8
And the b7-pawn will promote because the rook cannot attack it along the b-file.

6. Troitzky, 1910


The important thing to note about this position is that the black rook has to be on the ranks 5-8 to attack the white pawn along the d-file. White's idea is to promote the pawn and they can achieve this thanks to blacks badly placed king.
1.d6! Rg7 2.Rh3+ Kg8 3.Rg3!
This is the point. Black has to take the rook, but cannot stop the pawn afterwards.
3...Rxg3 4.d7
And white wins

7. Cook*, 1927


White needs to distract the black rook in order to promote their pawn. However, the direct 1.Rd5 does not work because black can just take the f7-pawn. So white needs to find a more direct way to do this.
1.Rd4+!
White forces the black king onto the third or fifth rank and can force the exchange of rooks afterwards.
1...Kc5 (1...Kc3 2.Rd3+ Kc4 3.Rf3! and white will promote the pawn) 2.Rd5+! exd5+ (2...Rxd5 3.f8=Q+) 3.Kxf5
And the f7-pawn will promote.

8. Cook, 1864


White should start with looking if they can stop the promotion of the pawn, but this won't work: white cannot go to the c-file right now and black will answer 1.Rb7+ with Kc8.
So you need to look for a different solution. If you have solved many endgame positions, you are probably trying to construct a stalemate after black promoted their pawn and will find that the check is correct, but with a different idea.
1.Rb7+ Kc8 2.Rb5!!
Now white's stalemate idea becomes clear.
2...c1=Q 3.Rc5+! Qxc5 stalemate

9. Stamma, 1737


It looks like white has to sattle for a draw since they cannot stop black's pawn. However, white can bring their king into the attack to create decisive mating threats.
1.Kc4! a2 2.Kb3 a1=N+
White has mate in one after 3...a1=Q. Black can win in many ways after the promotion to the knight. One example line is:
3.Kc3 Nc2 4.Re2 Na1 (4...Na3 5.Kb3 and white loses the knight because of 5...Nb5 6.Re1#) 5.Re1+ Ka2 6.Re7 Kb7 7.Re2
And white loses the knight.

10. Kruchkov*, 1926


White will just win, if they can promote one of their pawns. The problem is that white cannot take on f7 and also cannot allow black to take on g6. So white needs to find a direct way to promote one of their pawns.
1.Re8+!
White deflects the black king so that they can play 2.g7 next.
1...Kxe8 (1...Kg7 2.f6+) 2.g7 Rg8 3.f6!
Black is in Zugzwang and will lose the rook.
3...Rf8 4.gxf8=Q+ Kxf8 5.Kd7 Kg8 6.Ke7 Kh8 7.Kxf7 Kh7 8.Ke7
And white will promote the pawn.

11. V. Platov and M. Platov, 1923


White obviously wants to promote the d-pawn, but playing 1.d7 or 1.Rxa7+ allows the black rook to come back to g8 and stop the pawn. So white needs to deflect black's rook from the open g-file.
1.Ra3!
This is the right way to distract black's rook. 1.Rg1? does not work because of 1...Rf3 and black will stop the pawn.
1...Rg7 (1...Rxa3 2.d7 and the pawn will promote) 2.Rh3+! Kg8 3.Rg3!!
Now black has to take the rook.
3...Rxg7 4.d7
And the pawn will promote.

12. Chekhover*, 1949


White has two passed pawns, but the black rook can stop both of them and black will promote their a-pawn in the meantime. It is important to note that the black rook cannot leave the a-file, because white would then be able to pick up the a-pawn (or queen) with Ra8+. So white's goal is to distract the black rook.
1.d6! a1=Q 2.d7!
As mentioned above, black cannot take the pawn because of 2...Rxd7 3.Ra8+.
Black is currently a queen up, but the position is a complete draw! This might seem strange at first sight, but the queen can only give a check on a2 and if black plays something else, white will promote their pawn.
2...Ra2+ 3.Kg1!
Again, the queen has only one check (on a1) and this leads to a repetition, so this position is drawn.