Remember the lesson on two rooks v the king? If not see week 14. We started from the below position:
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| King with two rooks |
Do you remember how we started? Make a box with 1.Rg4 restricting the Black king to his half of the board. This week we are going to take away one of the rooks!
The winning technique is exactly the same, trap the king, check with the rook from the side and force him to the edge of the board where we can call mate!
Before we get started take a look at the below diagram.
The kings face each other. We call this the opposition. Technically the player that has just moved into this position has the opposition, but we don't need to worry about that for now. The important point is that the kings can not move forward. The only option is sideways or back.
To checkmate with only a rook we need to follow a three point plan.
- Box in the king with the rook
- Move the king until we get the above opposition position
- Call check from the side with the rook forcing him backwards
So the starting point with two rooks was:
Notice that one rook has gone.
Step one: box the king with 1.Rh4
Black can either move his king backwards, or stay on the fifth rank. Most players desperately move their king towards the rook hoping the side with the rook will allow the rook to be captured.
1...Ke5
Step two: Move the king to get into the opposition. 2.Kb2
Black continues his march towards the white rook 2...Kf5, white should continue step two with 3.Kc3 Kg5
**** WARNING ! WARNING! Rook under attack alert. ****
Now what? If you wanted to play Kc4 or Kd4 go to gaol and do not collect £200! Never ever, move the king in front of the rook's guard line, in this case all along the fourth rank. If we want to get the kings to face each other we must move towards the black king with 5.Kd3 Ke5
Now what? 6.Ke3 right? No that would be a mistake, although the kings face each other, remember we call that the opposition, black can simply annoy us with 6...Kd5 and we are no further forward. So we have to find a move that doesn't really change anything on the board. We call these moves waiting moves, made by the rook. Keep on the same rank and just shuffle one square, if it is safe to do so. That is 6.Rb4 Kf5 (Black is going to make us work hard for the win.)
We are still in step two. Chase the black king he will eventually run out of board and have to move into the opposition, 7.Ke3 Kg5, 8.Kf3 Kh5 9.Kg3 Kg5
The kings are in opposition and its our turn. Finally we can perform step three: 10.Rb5+ Kg6
Step three actually performs step one as well as the rook check forces the black king back and now the rook guards the fifth rank.
We continue with step 2 then, if possible move the king forward, so that the king is between your rook and the enemy king. In this case 11.Kf4, if black tries to harass the rook with 11...Kf6 we can move straight into step three, 12.Rb6+ Ke7
Best move now is 13.Ke6.
If black runs to the edge with 13...Kf7 we waste a move with 14.Ra6. If he chases the rook we swap the rook over to the other side of the king 14.Rh6.
Let's choose 13....Kf7 for black, then p[lay continues 14.Ra6 Ke8
The black king has moved backwards. When something strange happens at the board, take extra time to work out what to do.
Remember the three point plan.
- Box in the king with the rook
- Move the king until we get the above opposition position
- Call check from the side with the rook forcing him backwards
15.Ra7 Kd8, 16.Kd6 Kc8
Swap the rook to the other side with 17.Rh7. Black is now doomed. 17...Kd8 would see the kings in opposition and then we can call checkmate on h8, so he tries 17....Kb8, we chase with the king 18.Kc6 Ka8
19.Kb8 the black king has no where to go, so is forced into 19...Kb8 when 20.Rh8 is checkmate!!!
Remember the three point plan.
- Box in the king with the rook
- Move the king until we get the above opposition position
- Call check from the side with the rook forcing him backwards
Never move the king in the rooks guard line. Always check from the side. Remember to shuffle the rook one square as a waiting move, if we need to force black to move.
Practice this technique with your Dad, Mum, Brother, Sister, or even on your own. Once mastered you can safely say you are now a proper chess player!!
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