Win within 10 moves · You play white
ProA rook beats a lone pawn only when its king arrives in time. Count the moves for both sides and bring your king first. Rook checks that only push the enemy king next to its pawn waste the moves you need.
In Pro
Rook vs pawn: bring the king is part of Pro, with all 20 endgames.
Pro is $6.99 a month or $49 a year. Start free: three days in a row earns 72 hours of Pro with no card.
Create a free accountAbout this endgame
A rook should beat a pawn, and often does not. Here your rook on h1 faces a black pawn on e4 supported by its king on f3, while your own king is far away on a5. White to move wins, but only by counting first and moving the right piece. Ten moves to win the pawn.
The rook on h1 already guards e1, the queening square. The trouble is the black king: next to its pawn it protects it, and the rook cannot win a protected pawn on its own. So the win depends on your king arriving in time. Kb4, then Kc3 and on to d3 or d2: from there the king covers the squares beside the pawn and guards the rook when it captures.
The natural mistake is a check. Rf1+ or Rh3+ drives the black king forward, next to its pawn and closer to e1, and both checks throw away the win. The rook does its work later: once your king is close, a check along the second rank or the h-file pushes the black king off the pawn, and the rook takes it with your king beside it.
Kb5 and Ka4 also win, and so do Ra1 and Rb1, but Kb4 is the fastest. Most other rook moves only draw, among them Re1 and Rd1, which look natural. So do Ka6 and Kb6, which walk the king the wrong way.
Play White. Count first: how many moves the pawn needs to reach e1, and how many your king needs to reach d2. Then move the king and leave the rook where it is until the king arrives. Taking the pawn inside ten moves ends the drill.
Create a free accountGuides