Lucena Position

From my Chess Skills blog: today's post compares a textbook Lucena Position to a similar position that I reached in a correspondence game played on my iPhone over the past week.

Endgame Training: Lucena Position

A basic goal of endgame training is to develop skills that make it possible to anticipate how simple technical wins are achieved from positions that seem more complex. From this position, for example, can Black reliably expect to reach a Lucena Position? I was not certain. A few moves later, however, I knew that the Lucena Position was my winning plan.

Black to move

I played 45...Ke6, but the immediate 45...Rxg2 might have been better.


The Lucena Position

Fifteen moves later, the position was simpler.*

Black to move

Having spent many hours half a decade ago studying the Lucena Position, and then many more hours teaching it to some of the most promising junior players in my city, I knew exactly how to play this position.

61...Re1 62.Kd2 Re5

In the textbooks, the pawn is already on g2 when this move is played. Real life often differs from the text.

63.Rg8 Kf2 64.Rf8+ Kg1 65.Rg8 g2 66.Rg7

Black to move

The game reaches a textbook Lucena Position with the first two tasks already accomplished. The White king has been driven away, which in this case was accomplished because he started further from the kingside. The Black rook has taken up its position on the fifth rank: "building a bridge" that will shield the king from checks and permit the pawn to promote.

67...Kf2 67.Rf7+ Kg3 68.Rg7+

My opponent offered a draw. Was this offer because he did not know the Lucena Position, or because he was hoping that I did not? It matters not. I instantly refused the offer and made my move.

Black to move

68...Kf3 69.Rf7+ Kg4 70.Kd3

In the textbooks, White plays 70.Rg7+, to which Black responds 70...Rg5, and the pawn will promote.

70...g1Q 71.Rg7+ Rg5 and White resigned.


A Textbook Lucena

A typical example of the Lucena Position in endgame textbooks looks something like the next diagram.

Black to move

Black wins easily with 1...Re8+ 2.Kd2 Re5 and the position is identical to that above after 66.Rg7, except that it is White's turn to move.

If White tries to prevent Kf2 with 3.Rf7, then Black plays 3...Kh2 with the same idea as in the game above.



*The moves from the first to the second diagram were 45...Ke6 46.g3 (46.g4 makes Black's job harder, but a Lucena Position will be reached) 46...Kf5 47.Re3 Kg4 48.Rd3 Rg2! In the game, it was at this point that I knew that I would reach a Lucena. 49.Rxc3 Rxg3 50.Rc7 Kxf4 51.Rxh7 Kxg5 52.Kb2 Kg4 53.Rg7 g5 54.Rg6 Kh3 55.Rh6+ Kg2 56.Rg6 g4 57.Rg5 Kf3 58.Rg8 59.Kxb3 g3 60.Rf8+ Kg2 61.Kc2.

How do you get a chess diagram on that blog cause its not chess.com

I create my diagrams as JPEGs with ChessBase software. I post them to the blog as images (Blogger makes that easy). Then, it was copy and paste to put the blog post in the forums here.

if youre a 1260 as your highest rating, with an avg opp worse than that, you should do more study less talky.  Thanks for this explanation OP

I agree. That's why I posted it. I'm certain that most 1260s would see the Lucena from the first position.

(see, sarcasm is so easy that anyone can do it.)

What would you do if white played g4 in the first position?

LoekBergman wrote:

What would you do if white played g4 in the first position?

Rg2 with the idea of getting three pawns for two, although maybe my h-pawn would have dropped too. My better king position should facilitate a lucena and my rook could probably restrain his king's return to the kingside

Nicely done. 

Thanks for the explanation Ziryab! Is there a reason you didn't use chess.com's analysis board? It's kind of hard to follow this way; plus, those pieces - ouch!

It's a copy and paste from my blog. Those are my favorite chess pieces. I could do it with Chess.com's analysis board, and even use this site's blogging feature. But I didn't have time this morning for all that.

I've done well over 600 blog posts on Chess Skills and maybe half a dozen posts on my Chess.com blog. If I had time to do both, it might expand my readership. But that might surrender some ownership of the content to this site.

Seems to me that White should have moved a rook here, instead of helping activate the Black king with a stupid check.

I do agree that you may not need endgame skills if you lack the tactical ability to reach an endgame.

I spent less time on it than you, and I may have drunk more. But, I would have played Re1 or Re5 without a second thought. The knight controls g3 and f4. If the king cannot get out, the pawns are not rolling. Those pawns crushed you like a bug on the Montana Freeway.

Sorry Ziryab that's what I get for not reading your whole post.

P.S. lol at him trying to trash-talk you.

They were good questions. Thanks.

I also realize that not everyone's aesthetic tastes align with mine. I've seen diagrams in books and on blogs that horrify me, but they appeal to someone or they wouldn't exist.

I change the colors of my diagrams every few months.

Since you clearly have a problem with my blog, which you have not spent any time reading (else your skill would be higher), you should have ignored this thread. Instead, you become the little fly that has me reaching for the Wall Street Journal.

The first post in this thread starts with a diagram from which I did not play "the right move". You might have noticed that if you had read what you pretend to criticize.

@Landlubberdolphin:  Don't you have some budding concert pianists on Youtube to critique right about now?

"chronic blogger"--I should add that to my bio!

Add Blowhard while you are at it.

So, you're best buds with the little stinkfish now.

and Grammar Police.