Rook and Pawn Ending
If you have an outside passed pawn in the ending, you want your Rook behind it, and your opponent’s Rook blocking it. This allows you to move your Rook up and down the file to gain or lose temps and the enemy can’t move his Rook else your pawn advances. In the 34th and final game of their 1927 World Championship match, Alekhine reached such an ending with Capablanca. The Cuban played the best defense, he managed to switch his King to be the blockader, freeing up the Rook, but no matter. This left Alekhine’s King to enter the enemy pawn formation and force another weakness. After 54 moves the key position was reached. Your time invested in this ending will pay you dividends in your future encounters!
