Rook Endgames: The correct strategy and avoiding threefold repetition.

Hello, I am Heylitha with another blog post. 
Let's get into the topic. 

a lot of beginner even intermediate level players fail to successfully win a Rook endgame where you have a rook and king vs lonely king. 

Today I'm going to explain the way to checkmate your opponent without ending the game in a draw.

First things first. 

You should checkmate your enemy king; not giving him a chance to draw the game. 
You can also apply this to your own games.

Step 1.
find a side of a board where your opponent king is close.

In this position, it is the rank that is highlighted.

Step 2.

move your king. 
move your king which is a knight's distance from your opposing king like this. 
move your king wherever your opponent king moves. 
Eg: if your opponent king moves 1 square forward, you move your king one square forward maintaining the knight's distance. 

Then when your opposing king reaches to a edge of the board and opposes your king, It's time to bring your rook. 

Move your rook and force the opponent king to the other rank. 
Follow these steps until your king reaches a edge of the board. 

note:  play a waiting move if your opposing king is already a knight's distance. ( move your rook. )

If only your opposing king is in front of yours, you can checkmate now. 
Or do Step 1 until the enemy king reaches the corner and is in front of your king.

Now it's time to mate your opponent. 

like this or, 

like this as we discussed. 

Congrats! you checkmated your opponent king with just your rook. 

Here is a puzzle for you to solve. 

Stay safe and keep playing chess! ♟