Im gonna bookmark this - thanks for posting!
Complete tour of Rook's endgames theory in 24 diagrams!
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An excellent intro for anyone looking to understand end game theory. Example 2 is a draw, correct?
Aug 12, 2014
0
#4
Nice post. A bit strange that the OPs account got closed, probaply he cheated...
what a post !!! i just have copied the pgn text for all the diagrams and made a pgn booklet. thanks a lot for the invaluable post.
Huge work. Hope to find such collection on any other ending themes 
first diagram play rf1
Oct 4, 2016
0
#9
incorrectname wrote:
first diagram play rf1
Why? After 1.Kb6 Rf1, White mates one move sooner than after 1...Rb1+.
after 1. Ka7
it was 0. Kb6
i know
This post will be a complete tour about the Rook endgame theory..
example 1:
In order to have protection from the various dangers which may threaten, let the King provide himself in good time with a serviceable shelter. Such a refuge will protect him well should a storm come up. Consider the next example;
Look at an another example (2),
Here the point d6 would be the shelter, so this must not be made impraticable by 1.d6? The right move is...
Endgame technique demands of us that should be able ourselves to built our own shelter. In this, building a bridge is usefull. In the following example (3), if White play 1.Kf7, there will follow a series of checks, and in the end the White King will have to return to g8, his purpose unaccomplished. The key move is ...
The advantage of an aggressive Rook position in the endgame is a most important one. In the next example (4), On the far left, assuming that both players still have pawns remaining on the King wing, the position of the White Rook can be made the basis of an advance on the Kingside. Still more in this case in the configuration shown in the diagram..
White can by means of 1.h4 followed when convenient by h5 and hxg6 lay bare Black's g-pawn to attacks. And whereas the White Rook is the very soul of this new set of operations, the Black Rook cannot muster up sufficient elasticity to get over the Kingside to offer a defence against the former's attack. And so we formulate the matter thus: the weakness of the defending Rook lies in its deficient elasticity in the direction of the other wing, and further, in this too, that the enemy King wins greater maneuvering freedom (as a rule he is afraid of Rooks, but when the cat's away, etc...!) In the diagram therefore the threat of the White King's march to b6 (naturally by slow stages) is on no account to be underestimated.
example 5:
It is daily occurence in game between masters that one of the parties will undertake extended maneuvers and go to immense trouble, simply in order, as a reward for all his pains, to get for himself the aggressive Rook position, to force a passive role on the enemy rook. On the other hand we must expect the passive Rook sometimes to go on strike, as happens in the following example. In the diagram of the example 5, Black with the move begs to be excused from the passive role intended for his Rook ( 1...Ra7) and play instead ...
The 2 next examples will illustrate endgames with rooks and pieces:
Firstly, the example show the concept of centralization...:
In the second example, Is about an rich ending in therm of combinations. The gifted, imaginative Franco-Russisn seems in this game as if he wished to sweep away the rules of my system with the hurricane of his bubbling inspiration. This, however, is only apparently the case. In reality everything is done in the spirit of the system and of centralization. In the next move...
Example 9: Materialization
A curious and by no means obvious difference must now be noted. In the middlegame the exploitation of a file involves the expenditure of a great deal of energy, in other words is wholly active. We have only to remember the complicated apparatus used; for instance, in particular, the outpost Knight. In the endgame, on the other hand, such operations run on simple lines, are in fact of the meditative order. Far and near not a trace of a Knight outpost. The lucky possessor of the file takes his time. At the most he sends forward a handful of men to clean up some position for his advancing Rook. And so we can say that operations in a file are in the middlegame active, in the endgame meditative, even contemplative. And the same applies to a rank. We will illustrate this by a diagram...
In this example, White holds the clear 5th rank, and by the following simple series of moves manages to materialize the rather abstract effect of his possios of this rank, to condense it to a concrete point. Let's look how the game proceed..
Example 10:
The Lucena Position is a key to understanding the rook endgames. It is the position that the stronger side strives to achieve. Let's look on the next diagram..
Example 11:
Another thing that the defending side must avoid is the dreaded passive Rook. The next diagram will show a typical example of it..In this diagram, Black loses because his Rook his passively placed on the back rank. If he ever tries to move to a more active post via something like 1. ...Rg1 (if it was Black to move) then 2. Rh8 would mate him..
Let's look on another example (12):
Example 13:
In this diagram its a draw simply because White Rook cannot successfully switch over the other side of the board simply because there is no other side to go...!
For example: 1.Ra7-Rg8 2.b7?? (takes away White's cover and lose to..-Rg6+
Example 14:
This example represent a case of using the Philidor's defensive plan position to draw a game with only a King against a King + a pawn..In the next example (14), is a seemingly strong position for White, who is a pawn up with more active piece. Nevertheless, Black draw easily ...
Example 15:
The Queen is weaker than 2 Rooks if the hostile is protected against checks, otherwise it may be stronger. Let's look at an example(15) of it...
White play here Rc3, then R1c1 thus doubling the Rooks to assail the c-pawn and winning it. To win the a-pawn would, it is true, be difficult, because the Rooks have to protect the King against checks. It is evident, however, that the Rooks have the initiative and that Black's hope is merely to draw by perpetual check..
Even one Rook is sufficient to make a hard fight against the Queen, provided that the Rook has not to lend its help to other pieces, for instance, to weak Pawns, but has a little protection from elsewhere to lean upon.
Example 16:
In this example, White conceives the plan of forcing the Black King away from the square e4 and thus of dominating the important points d4 and d5 with King and Rook...
Example 17:
Let's look at this example (17):
Example 18:
In this example(18), the cooperation is a main subject:
And in this example, the strongest force is in the a-pawn, because the hostile King is too far away. Much weaker is the c-pawn which the White King can stop at his convenience... let's take a look...
Example 23: Here is a draw situation with Rook VS Knight + Bishop ending..
Example 24:
That's all!