Title says all. a rook = 5 pawns, so would that be a drawn endgame, or losing/winning for the 5 pawns? Note that this is from a general viewpoint, not with all 5 pawns lined up a square before promotion, nor with 4 of the pawns in the vision of the rook. I've actually never seen this endgame before, so I'm just curious.
Have you tried it?
Title says all. a rook = 5 pawns, so would that be a drawn endgame, or losing/winning for the 5 pawns? Note that this is from a general viewpoint, not with all 5 pawns lined up a square before promotion, nor with 4 of the pawns in the vision of the rook. I've actually never seen this endgame before, so I'm just curious.
Have you tried it?
No, I actually never have.
Depends where the pawns and the kings are. Two connected pawns on the sixth are already stronger than a rook, unless one of them is immediately captured.
yeah
I found this exercise: https://chessplus.net/interactive-games/rook-versus-5-pawns
Taking away the king's obviously makes a difference. I beat the pawns.
Interesting. So it likely just depends on the position.
Title says all. a rook = 5 pawns, so would that be a drawn endgame, or losing/winning for the 5 pawns? Note that this is from a general viewpoint, not with all 5 pawns lined up a square before promotion, nor with 4 of the pawns in the vision of the rook. I've actually never seen this endgame before, so I'm just curious.
Have you tried it?
With one less pawn, a tablebase lookup gives the game result. In this position, with best play by both sides, White always wins. The longest win is a mate in 45 with the a7 pawn removed and Black to play. The fastest win is a mate in 27 with either the b7 or d7 pawn removed and White to play.
That seems like quite a hard game. But it pretty much depends on how far the pawns are advanced and the king positions.
It's extremely unlikely to happen in an actual game, but if it does I would prefer the pawns since they would be further up the board and their value would increase as that happens.
That seems like quite a hard game. But it pretty much depends on how far the pawns are advanced and the king positions.
It's extremely unlikely to happen in an actual game, but if it does I would prefer the pawns since they would be further up the board and their value would increase as that happens.
I agree. I think the 5 pawns would win with the king's protection in most cases, but generally speaking, it's unlikely to have 5 healthy pawns conveniently defended in an endgame. Also depends on how far down the board they are, like you said. Thanks for your input; it's much appreciated!
That seems like quite a hard game. But it pretty much depends on how far the pawns are advanced and the king positions.
It's extremely unlikely to happen in an actual game, but if it does I would prefer the pawns since they would be further up the board and their value would increase as that happens.
I agree. I think the 5 pawns would win with the king's protection in most cases, but generally speaking, it's unlikely to have 5 healthy pawns conveniently defended in an endgame. Also depends on how far down the board they are, like you said. Thanks for your input; it's much appreciated!
No worries, it's an interesting thought and it's good to think about it.
Generally speaking you cannot ask such questions about pawns in endgames because the answer always depends critically on where the pawns are - not speaking of the kings.. You can ask "what about R against N?" or "Queen against N+B?" but not "N against 3P?" or even "R against N+2P?". Some pawns are tigers and some pawns are mice. The deciding factor is commonly the promotion opportunities of the pawns. When they can all be blocked or captured the prospects of the pawn side are poor.
Generally speaking you cannot ask such questions about pawns in endgames because the answer always depends critically on where the pawns are - not speaking of the kings.. You can ask "what about R against N?" or "Queen against N+B?" but not "N against 3P?" or even "R against N+2P?". Some pawns are tigers and some pawns are mice. The deciding factor is commonly the promotion opportunities of the pawns. When they can all be blocked or captured the prospects of the pawn side are poor.
Yeah, that's a good point
Thanks to your question, I remembered the following game:
Learn and enjoy!
Greetings.
Thanks to your question, I remembered the following game:
Learn and enjoy!
Greetings.
Wow, thanks! I genuinely didn't expect a GM game to have a scenario like this.
yeah, 5 pawns definitely win. easily
Thanks to your question, I remembered the following game:
An interesting game. After 49. Kxf6, Black's four drawing moves are Ra4, Ra6, Ra8, and Kd4. All other moves lose. The longest win comes after Kc4, when White can mate in 42.
Title says all. a rook = 5 pawns, so would that be a drawn endgame, or losing/winning for the 5 pawns? Note that this is from a general viewpoint, not with all 5 pawns lined up a square before promotion, nor with 4 of the pawns in the vision of the rook. I've actually never seen this endgame before, so I'm just curious.