New solution to the Lucena position

Hi Guys

I was playing the Lucena position vs rybka when I suddenly found a completely different solution that always works!

This is an old solution to the Lucena position

Well, in my endgame book by GM Flear which analyzes all solutions of the Lucena, there wasn't this. I didn't plagiarise but if it already exists,I'm glad I found it out by game analysis

I believe you found it yourself, but this is a known alternative method. Somehow the other way is believed to be more instructive.

this isnt a lucena position

As has been said, the original diagram isn't a lucena position.  The bridge solution would be when the h-file is already guarded by the black rook... there isn't some more straight forward solution that doesn't get taught for the sake of 'instruction' lol.

I'm fairly certain M. Dvoretsky points out this alternative method in his endgame manual, and I've seen it used in practice as well.

Why do they call it a "bridge?" Wouldn't the word "shield" be more appropriate?

DrFrank124c, I've had trouble understanding the term "bridge" too.  So I reread the section in the book My System by Nimzowitsch.  I believe he meant that the white king finds shelter from the rain of black rook checks under the bridge (white rook).  It's confusing because the rain normally falls vertically. 

When we use the word "bridge" we are referring to something that enables us to cross over something usually a river, sometimes a highway. In some cases a bridge has a secondary function as it sometimes provides protection from the rain, in this case from the rain of checks. From time to time we find homeless people living under a bridge due to the protection it provides against the rain. That is the sense that Nimzowitsch intended, I suppose. Maybe Nimzowitsch was homeless at one time or other, could be because he was a gambler living off his winnings from chess. So maybe Nimzowitsch was telling us something about his own life. But the word "shield" would  be  more appropriate since it "shields" the King from the checks of the rook.  

I think this is only possible after innacurate defence. If the Black rook was on h1 then you'd have to build a bridge by getting the rook to the forth rank.