| The moral of this month’s column is: be careful
what you ask for, ‘cause you just might get it. (Also: kids ask the hardest
questions!) After asking for middlegame and endgame questions last month,
Henry Lawrence sent this one in on behalf of his daughter Charlotte: “I'm
a second grader just learning chess and I need help with the mating combinations.
I can handle most everything up to King and Bishops vs. King, but I am
having trouble with King and Queen vs. King and Rook. Can you give
me a hint?” |
First the good news: If the player with the rook
does not have an immediate draw or mate, the player with the Queen has
a forced win. So if you’re the weaker side going into this ending,
look long and hard for tricks. If you don’t find one, all you can do is
defend and hope for enough errors from the queen to get a draw by the 50-move
rule. Here’s a nice example of a tricky draw for the rook side (Berger
1889, taken from Batsford Chess Endings, the best one-volume ‘simple’
endgame manual I know and the source for much of this column):
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| Black to play draws with 1…Rh7+ 2.Kg2 Rg7+. The
King can’t go to the f-file because of 3…Rf7, pinning the queen, so he
has to continue up the g and h files. But after 3.Kh3 Rh7+ 4.Kg4 Rg7+ 5.Kh5
Rh7+ 6.Kg6 Rh6+! forces a draw: 7.KxR is stalemate, and moving the king
loses the queen. |
| Now for the bad news: in many positions the rook
player can defend for a long time. This is not an ending for the weaker
side to resign immediately. In the hardest positions, it can take as long
as 31 moves to complete the mate or win the rook. Robert Wade notes that
when computer ending databases first appeared in the ‘70’s, GM Walter Browne
took one on with the strong side in this ending. He failed to win it the
first time, and he only won on move 50 the second! |
The general technique for winning this ending
involves forcing the king to the side of the board, where it will eventually
be possible either to mate him or win the rook. To do this, you have
to take squares away from the king, either by controlling them with the
queen or setting up a trap - so if the king moves to that square, you’ll
be able to win the rook with a fork. While you’re doing this, make sure
not to let the rook side pin queen against king or x-ray check! Here are
examples of the basic concepts:
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| This ending is easiest to win for White with 1 Qg2.
Where can Black go? The queen has taken away all the king’s squares
except for h5. But after 1…Kh5 2.Qg3 (same idea) Kh6, 3 Qg6 is mate! |
In this position, 1.Qa6+ wins instantly for White. Why?
Because the four squares the Black king can move to, b8, c7, d7, and d8,
all allow White to follow this with 2.Qd6+, forking the king and the
rook on c4. |
Weaving these two themes together, you should eventually
be able to get the king to the side of the board, and then it’s only a
matter of time until you can give mate or win the rook. Here’s the kind
of position to aim for (Philidor 1777):
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| No matter what Black does, White can win the rook
or mate in five moves. 1…Kh6 2.Qf8 “pins and wins”, so Black must try a
rook move. But these are all hopeless too. 1…Rg3 for example can be met
with 2.Qe4+ Kg8 (2…Kh3 3.Qf4+) 3.Qc4+ Kh7 4.Qh4+, while 1…Rc7 is refuted
by 2.Qh5+ Kg8 3.Qd5+ Kh7 4.Qd3+ and 5.Qd8+. In both cases Black must lose
the rook to avoid mate on f7 or g6. The same ideas can be used to refute
every other Black rook move – try it for yourself and see! |
| Sometimes, as with the difficult but learnable king,
bishop, and knight vs. king ending, there is a definite technique for walking
the long path to mate. The queen and rook are so mobile that a precise
formula is harder to come by. (If readers know one, I’d be very interested!)
But with some practice you should learn to put these principles into effect!
Take the queen against your computer (or your father!) and see how you
do. To help you get started, I’ve provided two more detailed examples of
how White can maneuver the Black king to the edge of the board and win
the rook or mate. |
(Strohlein 1970) 1.Qf4+ Ke2 (not 1…Kd3 Qe4+ winning
the rook) 2.Ke4 (avoiding the pin!) Rf2 3.Qc1 Rg2 4.Qc2+ Kf1 5.Qd1+ Kf2
6.Kf4
|
See how Black is completely boxed in? 6…Rh2 7.Qd4+
Kg2 (7…Ke2 8.Qb2+) 8.Kg4 Kh1 (8…Kf1 9.Qd1+ Kf2 10.Qf3+ Kg1 11.Qe3+ (11.Kg3?
Rh3+ stalemate!) Kf1 12.Kg3) 9.Qe4+ Kg1 10. Kg3 Rf2 11.Qe3 Kh1 12.Qe1+
(again, QxR is a draw!) Rf1 13.Qxf1#. Here’s another:
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(Wade 1993) 1.Qc6 starts hemming the king in and
controls a nice, long diagonal. What can Black do? Checking doesn’t help:
after (1…Rg4+ 2.Ke5 Rg5+ 3.Kf4), all black has really done is put White’s
King in a place where it takes g3, g4, and g5 away from Black’s rook. So
she tries instead 1…Rh5 2.Qc7+ Ke6 3.Qd8 (see how she keeps restricting
the King’s movement?) Kf7 4.Qd6 Rf5 5.Ke4 (bringing the King in closer)
Rf1
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6.Qd3 Rf6 7.Qd7+ Kg6 8.Ke5 Rf7 9.Qg4+ Kh6 (now he’s
on the edge!)
|
10.Ke6 Rg7 11.Qd4 Rg5 12.Kf6 (moving in!) 13.Kf7
Kh5 14.Qh8+ Rh8 15.Qc8
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| On c8 the queen keeps Black’s king on the h-file.
There is no escape: 15…Rh7+ 16.Kf6 Kh4 (16…Rh6+ 17.Kf5 Kh4 18.Qb7) 17.Kg6
and the rook falls to 17…Rh5 (or 17…Ra7) 18.Qc4+ or 17…Re7 Qd8. |
| Patience, a sharp eye, and practice will bring you
wins in these positions. |
In conclusion, let me say a few words about Queen
vs. Rook and Pawn(s). The pawn or pawns make things even more complicated.
Almost always the queen is still playing for the win in these endings,
but the player with the rook has more opportunities to make a fortress
and draw. Usually the king will hide near the pawn(s) and use the pawn
to provide support points for the rook, while the queen will try to
infiltrate behind the pawns in order to eventually force the king away.
This will have to be a subject for the future, but for now let us note:
White to move in the following position has a draw (by the technique of
shuttling the rook between d3 and f3, where it is supported by the pawn):
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| But if you move all the pieces except the queen
up one rank, Black can win by infiltrating behind the e3 pawn! |
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| Send your questions via email to: mca-editor@home.com.
I look forward to hearing from you! |
