Wednesday, November 4, 2009

King and Rook against King


White to play

In the last position, we saw that doing nothing can be useful.  (Tell this to your parents.)

How would you explain the winning technique in this position to a beginner?

And suppose we changed the rules of chess so that either side could choose not to move?  How many moves would it take for White to mate Black?

1 comment:

Frederick Rhine said...

"In this position Black, if on move, would have only one legal move, 1...Kh8, which allows an immediate mate with 2.Rh6# So White wins by playing a waiting move such as 1.Rf6 (or e6, d6, etc.). Then Black must indeed play 1...Kh8, and White mates." If Black in this ending has the option of passing, White can never win.