Typical rook endgame situation
Logic
Level
3
In the diagram, White has an extra pawn, but how can you make use of it and win the game?
A pawn move wins
A king move wins
A rook move wins
The position is drawn with best play
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1 solution
Using the row-column labels indicated on the edge of the board, White plays the pawn move c5-c6. To stop further pawn advance, Black captures d7xc6. But this clears the 7th rank, so now White swings the rook across to the opposite corner, Ra8-h8, Black's rook captures White's advanced pawn Ra2xa7, and now White has a "skewer" attack with Rh8-h7 checking Black's king. After the king moves out of check, White will capture Black's rook with Rh7xa7. White has an extra rook for a pawn, which is enough to win the endgame.
Diagram of the skewer situation:
This maneuver of moving the rook to set up a skewer is typical in this type of endgame. To prevent it, Black needed to have his king on g7 or h7.
None of the other moves win. If White plays a king move, Black moves his king to g7, now preventing the skewer. If White plays a rook move, Black's rook captures the pawn on a7, and White has no follow-up.