Friday, January 15, 2010

Barriers, Bridges, and Shelters in Rook Endings

ChessBase has posted a wonderful Karsten Mueller article on building "Barriers" in Rook and pawn endings in order to avoid Rook checks. It's definitely worth a look, if only to admire the clarity of the examples and the useful java interface for learning.  Mueller has written in his Endgame Corner at ChessCafe about the importance of creating shelters in Rook endings to avoid checks.  Sometimes a pawn might even be surrendered to create the shelter (see Endgame Corner #24), the classic example of which is Capablanca - Tartakower, New York 1924 (well represented online with detailed notes and video commentary.)  A classic example of using the Rook as a "bridge" to escape checks is seen  in the Lucena Position.  Here are some useful pieces on the Lucena:

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