Hello!
We all know how to checkmate with King and Queen in the endgame. Today, we’ll explore some basic ideas and typical patterns to checkmate with Rook and King.
Mating with a Rook
The main actors in this lesson are in the diagram below. How do you deliver mate when you are a rook ahead? Delivering mate with the queen looks easy. Winning with the rook takes longer and is a bit more painstaking. That is because the opposing king can attack the rook. Fortunately, delivering mate is not really difficult.
Mating Patterns
The number of mating patterns with a rook and king is very limited. There are only two: the king is in the corner or on the edge (exterior of the board).
In the position below, the two kings are in a knight move pattern (we’ll call it a knight pattern!) from each other. This mating pattern only works in a corner and does not happen often (Black played the bad move Kb8-a8).
Pattern #1
The next pattern is a very common one! This pattern you should always aim for. The kings are opposite to each other and the rook delivers mate. Obviously, it makes no difference whether the opposing king is on the first rank or on the eighth, on the a- or on the h-file!
Pattern #2
Help from the King
If the opposing king is cut off against an edge of the board, then the rook will need to get help from its own king. The king must be standing directly opposite its counterpart and it must be White’s move.
The correct way to come closer is using a “knight pattern!” Going directly opposite the king doesn’t make sense as the black king escapes again. A knight pattern is the correct way to close in on it. The remaining part is very easy! See the variation in a diagram.
Driving the King to the Edge
The black king is in the middle of the board and has to be driven to the edge. The simplest way to manage that is by giving check, whenever the kings are directly opposite each other and when it is White’s move. The check which is displayed drives the king toward the edge.
Let’s take a look at the next diagram with some practical moves.
At last Black has been mated. But driving the opposing king to the edge of the board like this takes a very long time. Fortunately, the board has four edges. Whenever the black king is at the right-hand edge or the left-hand edge of the board, we shut the king in there.
The Board: Four Edges
The form of mate shown in a previous example is probably one for lazy people. Chase the opposing king up the board and deliver mate. No thinking is required, all you have to do is move.
But the chessboard has four edges and it is simply much more skillful to block the opposing king against one of those edges.
The h-file is also an edge of the board. The black king is on the edge. So it is logical to fix the king there and execute the mating pattern.
A Waiting Move in the Knight Pattern!
The black king is in a knight move pattern. So the cleverest thing to do is to make a waiting move with the rook. Chess players tend to want to have the rook as far away as possible, but it can also go to g3 or g2. The rest of the win is easy!
Summing Up
Mating with the rook follows the same principle as mating with the queen. You drive the opposing king to the edge of the board. Because the opposing king can attack the rook, winning is slightly harder.
You can choose a slow but safe way to win. You choose the edge on which you want to mate the king. You force the king to move back one line at a time (one rank up the board or down the board, one file to the left or the right) whenever the two kings are opposite each other.
You can also choose a quicker method by shutting the king in against a different edge.
Practice Tool
In order to really master how to deliver mate, you must practice it. You can try chess.com drills here: https://www.chess.com/endgames/checkmates/rook-mate/challenge
Try to deliver a checkmate against a computer.
Good luck!
