Rook Endgame

@jackwemedge 49. Ra8 draw ıf it's tournament game GM maybe see best move but you played very good

@turkiyem021 Probably yeah. The engine recommends ..Kf5 which would be difficult to see.

For the records,

30.e5 =
32.Ke3 =
33.g4 =
34.g4 =
35.Rb6+ =
38.Kc4 =
39.Rxa5 =
40.Rxa5 =
41...Rf4+ -+
42.Rb1 =
45.a4 =
49.Ra8 =
50...e4+ -+

:-)

@N78_Training Ahahaha ikr. For engines it is dead-draw. For humans, not quite.

First of all I think anybody should realize that most rook endings are more about practical problems than finding out the correct evalution.

From practical point of view I hate the way white is handling this endgame....There are pretty rare cases where you should just defend a pawn in such passive way. If it's only the issue of one weakness and no other problems this might be ok, but if there are more arising problems you should have a second thought. In this case after f5 exf gxf black can create a passed pawn which make me believe White sould do something activ.

What about 32.exf gxf 33.Tb5!?

If 33. ... e6 than 34.g4 f4 35.Tb7! should be very safe.

If 33. ... f4 than maybe just Rb3! and white gained a lot...

Would like to have your thought about this PRACITCAL discussion.

@Findblisch You are completely right about practicality. But about variations:

33...e6 34.g4 f4 35.Rb7 doesn't look safe to me at all after I take on a3. If Ra7 I give check on e3 and defend my pawn with Re5 (actively).

33...f4 34.Rb3 You say white gained a lot, which I disagree. Yes, Black cannot make a passed pawn on e file but g2 is now fixed and can be attacked in the future in a more damaging way. e3 square is now under control. King might march till g3.

Ofc objectively it is draw. But still White hasn't resolved their problems.

@jackwemedge I forgot to mention that I dindn't like Ke2 cause King should stay on the Kingside imo. Therefore you wouldnt have Re3+.

Anyway you are right in this case Tb5 is not sol´ving all white problems, but i still it's important to search for options like that.

Nice "training" example imho

Yeah, ok, i checked with the computer, but i found some pretty lines.

Take the 42.Rb1! variation. The idea is that the black rook can not defend a5, h5, e6 and protect his king from checks. It goes like this:

42...h5 (42...Kg5 43.Re1!=) 43.h4 and now:

a) 43...Ke5 44.a4! Kf4 45.Rg1! Kf3 46.Rg5! Ke4!? 47.Rg2! Kf4 Rg1!= (The rook blocks the king from the h-pawn. If black advances his e-pawn then white immediately attacks it with Kd5 and Re1)

b) 43...Ke5 44.a4 Kd6 45.Rb6+! Ke7 46.Rb7+ Kf6 47.Rb1!= (move repetition)

c) 43...Ke5 44.a4 Kd6 45.Rb6+ Kd7 (idea Kc6) 46.Ra6! Rd5 47.Ra7+! Kd6 48.Rh7! Rf5 49.Ra7!= (Black can not make progress)

d) 43...Rf4+ 44.Kb5 a4 45.Rb4!= (the pawn ending is draw)

I love the white rook. It does the job alone. The white king only gets active if black moves his e-pawn.

@Findblisch Exactly, king should stay on the kingside to defend the pawns. It is an important point. I think I should update the analysis with mentioning that. Thanks.

@N78_Training Wow. You have done an amazing job. Indeed the variations are very interesting.

Thanks, @jackwemedge.

I found an improvement for black in line a), he can try to zugzwang white. I hope you dont mind when i have a further look at this line:

46...Ke3! 47.Rg3+ Rf3! 48. Rg5 Rf4+! 49.Kc3! Rf5! 50.Kc4 Kf3!

Now it is the same position like after 46.Rg5, but with white to move. He can not move the rook away from g5 (because of Rf4+) so he needs to do something with his king:

51.Kd4! Kf4! 52.Rg1

Now the black rook improves his position

52...Rd5+! 53.Kc4 Rd8

Now the threat is to play e4 and Rd4+ against which white has no defense, so he must grab the h-pawn:

54.Rg5! e5 55.Rxh5 Rd4+ 56.Kc3!

White can not defend his a-pawn with 56.Kb3 because the e-pawn will be too strong.

56...Rxa4

And now the only moves leading to draw for white, according to the Lichess tablebases, are

57.Rh7! Ra3+ 58.Kc2!

It is interesting why only 57.Rh7! draws and not for example 57.Rh8. The rook defends his pawn on h7 from the side in some lines. And only 58.Kc2! draws - and not 58.Kb2 - because a4-a3 is not check. White has the time to bring his pawn to h7 and his rook to a7.

These lines also explain why 41...Rf4+! wins - after 42.Kc3 (42.Kb3 a4+!) Rxf5 43.Rb1 Rf3+! 44. Kb2 the white king is too passive.

So it is already a very messy struggle for white after 42.Rb1 with a lot of only moves. Impossible to defend in an human to human game, especially in Blitz. But it was fun to analyze this. Indeed an instructive endgame.