Rook Endgames Crash Course - Rook & Pawn Endings - Fundamentals of Rook Endgames - Tips and Tricks

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About This Video:
This video will cover some of the basic and fundamental aspects of rook endgames. Rook endings in chess are the most common type of endgame in chess, with about half of all chess endgames falling into the category of rook endgames. Learning the Philidor and Lucena positions will help you draw games when defending against a pawn, and win games when you have an extra pawn. Additionally we will talk about counting tempi, cutting off the king, attacking pawn weaknesses, and more. Beginner and intermediate players will benefit most from this rook endings crash course.
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[@orbitorbit754]

This channel has become one of my favorites recently! ❤️

[@dukesublime4178]

Thanks so much for your videos, I am new to chess, played roughly 80 / 90 games according to my stats lol.. I’m a huge fan of your content, it’s clear and concise not to forget massively informative.. Hope you are well. Thanks again

[@jonathanw8450]

I 100% agree!

[@ChessVibesOfficial]

Thanks a lot, Duke! Glad you're learning some stuff :-)

[@ajaysurendran3859]

@@ChessVibesOfficial 1k th like

[@Stephen-jj8nc]

1year passed, any updates on how your doing / you rating?

[@naseebtn7315]

💯 percentage agreed

[@polemopoleno7104]

You're great! I like that you poked fun at the "phillidor and lucena" positions :D

[@ChessVibesOfficial]

Thank you! 😄

[@wallstreetmonky6797]

this was a great tutorial. I was worried that it was just gonna be the lucena position and philidor position that ive seen covered a billion times, but these tips were really helpful!

[@Closertotruth2]

I’ve been watching chess videos for a year. I’m about 1500. I personally find your teaching technique the best I’ve seen online. Very glad I recently came upon it. Thanks for your help and keep them coming.

[@prakash_clt]

Id. Jyothi_sithara. Let's play.

[@dorkman7247]

finally a good endgame video for beginners! most endgame videos for beginners are just like pawn and king vs king or checkmating with a rook this was very helpful thank you

[@mr.baymax6809]

This channel is underrated, keep up the great content Nelson!

[@ChessVibesOfficial]

Thanks, will do!

[@mikemcknight1295]

This channel is really really good. A great teacher can really simplify the very complex.

[@gregmartin3425]

This was some excellent instruction, especially walking us through the first rook endgame. Thanks for making the video!

[@pierrewertheimer4450]

As usual, great course. Simple and clear! Thanks!

[@kaikulimu]

You have the best explanations and most practical tips in all the chess channels I have followed. Please continue to make good educational content and advance in your chess adventures!

[@ChessVibesOfficial]

I appreciate that!

[@royturv]

Excellent video, well explained concepts, thanks

[@Hopefully2025]

At 20:58, in this position there are other moves that can win for white, Rf2 wins, and Re2 wins. I checked by playing against stockfish

[@oenrn]

Yeah, both use the same principle: use the rook to shield your king from checks.

[@huananko5160]

@@oenrn but moving to 4th rank is just harder to understand and kinda unnecessary to waste those moves and give black a chance to keep chasing ur king around

[@josephsalmonte4995]

Brilliant video. Thanks mate 👍

[@drrakeshmm]

Your all videos are very instructive!!! Very easy to understand and very good tips!!!

[@ChessVibesOfficial]

Glad you like them! Thanks a lot!

[@sak1386]

Thanks a lot, sir, for this video helped me to win an interschool chess tournament. I had 2 Queen vs Room + Pawn endings (Me being with the rooks) and this study helped me win both of them. Your channel is really informative. Great fan of yours.

[@dawidp1536]

Nice explanation! Thanks!

[@akarsh6149]

12:23 isnt ra8# good?

[@mikemcknight1295]

Excellent explanations Nelson. Cheers.

[@TheBrawlmastah]

Ya actually he does know those positions. What a cool guy.

[@manu123mann]

This is so enlightening.

[@joaomattosinho5204]

Thanks. You are great teacher. Best ever.

[@johnspivack6520]

really good explanations, really good choice of content and really good pace. thanks.

[@splitstix4569]

Great video, I will try to incorporate this kind of stuff into my games

[@ChessVibesOfficial]

Great! Let me know how it turns out!

[@krishradio1]

Great lessons as always...

[@adrianprundaru9777]

Thank you so much this is really helpful!!! You make chess fun!!!!!!

[@gusTechnikPro]

Great video. This video deserves more views. You explain basic concepts so well instead of getting lost in minutia of some special rook ending where I need to calculate 7 moves ahead.

[@user-lx3kd6vw6e]

You do fantastic and useful job mate, just keep doing it.

[@edmondzeldin7036]

Excellent instruction!

[@chessforfunonly1586]

Awesome video, Nelsi! Thanks so much!!

[@prbprb2]

At 20:10, white can actually win more easily by playing Re2 or Rf2, using an easier technique. To motivate the discussion better, the Black king should be placed on c7 or d7.

[@mr.m6117]

No lifting of the rook at 4th rank is needed when kings are separated by three files.. when there are only two files this rook lift is a must.

[@CastroMKE]

This was so helpful man. I recently had 2 rooks and 4 vs 2 rooks and 2. The starting position was white pawns on a2, b3, g3, h2, king on g1, rooks on f2 and f6. black pawns a3, b7, king on a7, and rooks on e2 and e8. I was so confused on ow to proceed but now I know that the outside passed pawns just push up the board and queen and the rooks assist in the queening journey. Very helpful to a 1300 rated player.

[@ushiman]

Great video, thanks for such a nice and easy to understand explanation.

[@mikemurad7490]

excelent video, thank you buddy.

[@fretfret]

I just want you to know that I watched this video a few days ago and today I got a tactic almost exactly the same as the one at 7:05 that I probably wouldn't have seen before and it won me the game a few moves later. Thanks :)

[@KingJrBG]

Best rook endgame video for beginners by far! Surprised I haven't found your channel until now :D

[@jolliet1009]

This video is so helpful! I'm new to chess, have been playing it for 4 months, and I've noticed that I am losing too many rook endgames where my initial position seems better simply because I don't have a clear strategy in mind. Looking forward to put your advices into practice!

[@YOLOMarkus]

great video !!!!

[@jovenciocainong5400]

thank you GM Nelson

[@IchMagZwiebel]

Love your videos! God bless the algorithm, otherwise I’d have never known about you

[@ChessVibesOfficial]

Welcome aboard!

[@nishubala3255]

Thanks for your neat content. I am a big fan of your videos

[@DragonBuddah]

Great content!

[@Walkman0007]

This is good stuff, ty

[@bobbyb5710]

you really helped me improve

[@nilesprattle423]

Thanks!

[@TheSpiritualCamp]

I just have to say, this is the best endgame course I've ever seen !

[@cotterface]

Thanks for this video just what I was looking for

[@ChessVibesOfficial]

No problem 👍

[@jacquelinekessler1283]

18:12 White: Plays Rb4 Black: I'm done

[@peterarbeiter7838]

When you said that Pihilidor and Lucena position are not so important, you got me hooked. A lot of endgame material starts with those two, because then you can just explain what thousands have explained before, instead of really explaining rook endgames. :-)

[@moosewild4239]

Very helpful. Thx

[@alwaysinout]

Again .. a great video

[@ricardoechala8651]

A good instructivve ending thank you

[@mattgiguere5638]

Thank you Nelson! My Cess tutor 👍😀

[@GarySlegg]

An excellent video

[@speedcubesolver1195]

👍 Thank you soooooo much!

[@michaelmappin1830]

Thank you

[@RedGaming23]

This is great. Do you have a playlist of pure rook endgames? I could watch hours of you explaining the thought process on how to win different rook endgames 👍🏻

[@samudrajitroy9601]

Nice lesson sir :)!

[@theglz505]

The best educational chess channel.🥂✨

[@jamesspahr7534]

Great Video …

[@martinbansey719]

These videos are gold

[@ramansingh5369]

Very helpful.. I have learned a lot from your video. Thanks ❤️❤️ 🇮🇳🇮🇳

[@tunlinmaungmaung1718]

thanks

[@mattlambert3118]

In your example at 15 minutes about the rook separating the king and the pawn, it seems like that would only work before the king is on the 5th rank. It takes 3 moves for the rook to take the pawn on the 2nd rank no matter what rank the rook is on while it's blocking the king because it has to go down to the first rank, over to the file the pawn in on, and up to the second rank. If the black king is on the 5th rank, it only takes to moves to defend the pawn on the second rank. In the Lucena position, it seems like it would be simpler to just move the rook to e2 so black's rook couldn't check on the e file. Black could go Kc7 or Kc8, but it doesn't matter because white could still move Ke7 or Ke8 and there's no way to stop him from queening. It would be different if the black king was on c7 instead of b7 and the white rook was on d2 instead of c2 because if white moved Re2 then black could play Kd7 and white wouldn't be able to play Ke7 or Ke8.

[@coxscorner]

I lost an early tournament game in a theoretically drawn position because I did not know Phillidors position. I certainly learned it after.

[@tomato4039]

at 12:23 am i mistaken or instead of taking the pawn, rook a8 is just checkmate?

[@drone231]

no you're absolutely right! it is checkmate i saw that too

[@stag6161]

Good catch

[@keegami]

Was wondering if I'd see another comment about this, or if I was just crazy. I'm by no means good at chess (I'm only like 1300) but I saw that pretty immediately and was surprised he said to take the pawn instead. I love NM Nelson's content though, that just surprised me.

[@karlstp]

It is checkmate, but for practical purposes of teaching this, it's not always gonna be checkmate in this type of positions, once you get to that point, you usually take the pawn, but looking for checkmate is a good habit in endgames!

[@coconutwholesaleandretail7108]

12:23

[@carldarbyshire4]

I just lost a game with rook endings. I was in a much stronger position and I blundered. ARGH!!!

[@Lordridam14]

haha

[@phase0400]

Ii used to be quite good at them. Now at 1500 im really bad and lose them all when im 3 pawns up. A key concept which wasnt covered here is get your rook on an open file first. This is really important as then you can go very offensive on your opponents pawn and your opponent can too if your opponents rook is on an open file. There is no way to defend all your pawns and you will lose.

[@babyclaus]

Great Video! Also Weird question... why does your right click arrow look different from mine? XD

[@ChessVibesOfficial]

You mean on the lichess analysis board? If you mean why is it red instead of green, you can hold down the Ctrl key while you right click and it changes the color to red. And holding Alt gives you blue instead. =P

[@NarutoUzumaki-ru3ym]

I follow your things in every chess game

[@alexanderxyz6146]

Could you make a video on Queen endgames? I feel it's rather hard. (say with +1 or 2 not very advanced pawns for one, (0 for the other)) Last time I had a position with 2 queens and my 2 pawns remaining it's winning but from my view rather hard to not draw vs the AI, I looked it up later and found the DTZ saying 40 (table base until first capture on most optimal move). What principles are there that help better position Queen and King, to prevent perpetual checks and make a progress to promoting your pawn? If your interested here is a pos, edited the correct position: edit: 8/7k/8/5q1P/1P6/8/3Q3K/8 w - - 0 1

[@shekhar2264]

nice

[@goodlyboony]

Chess Vibes and Gotham Chess are the best teachers / chess channels

[@scottyoung2601]

As a beginner I just played a game where knowledge of the Lucena position was much needed.

[@goldeer7129]

Trick at 14:06, if black doesn't push his pawn, but moves his king to a1, DO NOT take the pawn. Yep, stalemate trick. Just do a waiting move with your rook and black will be forced to move away.

[@oenrn]

Or just play Ra8 and it's checkmate.

[@Suetheanimator]

Nice video! My son wanted me to write that at 15:29 you could have forced the pawn to advance

[@gregmartin3425]

20:48 again, because the Black King is so far away white can win simply by Re1 followed by Ke7, no bridge required. However if Black's King was not cut off and was at d7, for example, then a proper Lucena bridge would have to be built

[@user-ch2kt8mz4b]

you mean Re2 not e1 i guess? i also thinking "why not bringing Re2 in this position, looks like its win too bcs black king too far", bridge ofc make sence as universal tool for all kinds of same situations no matter of black king position, just for this exact situation)

[@chessforfunonly1586]

Can you also do the Vancura position?

[@greenant9139]

One question: On 21:10 (after ..Rg1) can white play Re7? It looks to me that he can still get the queen promotion this way (Lucena`s position is still better, because in this way black would capture the queen and white would remain with K+R instead of K+Q). Just wondering.

[@connerdill9940]

So very helpful, as is the rest of your content.

[@ChessVibesOfficial]

Thanks a lot, Conner!

[@mysteryGuySaysHi]

14:29 can we play Kb1 instead of Rb8?

[@GeorgiosMichalopoulos]

My man knows the Italian plural of tempo, respect!!

[@samthegamer4910]

Hey what is better 2 rooks or 1 queen?

[@anupamroy3052]

Till today, i was able to make the game equal for me and my opponent and bring it into these rook and pawns endgame. But unfortunately, i lost in most of the games because I didn't know these although both my and opponent's points were equal. But , after seeing these i got to know so much that I hope to win in the next games

[@john2001plus]

It has been my experience that King and Pawn endings are the most common.

[@nanabatetamin3417]

At 21:9 white could also win by playing Rook e2... Am I right please reply sir

[@russellmurray1636]

Great video. One question is in the example where the Black King is cut off from the pawn. If the Black King continues to wait on the sixth rank, what happens when the White King finally steps across on to the f file potentially blocking the Rook. Then b2 cannot be met by Rf1 and Rb1. Does White have another winning method in that case?

[@jaideepshekhar4621]

Easy. Move Rook back to h5.

[@lehmamoo2627]

15:20 doesn't Rf3 after pawn to b3 win on the spot? King can't defend it and the pawn will get eaten by Rb3 if the pawn goes to b2.

[@hao2000ki]

for the lucena position at 21:00, why cant white play e2 or f2? if the point is to use the rook to block check, isn't it better to just use the rook to control the file in the first place so that the black rook cant even deliver check?

[@IngTomT]

If white plays Re2 black can bring the rook to the side and give you side way checks but then you can just hide the king behind the pawn at b7, then black will pin the pawn with his rook but then you just play Kb8 and in case of check you can block with your rook which is then coverd by the pawn

[@yeetman3685]

In the shown Lucena, isn't RF2 also winning? Because no matter what your opponent does, you can bail your king to the side, then behind your pawn and in front of the rook, and then there are no more safe checks, and you get a queen.

[@tottenvillelegend826]

At 12:23 White can play Ra8 for checkmate.

[@mislavivkovic9996]

Nelson if he want to get Queen on h8 you can let him by not going diagonal to the king si let him make the Queen and than give him a chech with rook and he have to lose a Queen

[@thealchemist1480]

What about move rook e2 at 20:56? and then bringing king e8, it should also be enough for preventing check on e1, and queening on next move, Please explain.

[@zanti4132]

Yes, Re2 is faster. And even faster than Re2 is Rf2, followed by Ke7 and Kf6. These two quicker wins are possible because the Black king is cut off one file more than necessary, which we can fix with a little adjustment to the position: put the White rook on d2 and the Black king on c7. Now after Re2 or Rf2, Black plays ...Kd7 to keep the White king from playing Ke7. But wait, there's more... "Building a bridge" still isn't strictly necessary because White can also win with the maneuver Rh2-Rh8-Rg8 to chase the Black rook off the g-file. In fact, I think the only positions where building a bridge is the only way to win are when the pawn is a knight pawn (let's assume it's a g-pawn) and the Black king is on d6 or d7, cut off by the White rook on the e file. Then you have to play Re4! to make progress.

[@Bradex.]

In the last position doesnt Rf2 work? Cant you also bring your rook to g7 to hide the king?

[@ChessVibesOfficial]

Great observations! Yes, both of those ideas actually do win in this position. However, there are certain cases where those ideas won't work, for example, if white's king and pawn are on the g file and black has his rook on the h file and his king on the e file, then white will need to resort to the building a bridge method to win. In hindsight, I probably should have chosen a different example position, but props to you for finding those alternate ways to win!

[@garljoens]

In the first example, would a more experienced player for black just leave their rook in defense against an A file pass pawn and leverage their king and doubled pawns against white's FGH pawns?

[@manthanbhosale6255]

What is theme name?

[@Captain_Leo10]

@21:10 if you play just Re2 .. it’s winning easily

[@ashtonmccloud1161]

In the second to last position why not waste a move or 2 on moving whites rook back and forth until black blunders? Because instead of moving the pawn like black wants you to wouldn't black be in position where they don't want to move but they have to then move your king up in front of the pawn?

[@victorlenin8921]

Отличный канал, все понятно объяснил, постараюсь применить в своей игре (Привет из России ;)

[@vojtechsejkora1554]

What to do if at 8:40 black more Rg2? I do not see, how we can manage to not loose a piece. But maybe Kb5 then?

[@oenrn]

I think the best move there would be to push g4, essentially giving up the h4 pawn for the a5 one, but keeping the connected f3-g4 chain that can be protected with Rc3 and creating a passed pawn on a4.

[@justinwall5249]

At 20:35 could white also just go Re2 to block for the king on the next move?

[@jaideepshekhar4621]

I think that is drawing. Just move Rook to h1. King moves to e7, bring Rook to h7. Pinned. King moves to e6, check. King moves back to e7, Rook to h7. King moves to f8, bring Rook back to h1. Can't really do much.

[@huananko5160]

@@jaideepshekhar4621 nah that will work , u probably forgot King to e8 option if the rooks checks on h8 simply queen and Black rook will need to sacrifice for it ,and get a king rook endgame

[@rainerausdemspring3584]

The link for "Winning Chess Endings" is broken or it may not work in Germany.