C&C Chess Club

Queen against rook — zugzwang and fork

White wins White to move · Queen endgames · Difficulty about Elo 1900

Position: 1k6/1r6/1K6/8/8/4Q3/8/8 w - - 0 1
White to move · FEN 1k6/1r6/1K6/8/8/4Q3/8/8 w - - 0 1

The plan

Queen against rook is won — but it is one of the hardest 'won' endgames in practice. The defender STICKS the rook to the king (the Philidor defence, as here on b7/b8): as long as the two stay together, there is no fork. The winning path goes through ZUGZWANG: a quiet move, and Black is left with only rook moves — the rook has to let go. Then a check series drives the king until rook and king stand on the same file, rank or diagonal, and the FORK wins the rook. The rest is the basic mate with the queen.

Why this level: Zugzwang and fork — technically demanding

The solution, move by move

  1. 1. Ka6 The quiet move — no check, no threat, just ZUGZWANG: every black move worsens the position, because the rook has to leave the king.
  2. 1… Rd7 The rook lets go — from now on it lives in constant danger of a fork.
  3. 2. Qc5
    Sideline 2. Qc3 A quiet move too — but the wrong one. The queen has to take the checking squares away from the rook, otherwise it has some of its own. 2… Ra7+ The PERPETUAL CHECK: the rook attaches itself to the white king and never lets go. White must never capture it, because then nothing would be left on the board. 3. Kb6 Rb7+ 4. Ka6 Ra7+ And again. A draw by repetition — the defender's second lifeline besides the trade.
  4. 2… Rd1
  5. 3. Kb6
  6. 3… Rb1+
  7. 4. Kc6
    Sideline 4. Qb5 The check is blocked with the queen — the most costly mistake in this endgame. 4… Rxb5+ The rook takes it at once. This is exactly what the defender has been waiting for the whole time: trade rook for queen once, and the point is halved. 5. Kxb5 Bare kings. That is why in the main line the king dodges the check instead of putting the queen in front of it.
  8. 4… Rb7
  9. 5. Qa5
  10. 5… Rb1
  11. 6. Qe5+ The check series begins: the queen drives the king and keeps the wandering rook in its sights the whole time.
  12. 6… Ka7
  13. 7. Qd4+
  14. 7… Ka8
  15. 8. Qh8+
  16. 8… Ka7
  17. 9. Qh7+ The FORK: check on h7 — and at the other end of the same diagonal stands the rook on b1. This motif is almost always the death of the rook.
  18. 9… Kb8
  19. 10. Qxb1+ The rook falls. The defender should have kept it with the king for as long as possible.
  20. 10… Kc8
  21. 11. Qb4
  22. 11… Kd8 No other square. Without the rook, the king on the back rank is immediately in the queen's mating zone — the piece it had kept separated from its own king for too long is now missing as cover.
  23. 12. Qf8# Mate — the captured rook has turned into the basic mate with the queen.

Play it yourself

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