Saavedra — the queen is too strong

White wins White to move · Endgame principles · Difficulty about Elo 1700

The plan

The most famous endgame study of all, published in 1895 by Barbier and Saavedra, and it teaches a rule you really need at the tournament: promoting does not automatically mean queening. White has a pawn against a rook, and only the immediate advance wins. After that the black rook checks the white king down the b-file; the king has to give way onto the b-file each time and must never let go of the pawn. Once at the bottom it steps next to the pawn and attacks the rook at the same time — that is the only move in the whole study that still wins. Black then has one last, beautiful defence: he places the rook so that the fresh queen is deflected by a rook sacrifice on the c-file and Black is left STALEMATE. That is why it becomes not a queen but a ROOK — the rook immediately threatens mate in the corner, Black has to move his own rook out of the way and is mated all the same.

Rule of thumb: where the opponent can only hope for stalemate, the queen is too strong — take the rook instead. Compare the sister lesson 'Promotion with a fork'.

Why this level: Saavedra: the queen is too strong

The solution, move by move

1. 1. c7 The ONLY winning move out of five. Every king move gives Black time to get the rook behind the pawn — then everything is a draw.
   Sideline 1. Kb7 Standing in for every king move on the first move: the pawn stands still for a moment — and that is one moment too many. 1… Rd8 The rook gets IN FRONT OF the pawn and sits on the queening square. From here White can never get it through again: a draw.
2. 1… Rd6+ Black starts the series of checks. It is not desperation but a plan: the rook wants to separate the white king from its pawn.
3. 2. Kb5 The ONLY winning move. The king has to stay on the b-file and must not lose sight of the pawn for a moment — onto the c-file or away from it and it is an immediate draw.
4. 2… Rd5+
5. 3. Kb4
6. 3… Rd4+
7. 4. Kb3 On c3 it wins too, but the b-file is the study's own path: the king draws the next check onto itself and so comes down a rank.
8. 4… Rd3+
9. 5. Kc2 The ONLY winning move out of four, and a double blow: the king now stands next to its pawn AND attacks the black rook. Black has only a single trick left.
10. 5… Rd4 And there it is. The rook dodges the attack in such a way that it keeps the fourth rank — after a promotion to queen it could capture on c4, the queen has to recapture, and Black is stalemate (sideline).
11. 6. c8=R Hence ROOK. It threatens mate on the first rank, and it gives no stalemate because Black still has a rook move. The app plays out underpromotions correctly.
    Sideline 6. c8=Q The natural move — and the point of the whole study: it does not win. 6… Rc4+ The rook sacrifice on the c-file. The queen stands on c8, the rook on c4, nothing in between: capturing is compulsory, otherwise the queen is lost. 7. Qxc4 And now Black is STALEMATE. One pawn down and a half point instead of a whole one, just because the strongest piece was chosen.
    Sideline 6. c8=B The other underpromotions are no substitute either: the bishop covers neither the first rank nor the decisive square c4. 6… Rc4+ The same deflecting check as against the queen — except the bishop is not able to meet it. 7. Kd3 Rxc8 Piece gone, and White even loses. So the rook sacrifice on c4 is the common thread: only the ROOK on c8 holds against it.
12. 6… Ra4 The only try: the rook covers the mating squares from the side while attacking at the same time.
13. 7. Kb3 The ONLY winning move out of eighteen. The king attacks the rook while continuing to help cover the mating net; Black can no longer prevent mate.
14. 7… Ra8 The rook has to save itself, and loses its cover of the first rank in doing so.
15. 8. Rc1# Mate. A queen here would only have drawn.

More in Endgame principles

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• Promotion with a fork Draw
• When to trade White wins
• The saving trade Draw
• The king has to come along White wins
• The bishop only sees half the world White wins