Vancura — draw against the rook pawn

Draw Black to move · Rook endgames · Difficulty about Elo 1700

The plan

Against a rook pawn the Philidor defence fails: behind the pawn there is only the edge of the board. The rescue is called Vancura, and its idea is the attack FROM THE SIDE. Your own rook places itself on the rank the pawn stands on and pins it down there — if the pawn advances further, it falls. In the same position the rook is at the same time the one giving check: if the strong king approaches the pawn, side checks drive it away again, and it cannot dodge them, because its own rook sits locked up in the corner in front of the pawn and it has no hiding place left behind the rook pawn. The price for this rescue is extreme accuracy. Of the eighteen moves in the starting position exactly ONE holds the draw; the other seventeen lose. Even the set-up itself tolerates no square off: on the pawn's rank only two squares hold, namely those four and five files away from the pawn — if the rook stands closer, the king attacks it when dodging (there is a lesson of its own in this collection for that), if it stands further out, it is in its own king's way. And its own king must stand just as precisely: from g7 and h7 the position holds, one square off — f7, h6 or h8 — it is lost.

Rule of thumb: against the rook pawn, put the rook SIDEWAYS on the pawn's rank, four to five files away — and behind the pawn in good time, before it reaches the seventh rank.

Why this level: The rescue against the rook pawn

The solution, move by move

1. 1… Rf5+ The ONLY move that holds — one of eighteen. The side check from a distance is the heart of the Vancura idea: against the rook pawn the king finds no hiding place from it, because behind the pawn there is only the edge of the board.
   Sideline 1… Rf7 The Philidor reflex: the rook goes to the seventh rank. Against a centre pawn that would be right — against the rook pawn it loses, like sixteen other moves here too. 2. Rc8 The white rook leaves the square in front of its own pawn and becomes active. From the seventh rank Black now has no disturbing checks left. 2… Kh7 3. Kb6 Rf6+ 4. Kb7 Rf7+ 5. Rc7 And that is the reason: the active rook offers a TRADE, and the black rook has no square left from which to escape it. 5… Rxc7+ 6. Kxc7 The pawn runs through. Remember: against the rook pawn it is not the seventh rank that helps, but the rook SIDEWAYS on the pawn's rank.
2. 2. Ka4 The king has to get away from the pawn. Forward does not work, because the rook stands far enough away to give check after check without being attacked itself.
3. 2… Rf4+ And straight away the next check, one rank down.
4. 3. Ka3 The king is pushed away. Every attempt to come close again starts over from the beginning — that is exactly why the position is a draw.
5. 3… Rf1 Now the rook switches to the back, BEFORE the pawn reaches the seventh rank. On the pawn's rank it would have nothing left to attack there once the pawn moves on.
6. 4. a7 White pushes the pawn forward — and so walls his own rook into the corner for good.
7. 4… Ra1+ Behind the rook pawn the rook is now stuck forever: if the king approaches, there is a check; if it lets the rook be, the pawn never gets to promote.
   Sideline 4… Rf6 Back to the Vancura square — only the pawn already stands on the seventh rank, and from there the rook no longer attacks it. One move too late, and that is the defence's second limit. 5. Rg8+ The DEFLECTION. The white rook sacrifices itself, because the black king MUST take it — and in doing so gives up defending the queening square. 5… Kxg8 6. a8=Q+ Queen against rook is won. That is why the rook has to get BEHIND the pawn onto the back rank in time, where no deflection can catch it. 6… Kf7
8. 5. Kb2 The king looks for cover but finds none that also frees the rook from the corner. A draw.

More in Rook endgames

• Philidor — the drawing defence Draw
• Short side, long side Draw
• The rook behind the passed pawn White wins
• Rook against pawn — the king catches it White wins
• Lucena — the winning position White wins
• Rook against pawn — one square too far Draw