Basic Checkmates: How to Win with a King and Rook

Checkmate with the King and Rook, by Ms Jessica Martin (aka BoundingOwl)

Hi kids!  Since you are all such great dancers with the king and queen, now you are ready to learn the king and rook checkmate.  It's amazing that all you need is one king and one rook to force a checkmate to happen, but it's true!  Do you want to learn how?

everywhere rooks

One rook, two rook, red rook, blue rook...

First, let's look at our final checkmate position.  What should white play?

Rooks are great at back rank mates because they can guard an entire rank, or horizontal line on a chessboard.  They can also guard files.  Do you know the word for up-and-down lines?

So the king and rook mate works a lot like the queen dance because they will slowly make the box around the king smaller and smaller and smaller until... CHECKMATE!

Think of the king as a dog running loose in your neighborhood. He is pretty cute, but you can't exactly tackle him, so you create an invisible fence around him, until he gets in his own yard (with parent supervision, of course). Your dad will be close by in case you need him to block the giant Newfoundland from escaping.

doggie

Basically, we need dad.  Step one:  get your king and rook together.

 After Rd8, you are doing two things:  1)  You and dad are teamed up; and, 2) you have already made a box around the king!  Do you see it?

The pattern is simple:  Ask yourself one question, "Can I make the box smaller (safely)?"  If so, move your rook, if not, move your king.  That's it!  Notice, NO CHECKS!  Sometimes just running around checking the king all day is pretty boring.  In fact, it's probably going to be a draw if you just say check, check, check...and never checkMATE.  It's like you and the dog are having a face off, and you get in front of him, but then he runs to the side.  So you get in front again, AH HAH! but then he trots to the other side.  Pretty soon, you're going to get tired.

Instead, use your king and rook together.  Can you make the box smaller?

So, you bring in your rook so the box gets smaller.  If you can't bring in your rook because you would get tackled and lose it or you would make check, then bring in your king!  Dad is good at blocking giant dogs.

 
Now all we do is continue this pattern.  We will keep asking, "Can we make the box smaller?"  Watch the next few moves.
 
 
Your turn!
Now what?  You have a great move here, after Kg2...

 
That's right!  Kg4 makes opposition.  We will talk more about this in other endgames, but it basically means there is an odd number of squares in between the two kings.  It's like football players holding each other back; the kings can't move forward.
 
 
Keep going until the king gets into the corner.
Now that he's in the corner, your king needs to be a knight's distance away from the corner.  So where is he headed?
 
Well, the rook is on g3 so that won't work, but how about f2?
Once the king is in the corner and your king is a knight's distance away, there should be checkmate!  Can you find it?
 
Quick review:  Step 1.  Kings and rook work together (you need dad's help).
Step 2.  Ask yourself (in your head, not out loud), "Can I make the box smaller safely?" Step 3.  Answer (in your head!):  Yes.  Then make the box smaller.  No, then bring in the king.  (And try for opposition.) Step 4.  When the dog/king is in the corner, get your king a knight's move away from the corner.  And don't let me catch you moving the king like a knight.
Step 5.  CHECKMATE!  (No stalemates, please.) The end!  Go play!