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Arshak Petrosyan: 
 
Practical rook endgames 

 
In this article I would like to illustrate, with 
couple of examples from the highest level, 
the need of knowing important positions and 
how we can benefit from it in practical play. 
In one of our sessions about rook endgames 
beginning of 2002 with Peter Leko, we had a 
look at the famous Botvinnik : Najdorf 
endgame and little did we know at that time 
that it will soon be a start of a special 
journey. First it was like a fairytale that just 
3 month later Peter managed to win a 
blindfold game against Topalov in Monaco, 
by exactly the same method as in the studied 
classic. It is always a great feeling to get a 
reward for the hard work. However that is 
only the beginning of the story because 
Topalov after waiting for 11 years got the 
chance to use the same method to win. Last 
but not least the game Caruana : Anand from 
2015 showed that, if you already have the 
knowledge about the dangers, how you can 
use it for defending a difficult position! So, 
first let`s start with the classical example. 
 
Botvinnik M. : Najdorf M. 
Moscow 1956 

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We should keep in mind that this is a 
winning position for White and as the 

following examples will prove, keeping this 
in mind can help us in different situations to 
aim for this transition! Before looking at the 
exact way to win this position, let`s see how 
did Botvinnik got to this position in that 
legendary game. White is clearly in the 
driver seat, but still needs to be precise. 
Botvinnik as usual showed excellent technic. 
1.Kf5!  
The activation of the king is decisive. 
1...Rb5  
1...Rf3? 2.Kg6+–. 
2.Ke6 a3 3.f4!  
White has the vision what he is aiming for! 
3...a2 
3...Ra5 4.Ra7+–. 
4.Ra7 Rb6 5.Kf5 
The material is balanced but Black is 
hopeless. 
5...Rb7 
5...Rb2 6.Kg6 Kf8 7.Ra8 Ke7 8.Kg7 Rg2 
9.Ra7! Ke6 10.Kh6 Rg4 11.f5 Ke5 12.Ra2 
Re4 13.Ra5 and next Kg6 wins. 
6.Ra2 Kf7 

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7.Ra5! 
7.e5 leads to the same, but newertheless it is 
worth mentioning the precision with which 
the legendary World Champion treats this 
endgame. Black is doomed to passive 
defence, so White first improves the position 
to the maximum before taking action. 
7...Rc7 8.Rd5!  
The ideal placement of the rook. Now 

FIDE Surveys - Arshak Petrosyan 

Stran 2 

 

everything is set to push the e-pawn. 
8...Ra7 9.e5 fe5 10.fe5 Ke7 
10...Rb7 11.Rd7 Rd7 12.e6 Ke7 13.ed7 Kd7 
14.Kg6 wins. 
11.e6 

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Now Rd7 check is threatening with a 
winning pawn endgame. 
11...Ra4 
11...Ra6 12.Rd7 Kf8 13.Kg6! (It is always a 
pleasure to make such move.) 13...Re6 
14.Kh7 and Black will lose both his pawns. 
12.g5!  
Systemathic approach! 12.Re5 is also good. 
12...hg5 
12...Ra7 would have been a more stubborn 
defence, but would have ended with the 
same result. 

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13.Re5! (Key move, which one should 

remember! One always has to watch out, as 
13.Rd7? would spoil everything: 13...Rd7 
14.ed7 Kd7 15.Kg6 hg5 16.Kg7 g4 and it 
ends in draw.) 13...hg5 14.Kg5 (14.Kg6 Kf8 
15.Rf5 wins as well.) 14...Ra1 (14...Ra6 
15.Kg6+–; 14...Kf8 15.Kg6 Re7 16.h6 gh6 
17.Kf6 Ra7 18.Rb5 Ra8 19.Rb7 Rc8 
20.Rh7+–) 15.Kg6 Rg1 16.Rg5! Rg5 17.Kg5 
Ke6 18.Kg6+–. 
13.Rd7 Kf8 14.Rf7 Kg8 15.Kg6 g4 16.h6!? 
16.Rg7 of course wins as well. 
16...gh6 17.e7 Ra8 18.Rf6! 1:0. 
Elegant solution. There is no defence against 
Rd6–d8, therefore black resigned:  
18…Re8 19.Rd6 Re7 20.Rd8+–. 
 
Leko P. : Topalov V. 
Monaco 2002 

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This endgame is objectively a draw, but 
having looked at the Botvinnik : Najdorf 
game just a few month before, Leko tries to 
use his chance to pose as much problems to 
the opponent as possible. 
1.Be4! Be4 
Not an easy choice, because the 3 versus 2 
endgame with the free e-pawn gives good 
practical chances for White, even if it is 
objectively draw. 
Black`s problem is that if he avoids the 
exchange of the bishops with 1...Bf7 this 
case White gets a complete free hand for 
pushing his kingside pawns, which can 
eventually lead to trouble.  2.Ra6 (Just to 

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stop g6, Kg7 setup.) 2...Kg8 3.h4 Kf8 4.g4 
Kg8 5.Ke3 Kf8 6.Kf4 and this is looking 
scary followed by g4–g5 even, if it is not 
clear whether its enough for a win or not. 
There was a clever way to react with 
1...Rd2! 2.Kg3 Rd6! 3.h4 Kg8 4.Ra7 and 
now is the time to exchange the bishops: 
4...Be4 5.fe4 Rg6! (The front checks are 
very effective here.) 6.Kf3 Rf6 7.Ke3 Rg6 
and White has no good way to stabilze his 
position.  
2.fe4 Rd2 3.Kf3 Kg8 4.h4 
White would love to cut the Black king but it 
does not work here. 4.Ra7 is met by 4...Rd3 
5.Kf4 Rd2. 
4...Kf7 

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5.h5 
As Peter told me after his game, it was very 
hard to resist the temptation of trying to 
reach the Botvinnik : Najdorf position. 
Objectively it would have been better to play 
5.Ra6! h5 6.g3 g6 7.Kf4 Rd3 and it might 
look like an easy draw, but White has the 
strong rook manouevre with 8.Ra1! Ke6 
9.Rf1 Kf6 10.Rf3! (This is what White had 
in mind.) 10...Rd1 11.e5! (This is the idea. 
Now Black is forced to go back to g7.) 
11...Kg7 (11...Ke6 12.Kg5 wins.) 12.Ke4 
(Cutting the black king.) 12...Ra1! (Black 
prepares the long side checks.) 13.Rc3 and 
White has excellent chances, but it is very 
hard to say if by perfect play from both sides  
it is theoretically draw or a win. That would 

be a topic of another article ... 
5...Rb2?  
Careless, but we should not forget that this 
was a rapid blindfold game. It was important 
to activate the black king before White 
manages to get the iron grip. 5...Kf6! (Or 
Ke6 6.g4 Ke5 7.Ra5 Ke6 8.Ra6 Ke5 and 
there is no way to progress.) 9.Rg6 Rd3=. 
6.Ra6!  
Now one would feel that the position is 
winning for White, but I had still discovered 
some defensive ressources. 
6...Rb1! 7.g4 
Natural play. Over the board it is always 
difficult to decide whether to play g4 or Kf4 
first. 7.Kf4 Rf1 8.Ke5 Rg1! (This must have 
been the reason why Leko opted for g4 first.) 
9.Ra7 Kg8 10.Ra2 (Going for activity with 
10.Kd6 Rg2 11.e5 is well answered by 
11...Rd2 12.Ke7 g6! saves black.) Also here 
the same idea with 10...g6!! (10...Kf7 11.Rf2 
Ke7 12.Kf5 wins.) 11.hg6 (11.Kf6 gh5 12.e5 
Rf1 13.Ke7 Kg7 14.e6 Rb1) 11...Kg7 
12.Kd6 Rd1 13.Ke6 Rb1! is very important 
and Black should hold. 
7...Rf1 8.Ke3 
The crucial moment. 

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8...Rg1  
Only this is the losing move, but practically 
with little time this is very hard to 
understand. Black had to keep the rook on 
the f-file which cuts the ideal route of the 
White king. 8...Ke7! 9.Kd4 (9.e5 Kf7! 

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simply waiting.) 9...Rg1 10.Rg6 Kf7 11.Ke5 
(Looks like White has almost achieved his 
aim, but only almost ...) 11...Rg2! and it 
turns out that White has no way of 
improving his position. 
9.Kf4  
From now on Black is in a hopeless 
situation, because there is no good way to 
fight against the activiation of the White 
king. 
9...Rb1  
9…Rf1 was a better practical chance, but as 
analysis proved it was also insufficient:  
10.Ke5 Rf2 11.Ra7 Kf8 12.Rd7! (The best 
square for the rook.) 12...Rf1 13.Ke6 Rf6 
14.Kd5 Rf4 15.e5 Rg4 16.Kd6! (This is the 
killer; 16.Ke6 g5!) 16...Re4 17.Ke6! Kg8 
18.Rd8 Kh7 19.Kd6 and White wins. 
10.Ra7 Kf8 11.e5 Rb6 12.Kf5 Rc6 13.Rd7 
Ra6 14.g5!  
And the famous umbrella! 
14...hg5 15.e6 g4 
15...Ra1 16.Rf7 Kg8 17.Kg6+–. 
16.h6! gh6 17.Kf6 Kg8 18.Rg7 Kh8 19.Rg4 
And a few moves later black resigned. 1:0. 
 
Topalov V. :  Jepson C. 
Rhodes 2013 

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After a long battle the diagram position was 
reached. It is a typical endgame situation 
which has no theoretical categorization. In 
such cases we use the term, objectively 
probably draw, but very good practical 

winning chances. To be able to handle such 
situationswell in over the board play, it is 
very important to know what we are playing 
for, as the stronger side and what we are 
suppose to avoidwhen being from the 
defending side. 
1.Ne1!  
There is no other way to make progress. The 
knight is heading to the ideal square d3 from 
which it protects the f2 pawn and opens the 
way for the White king. Later we will see 
that there is even more to it ... 
1...Bh4?  
Black has not yet understood the danger and 
falls right into White`s plan. 
If Black would have sensed the danger, this 
case it would have been easy to understand 
that Black has to go for activity and disturb 
White`s plan. 1...Kd5! 2.Ra4 Bd4! 3.Nd3 
Rd2 and White is just not in time to stabilize 
his forces. 4.Nf4 Ke5 5.Nh3 is the only way 
to keep on fighting, but here it is obvious 
that Black should objectively hold this 
position. 
2.Nd3 Rd2 3.Rd4!  
A very strong move, which was probably 
missed by the opponent. 
3...Ra2 

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4.Kf3! 
White has managed to get the ideal 
coordination and from now on black can`t do 
anything, just to sit and wait till White 
improves the position to the maximum. 

FIDE Surveys - Arshak Petrosyan 

Stran 5 

 

4...Rc2 5.Ra4!  
Immediately taking the best possible file. 
5...Bg5 6.Ra6 Ke7 7.Ke4 Rc4 8.Kf5 Rd4 
9.Ra3 Bf6 10.f4 Rd7 

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11.Ne5! 
Finally we reached the position which 
Topalov has visionized when playing Ne1! 
Black is in a complete box. Now all White 
needs to do is to force black to capture the 
knight on e5 which after fxe5 allows the 
transition to our model game. 
11...Rc7 12.Ra8 Be5 
Finally black gives in. There was no escape. 
12...Rb7 13.Ra6 Rc7 14.Kg6 Rb7 15.Nf7! 
Bc3 16.Nd6 wins. 
13.fe5 Kf7 14.Ra5 Ke7 15.Ra6 
15.e6 is, of course, already possible. 
15...Kf7 16.Rd6 Ke7 17.Rd5 Rc6 18.Rb5 
Rc7 19.e6 Kd6 20.Re5!  
We already very well know this idea! After 
the pawn is defended the White king enters 
to g6. 
20...Ke7 
20...Rb7 21.Re4 Ke7 22.Kg6. 
21.Kg6 Rc4 22.Kg7 Rg4 23.Kh6 Rh4 
24.Kg5 Rh1 25.h6 Rg1 26.Kf5 
11 years after his game against Leko, 
Topalov managed to benefit from that 
experience! This is chess, you never know 
when you will be able to use your 
knowledge, but you have to be ready for that 
exact moment! 1:0. 
 

Caruana F. : Anand V. 
London 2015 

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In the following position Anand 
demonstrated excellent knowledge (or 
intuition) in order to save a very difficult 
game against Caruana who had come up 
with a strong novelty in the opening and kept 
the pressure. 
1...a5!  
Forcing a liquidation as passive defence 
feels clearly wrong. 
2.Ra5 b3 3.Ra7 b2 4.Rb7 
This was exactly the 40th move and by 
seeing the complexity of the fight I assume 
that both where in time trouble. 
4...Ra8 
Following the plan, but here as it turns out 
Black had missed an easy solution, which is 
immediately pointed out by the engines, but 
it is difficult to spot such moments during 
over the board play once in time pressure. 
4...Rd8! 5.Ke3 (5.Nd3 Re8 6.Kf3 Bd4) 
5...g5!? and our silicon friend even plays this 
fancy move (The more human 5...Bd2 6.Kf3 
Bc3 is also draw.) 6.hg6 Rd1 7.Rb8 Kg7 
8.Rb7 Kg8=. 
5.Kd3! Be5 6.fe5 Ra2 7.Ke4 
 

 

FIDE Surveys - Arshak Petrosyan 

Stran 6 

 

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7...Ra1!  
It turns out that it is not the only way to 
draw, but practically clearly the best choice. 
In such positions, if you have the chance to 
have a 1st rank rook, just go for it! But let`s 
see the alternative: 7...b1Q 8.Rb1 Kf7 9.Rb7 
Ke6 10.Rb6 Kf7 11.Kf4! (This is a serious 
winning attempt here, but with very precise 
defence Black holds. It is easier to do so in 
the analysis at the comfort of home than over 
the boardplay after many hours of hard 
struggle.) 11...Rf2! (11...Ra1 12.Rb7 Ke6 
13.Rg7 Ra4 14.Kg3 Ke5 15.Rg6 wins.) 
12.Kg3 (12.Ke3 Rf1) 12...Rf1! 13.Rb7 Ke6! 
(The passive defence loses 13...Kf8 14.Rd7! 
Kg8 15.Rd3! and because of the Rf3 threat 
Black is unable to defend: 15...Re1 16.Kf4 
Rf1 17.Ke4 wins.) 14.Rg7 Ke5 15.Rg6 (The 
only try, but the resulting pawn ending is 
just a draw.) 15...Rf6 16.Rf6 Kf6 17.Kf4 
Ke6=. 
8.Rb2 Kf7 
The crucial point is that Kf5 can be met by 
Rf1 check, but what if White starts with 
Rb7? 
9.Rb7 Ke6! 
Very important defensive position which one 
should remember! 
10.Rb6 Kf7 11.Rb7  
Now with the rook on the 1st rank the same 
Kf4 try is easily neutralized 11.Kf4 Rf1 
12.Kg3 Rg1! and Black has this extra check 
now! 13.Kf3 Rf1 draws on the spot. 

11...Ke6 12.Rg7 
Since there is no way to progress White 
decided to try this. 
12...Ra4 13.Kf3 Ke5 14.Re7  
14.Kg3 Ra3 15.Kh4 Ra6 (There is no way to 
improve the position as the rook exchange 
leads also only to draw.) 16.Rg6 Rg6 17.hg6 
Kf6 18.Kh5 Kg7. 
14...Kf6 15.Rh7 Kg5 16.Rg7 Kh4 17.Rg6 
Rb4 18.Rh6 Rb3 19.Kf4 Rb4 20.Ke5 Kg4 
21.Rh8 Rb5 22.Ke4 Rh5 23.Rh5 Kh5 
I am pretty sure that we will still see many 
more examples for this theme in the future as 
it has a very big practical value. ½.