Achieving Checkmate w/ Only King & Rook | Chess Video Lecture | Learn to Play Chess: From a Novice to a Fierce Competitor - Hobbies

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hi coach Ross here with chess NYC and
we're going to look at the king and rook
checkmate when looking at this position
it is actually impossible to create a
position where the king of the rook can
checkmate the King in the center of the
board so that leaves us with four
options in order for the king and rook
to checkmate an opponent's king the
opponent's king must be on one of the
four sides of the board the h-file the
first rank the a file or the eighth rank
and once a king or the opponent's king
is in one of these four sides of the
board it is possible for the king and
the rook to checkmate the King now let's
look at an ending position in a position
such as this the opponent's king is on
the side of the board and now it is
possible for white to execute a
checkmate in this particular position
the White's King has created something
called opposition opposition meaning
that the whites King controls all three
escape squares of the opponent's king in
front of the King the whites king
controls F 7 e7 and D 7 therefore if the
white rook was able to execute a check
it will leave no other option for the
king but checkmate
white can simply play rook goes down to
a a checking the King and due to the
opposition and the white king
controlling F 7 e7 and d7 for all three
squares in front of the King this is
simply a checkmate now how do we force
our ponens King to one of the four sides
we are going to try to improve the
position or the space of the king of the
rook versus the King and first and
foremost we would always like to improve
the position of the rook first or take
more space so in looking at this
position as a starting position where
can White's rook go to improve its
position to the maximum amount and
control the most space and in this
position white rook is simply going to
to see six in this position as you can
notice it controls the whole C file and
the sixth-ranked giving blacks King only
this area to maneuver if blacks King
were to go down one square we're going
to improve the position we should always
like I said before improve the position
of the rook first and in this position
we can improve the positions of the rook
in two different ways we can prove the
rook position here taking away from the
C file now we control the B file or we
can go and play c5 instead of
controlling the sixth rank we are going
to control the fifth rank in this
position we are going to play this
smooth black responds and black plays
King a5 now we have to see if we can
connect
is there anywhere where this rook can
improve its current position and the
answer is no there's nowhere where this
rook can go that's going to give it
greater space so now we look at the King
and we make a move and improve the
position with the King blacks only
response is to the King to come down and
once again how do we improve the
position first we look at the rook and
we are able to take more space with the
rook giving blacks King one response and
now can we improve the position with the
rook and the answer this position
there's no moves to the rook that's
going to take more space so that gives
us the second option improve the
position with the King in this position
Kings gonna come over once again how can
we take more space and can we take more
space with the rook and the answer is no
so we'll look at the second option take
more space with the King King comes down
and this I asked you this question can
we improve the position with the rook
and in this answer yes we can take more
space King has one option is to go to a
two and now we have to ask ourselves can
we improve the position with the rook
answer is yes we can take more space
once again the King comes down and we
asked ourselves again can the rook
improve the position the answer is no
there is nowhere where this work can go
that's going to take more space
so the king comes down and once again
the king takes space Kings only moves to
go up and now we're in a situation where
we need to begin to calculate we've
gotten the King in very close quarters
and we have to execute a checkmate the
King wound up can we improve the
position with the rook and the answer is
no we can take no further space so we
improve the position with the King
blacks only responses the King come down
and now in this position we're going to
see how can we improve the position to
the maximum in this case the maximum
position is a checkmate for white so
looking at this position it's white
simply plays rook a3 and this is a
checkmate white controls what King
controls these xscape squares white rook
executes a checkmate and the game is
over so in this position we had forced
the King into the corner we've improved
the position first with the rook and if
there's no improvement the rook we've
improved it with the King forcing our
opponents King to one of the four sides
of the board and eventually we're going
to be executing a checkmate
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