Editing Chess endgame (section)

====Rook and pawn versus rook====
{{main|Rook and pawn versus rook endgame}}
{{Chess diagram  
|tright
|Fine & Benko, diagram 646
|  |  |  |  |kl|  |  |  
|  |  |  |  |pl|  |kd|  
|  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  
|  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  
|  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  
|  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  
|rd|  |  |  |  |  |  |  
|  |  |  |  |  |rl|  |  
|White to play wins because of the [[Lucena position]].  Black to play draws with 1...Ra8+, either because of [[perpetual check]] or winning the pawn.
}}
Generally (but not always), if the defending king can reach the queening square of the pawn the game is a draw (see [[Philidor position]]), otherwise the attacker usually wins (if it is not a rook pawn) (see [[Lucena position]]).<ref>{{Harvcol|Fine|Benko|2003|p=294}}</ref> The winning procedure can be very difficult and some positions require up to sixty moves to win.<ref>{{Harvcol|Speelman|Tisdall|Wade|1993|p=7}}</ref> If the attacking rook is two files from the pawn and the defending king is cut off on the other side, the attacker normally wins (with a few exceptions).<ref>{{Harvcol|Fine|Benko|2003|p=294}}</ref> The rook and pawn versus rook is the most common of the "piece and pawn versus piece" endgames.<ref>{{Harvcol|Nunn|2007|p=148}}</ref>

The most difficult case of a rook and pawn versus a rook occurs when the attacking rook is one file over from the pawn and the defending king is cut off on the other side. [[Siegbert Tarrasch]] gave the following rules for this case: <blockquote>For a player defending against a pawn on the fifth or even sixth ranks to obtain a draw, even after his king has been forced off the queening square, the following conditions must obtain: The file on which the pawn stands divides the board into two unequal parts. The defending rook must stand in the longer part and give checks from the flank at the greatest possible distance from the attacking king. Nothing less than a distance of three files makes it possible for the rook to keep on giving check. Otherwise it would ultimately be attacked by the king. The defending king must stand on the smaller part of the board.</blockquote>

(See the ''short side defense'' at [[Rook and pawn versus rook endgame]].)