Rook and Pawn vs Bishop

Black is about to take your pawn. Find a king move that makes the capture cost a piece.

♔︎d6 attacks the bishop and gives the black king two jobs it cannot do at once: protect d5 and take on e3. If the king takes the pawn, the bishop is left alone and falls, and king and rook win against a bare king. So the bishop has to move first. That is the pattern of the whole first phase: every White move threatens the bishop, and Black never gets the free move that takes the pawn.

The pawn is hanging again — defend it with a threat, not with a guard.

♖︎b7 swings the rook to the seventh rank, where it attacks the bishop. Nothing protects f7 — the black king is three ranks away — so taking the pawn now loses the bishop, and with it the game. The rook is doing what a passive rook on the second rank never could: it defends the pawn by attacking, without standing next to it.

Same threat, same answer: keep the bishop busy.

♖︎g7 follows the bishop and attacks it again, so Black still has no time for the pawn: taking on e3 would lose the bishop on g6. The rook does not trap the bishop; it keeps forcing it to move. The only square where the bishop finds protection is f5, beside its king — and there your king will be able to reach it.

King and bishop protect each other in front of your pawn — separate them.

♖︎e7+ drives the king off e4, and it has only d3 and f3: d4 and f4 are covered by the pawn, d5 and e5 by your king. Wherever it goes, two things change. The rook now guards e3 down the open e-file, and the bishop on f5 has lost its protector. The blockade is broken without the pawn moving, and the bishop is a target again.

The bishop has lost its protector. Use your king.

♔︎e5 attacks the unprotected bishop. It also blocks the e-file, so for a moment the rook no longer guards e3 — but Black cannot use that: if the king takes the pawn, yours takes the bishop, and king and rook win against a bare king. Notice the route c7–d6–e5: all dark squares, where a light-squared bishop can never check your king or bar its way.

Find the one move that guards the pawn and attacks the blockader at the same time.

♔︎f4 guards the pawn with the king at last, and that frees the rook: with the e-file open again, rook and king both attack the bishop on e4, which only the black king defends. The bishop must give up the square in front of the pawn or be lost. Your king has gone round the bishop — d6, e5, f4 — to stand beside its pawn.

Count attackers and defenders of the square in front of the pawn, then act.

e4 is safe because of who has to capture first. Black attacks the square with bishop and king, you guard it with king and rook — and if the bishop takes, the rook takes back and the black king cannot recapture, since your king covers the square. Black would simply be a bishop down. The rule for every light square on the pawn's path: advance only when a capture costs Black the bishop.

Regroup the rook with tempo — the next light square on the pawn's path needs cover.

♖︎h7 attacks the bishop and wins time for a regrouping. The rook has finished its work on the e-file — your king guards the pawn now — and it is heading for the sixth rank, where it will cover e6 so the pawn can cross and go on to queen. Because the bishop is attacked, Black cannot use the move to bring the king closer.

Chase the blockader away and cover its square in one move.

♖︎h6 attacks the bishop along the sixth rank, and it must leave e6 or be taken. More important is where the rook now stands: on the rank of the next light square. Wherever the bishop goes, the rook will cover e6 when the pawn arrives, and the sixth rank is closed to the black king.

A dark square is free — take it.

e5 costs nothing: it is a dark square, your king guards it, and the bishop has no say. This is the easy half of the method — the pawn takes its dark squares whenever the king is beside it, one step closer to queening each time. The light squares are the ones that must be prepared, and the next one already is: the rook covers it from h6.

The pawn is attacked and a light square lies ahead. Is it covered?

e6 steps out of the king's attack and hits the bishop. The pawn stands on a light square the bishop attacks, but the rook guards it along the sixth rank: if the bishop takes, the rook recaptures and Black is a piece down, with the king on d4 too far away to take back. The preparation with the rook pays off — the pawn crosses its second light square with tempo.

The black king cannot get near the pawn — see why, and use it.

e7 takes the last dark square. The pawn has left your king behind and nothing protects it, yet it is safe: the rook on h6 controls d6 and e6, the squares the black king would use to reach it and win it. The rook is cutting the king off along the sixth rank, so the bishop on e8 stands alone against rook and pawn.

Only the bishop still holds the pawn. Attack it.

♖︎h8 attacks the blockader. The bishop is unprotected, so it has to leave e8 or be taken — and if the black king uses the open sixth rank to attack the pawn instead, the rook takes the bishop and guards the pawn from e8, a rook up. Giving up the cut-off is right only now, when the threat decides the game at once.

The queening square is covered. Finish.

e8=♕︎ promotes with the rook guarding the queening square. Black can take the queen, but only at the price of the bishop: the rook recaptures, and king and rook against a bare king is a basic win. Look back at the pawn's path: e5 and e7 were free steps, while e4, e6 and e8 each waited until the rook covered the square.