Reasons
The advance of the passed pawn lengthens the range of a rook behind and reduces the range of a rook in front. A rook escorting a pawn from ahead must move off, potentially leaving the pawn undefended, if it is to promote. A rook behind an enemy passed pawn can more readily generate counterplay.
Read more about this topic: Tarrasch Rule
Famous quotes containing the word reasons:
“Happy the man who has been able to know the reasons for things.”
—Virgil [Publius Vergilius Maro] (7019 B.C.)
“While there are practical and sometimes moral reasons for the decomposition of the family, it coincides neither with what most people in society say they desire nor, especially in the case of children, with their best interests.”
—Robert Neelly Bellah (20th century)
“Man has lost the basic skill of the ape, the ability to scratch its back. Which gave it extraordinary independence, and the liberty to associate for reasons other than the need for mutual back-scratching.”
—Jean Baudrillard (b. 1929)