Philidor Position - Queen Versus Rook

Queen Versus Rook

Philidor studied many endgame positions. Another one that he studied in 1777 (and is also called Philidor's Position) involves a queen versus a rook (see the diagram).

If Black is to move in this position, he quickly loses his rook by a fork (or gets checkmated). For example,

1. ... Rb1

2. Qd8+ Ka7

3. Qd4+ Ka8

4. Qh8+ Ka7

5. Qh7+

If White is to move in this position, he would like to be in this position except with Black to move. This can be accomplished by triangulation:

1. Qe5+ Ka8

2. Qa1+ Kb8

3. Qa5

and now it is back to the same position but Black has to move (and is in Zugzwang) (Nunn 2002:50–51), (Müller & Pajeken 2008:178). Nunn describes that with the pieces in the center of the board the queen ought to force the rook towards the Philidor position. Nunn describes the various retreat positions for the rook, the "fourth, third, second" rank defenses, then the "Philidor position". The rook can be won in fewer than fifty moves, avoiding a draw by the fifty-move rule.