Move your chess pieces forward to prepare for battle.
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[Event "rated untimed match"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "????.??.??"]
[Round "?"]
[White "White player"]
[Black "Black player"]
[Result "*"]
[BlackElo "0"]
[FEN "3K4/3P1k2/8/8/8/8/4R3/2r5 w - - 0 1"]
[SetUp "1"]
[TimeControl "0"]
[WhiteElo "0"]
{ The Lucena Position is named after the Spaniard Luis Ramirez de Lucena.
However, the position does not appear in his book on chess, Repeticion de
Amores e Arte de Axedrez (1497). Instead, the position first appears in
Alessandro Salvio II's Puttino (1634). Salvio attributes it to Scipione
Genovino. Therefore, it should be known as Genovino's position.|It is likely
that the error occured when two German authors incorrectly attributed the
position to Lucena.|With apologies to Genovino, I present Lucena's
Position.|White's king is where it should be in all king and pawn endgames
ahead of its pawn. In fact, if you swap the positions of the kings, then this
game is drawn. This position works with all files except rook pawns. } 1. Rf2+ { The first step in winning the Lucena position.|Push the defending king two
squares from the pawn. } 1... Kg7 ( { Black can try to harass white's rook that plans
to go to the 5th rank behind its pawn. } 1... Kg6 2. Rf4 Kg5 3. Rd4 Kf5 4. Ke7 Rc7 5. Ke8 Rxd7 6. Rxd7 { White wins with a large material advantage. } ) ( { Any attempt to approach the pawn gives white the cover to vacate the
promotion square. } 1... Ke6 2. Ke8 Rd1 3. d8=Q Rxd8+ 4. Kxd8 { White wins
with a large material advantage. } ) 2. Rf4 { The correct and only winning
move.|The second step in winning the Lucena position. Move the rook to the
5th rank behind its pawn. } 2... Rd1 { Rooks belong behind passed pawns, but this is
not enough to prevent the pawn's promotion. } 3. Ke7 Re1+ { Black begins a
series of checks designed to prevent white from promoting the pawn.|How does
white find shelter from these checks? } 4. Kd6 Rd1+ 5. Ke6 Re1+ 6. Kd5 Rd1+ 7. Rd4 { Now we see the purpose of white's second move. } 7... Rxd4+ 8. Kxd4 Kf7 { Now
we see the purpose of white's first move.|The black king is too far from the
pawn to prevent its promotion. } 9. d8=Q { White wins with a large material
advantage. } *