The Lucena position: how to build a bridge
Lucena: build a bridge · You are White · make a queen within 40 moves
White to move. FEN: 1K6/1P1k4/8/8/8/8/r7/2R5 w - - 0 1
The idea
Your king sits in front of the pawn and needs to step out. First check the black king further away (Rd1+). Then lift your rook to the fourth rank. When your king walks out and the rook checks start, your rook blocks them: that is the bridge.
Free, no sign-up. The bot plays its strongest defence, so reaching the goal means you really know it.
More endgames
- How to checkmate with king and queen
- How to checkmate with king and rook
- King and pawn endgame: king in front of the pawn
- The opposition: drawing king and pawn against king
- The rule of the square in pawn endgames
- The outside passed pawn: how to win with it
- The Philidor position: the third-rank defence
Every position's result, and every move the text recommends, was checked against the Lichess 7-piece tablebase. Part of Chess Path, a free chess course.