Mate in 2 with the rook

By now you have practiced mating with the queen several times. Matting with the rook is more difficult. Because the rook only moves straight and not diagonally, it is more difficult to take flight spaces from the enemy king. Strong cooperation between rook and king is vital.

In order to mate with the rook, it is important to know what to work towards. In examples 1 and 2, you see checkmate images in which the other's king is at the edge or in the corner. Note that in both cases the kings are in opposition to each other.

In examples 3-7, white gives mate in two.

In examples 3-5, the black king only has one possible move. We see how white can respond to this in various ways. Here we are appplying the concept of zugzwang with a waiting move.

In examples 6 and 7, the black king has more escape squares, but white is able to mate there too, by strategically positioning their king.

What do you have to do?

Give mate in two with the rook. If the defender's king is on the edge, make sure your king faces the other one move before the checkmate. A check on the edge on which the defending king stands then leads to mate.