The rook and pawn versus rook endgames are very important to study because these are the simplest versions of the very frequent occurring rook endgames.
Let’s have a look at the diagrams below. All these positions are a win for White, but do you know why?



This lesson will explain a part of this KRP-KR endgame.
As indicated above the starting postion of the diagram below is a winning postion for White even if it is Black’s turn to move. Note that Black’s king is unable to approach the white pawn.

See the lesson about mating with a rook.
In the next lesson I have added some (rather similar) diagrams that correspond with a draw.