Chess Patterns   ❯   Rook and Queen Techniques   ❯   Philidor Position

  • Philidor Position strategy card with definition, diagram and tips - front
  • Philidor Position strategy card with definition, diagram and tips - back
  • Philidor Position chess icon
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Philidor Position

Philidor Position

The Philidor Position is a fundamental drawing position occurring in Rook vs. Rook and pawn endgames. The main characteristic of this position is that the defending side places their Rook on the third rank and cuts off the opposing King.

In the diagram above, White plays 1.Ra3, this ensures that no further progress is possible for Black. Any checks from Black's Rook are answered by White's King shuffling up and down, and the advance of the e-pawn allows White to perpetually check Black's King from above. This position is named after François-André Philidor, a famous 18th-century chess master. Due to the placement of the defending Rook, it's also called the Third Rank Defense, hence the bottom-right symbol on the icon of the card.

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Master the Philidor Position

When we started adding a playful touch to chess learning, we looked through thousands of videos and hundreds of books to find the best resources out there. Here's our curated selection of the best content we encountered on the Philidor Position. We also included some smaller creators who are growing fast and we believe deserve your attention. Check out these resources if you want to master this type of endgame position.

 
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