I envy football fans who still look forward to a new season. As a Norwich City fan, the off-season is infinitely preferable.
Take last August, we opened with a 2–0 loss to newly promoted Oxford. Then there was a moment during the first round of the EFL Cup that stays with me:
Two minutes after taking the lead, a Stevenage freekick floated gently over our defenders, reached an unmarked player on the edge of our 6-yard box and nestled into the bottom corner from the header for 1-1.
The camera cut to Johannes Hoff Thorup, our newly hired (now fired) manager, shaking his head with glazed eyes.
I suspect he was thinking about Philidor.
Set Pieces
Which brings us to endgame training. When done well, it’s the chess equivalent of having practised thousands of hypothetical freekicks. You can become grim, repetitive and reliable, unlike Norwich’s defenders, fully prepared for both common and uncommon scenarios.
Queen vs Rook is a perfect example, full of neat bits of geometry and calculation exercises that will improve your general chess understanding. Let’s first see what might go wrong.
What Not To Do
When the black King is on the edge of the board, there are two main defensive tries to be aware of:
1. … Rb6+!
1/2 – 1/2
White is unable to capture the Rook because of stalemate but neither can we move away because of the skewer.
1. … Ra7+!
Again, the Rook is immune because of stalemate. This time White will either get caught in a perpetual on the a- b- and c-files or, if we try running away, there’s a pin on the d-file:
2. Kb6 Rb7+
3. Kc5 Rc7+
(3. Kc6 transposes to the stalemate defence)
4. Kd5 Rd7!
1/2 – 1/2
Good Chess Culture
Here’s where François-André Danican Philidor can step up and show us how it’s done:
This instructive zugzwang was supposedly found by the man himself. Black is forced to separate the King and Rook because keeping them connected immediately loses:
1. … Rg8
2. Qh5#
1-0
1. … Kh6
2. Qf8! picks up the Rook
1-0
Once Black separates the Rook, we have a nice pattern of checks leading to a fork or mate:
1. Qe4+ Kh8
(1. … Kf8 2. Qh4#)
2. Qa8+ Kh7
(2. … Rg7 3. Qh1# is pretty)
3. Qa7+!
1-0
With White to move, we need to Bend it Like Philidor™
1. Qe4+ Kg8
2. Qa8+ Kh7
3. Qe8
Et voilà, the triangulation brings us back to the zugzwang.
Of course, there are plenty of other winning methods to explore in just this one endgame but hopefully you have acquired a taste of what it takes to effectively manage a football team handle this endgame.
One must imagine Philidor happy.
Additional content:
Interactive ‘Bend it Like Philidor’ lichess study
(22/07/25)
