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Rooks on the seventh rank, or the second rank if you are playing with the black pieces, are particularly powerful. Of the tactics in chess, I generally understood the idea of some of the common tactics, such as pins, forks, and skewers. However, until I started playing and learning more deliberately, I hadn’t conceptualised the notion that being able to place one or more of your rooks on the seventh rank, that is, the row immediately in front of the opponent’s back rank, is a powerful tactic that can change the tone of the game. This is well demonstrated by the game I played today.

In this game, I was relatively behind until an inaccurate knight move by my opponent allowed me to place my rook on d2. This combined with my dark square bishop to form a powerful attack on the opponent’s weak f2 pawn. This single error resulted in a return to equality in the position, even with me being down material. My opponent’s underappreciation of this threat resulted in them wasting a turn capturing one of my seemingly undefended pawns on the opposite side of the board, something that resulted in a completely winning position for me.

I hope you enjoyed this video, and thanks for watching!

Game on chess.com: https://www.chess.com/game/live/37506677219

[Event "Live Chess"]
[Site "Chess.com"]
[Date "2022.02.01"]
[Round "?"]
[White "ESPRIELLA"]
[Black "vitualis"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "C65"]
[WhiteElo "1189"]
[BlackElo "1239"]
[TimeControl "1800"]
[EndTime "18:28:05 PST"]
[Termination "vitualis won by resignation"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 Nf6 4. O-O Bc5 5. d3 a6 6. Ba4 b5 7. Bb3 h6 8. c3 O-O 9. Nbd2 d6 10. h3 Ne7 11. Re1 Be6 12. Bc2 d5 13. Nxe5 dxe4 14. Nxe4 Nxe4 15. dxe4 Qxd1 16. Rxd1 Rad8 17. Bf4 g5 18. Bh2 Rxd1+ 19. Bxd1 f6 20. Nd3 Bb6 21. b3 Rd8 22. Nb4 Rd2 23. Bg3 f5 24. Nxa6 f4 25. Bh2 Rxf2 26. Kh1 Rf1+ 27. Bg1 0-1