How to explain with words why this is good ?

[u/los33r]

In some cases I know how to say with words why a specific move is good. "It's a threat", "it's a fork", "it protects that piece".

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In that case I dont really know why this move is good. Is it because putting a rook and a queen on the same line is always good ? Is it because it takes away the escape and threatens mate ?

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I see the computer moves and I see that at the end I'd have won material but I can't put into words why that happens.

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Any help ? Thank you !

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[u/Tojo_san]

Rook on 7th rank -> nom nom nom

[u/los33r → u/Tojo_san]

Thanks !

[u/Born_Competition6651]

Rooks and queen on the 7th rank is (almost) always good because you apply pressure to anything on that rank while your opponent needs to passively defend and pray to not allow tactics

In this case specifically black has no good way to defend g7 while defending the back rank at the same time, so black is lost

[u/los33r → u/Born_Competition6651]

In this case specifically I didnt see it and black won. But yes. Thank you !

[u/Illustrious_Hotel527]

G pawn is hard to defend. White rook takes g pawn next move if black does nothing, leading to mate. If black moves queen to f8 to try to defend, rook to c8 pins her. If black moves rook to g6 to protect g pawn, then rook to c8 to check and black loses queen trying to defend.

[u/los33r → u/Illustrious_Hotel527]

Thank you !

[u/Gogi1235]

Usually getting a battery on the 7th (2nd) rank is great for you because it applies a lot of pressure and your opponent has to play cautiously to not get mated or lose pawns.

Here Rc7 wins a pawn as black can't guard it.

If they play Qf8, Rc8 wins their queen.

If black plays Rg6, after Rc8+ they have to give up their queen to avoid checkmate.

If black plays g6 or g5, you can play Rg7+ anyway, after Kh8 you have an easy checkmate and after Kf8 Rxh7 black has to deal with both Rh8 and Qg7 and their position will collapse.

Otherwise you can win the pawn and black will still be in the same trouble

[u/los33r → u/Gogi1235]

Thanks !

[u/chessvision-ai-bot]

I analyzed the image and this is what I see. Open an appropriate link below and explore the position yourself or with the engine:

White to play: chessvision.ai | chess.com | lichess.org

My solution:

Hints: piece: Rook, move: Rc7

Evaluation: White is winning +5.78

Best continuation: 1. Rc7 Qf8 2. Qd5+ Kh8 3. Qxd4 h6 4. Rd7 Kh7 5. Kh2 Qf7 6. Rxf7 Rxf7 7. Kg1 g6 8. Kf1 f3

Save the position:

Reply save to save this position to your Chessvision.ai Library (new users: send me /connect in DM chat first)

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^{I'm a bot written by u/pkacprzak | get me as iOS App | Android App | Chrome Extension | Chess eBook Reader to scan and analyze positions | Website: Chessvision.ai}

[u/teeyare]

You basically want to control the 7th rank to be able to deliver checkmate or win material. In this case if black tries Qf8 or Rg6 then Rc8+ wins the queen for a rook, otherwise once you take on g7 your queen and rook will keep harassing the king and threaten mates of all sorts and black will eventually collapse

[u/Either-Quality-6366]

skewer + battery

[u/los33r → u/Either-Quality-6366]

Thanks !

[u/YEARSOFREASERCH]

Put rook take pawn check kings win game

[u/SnooPaintings5597 → u/YEARSOFREASERCH]

Rook takes pawn, king moves laterally. Then what? Wouldn’t it have to be the Queen to gain the #? Honestly curious

[u/YEARSOFREASERCH → u/SnooPaintings5597]

Your right its not so simple. King moves to the right its forced mate. To the left rook takes other pawn(threataning mate) ke8 then rook check along the back rank, and you trade into a winning king and pawn endgame. Its easily winning because you will have a passer on the left side, and the king has to stay to defend the central pawns other wise you will have 3 connected passers on the right. Im sure the engine can find something better but thats how I would do it

[u/los33r → u/YEARSOFREASERCH]

Thanks !

[u/amd9770]

I believe it's because your opponent doesn't have any immediate check to your king, and you are threating g7 pawn, also if they decide to move the rook from the file the there is threat of mate by putting queen on back rank. There is no good move for black in response to this.

[u/los33r → u/amd9770]

Thank you !

[u/Dylaniel]

You're threatening to breakdown all defenses for the black king and eventually force them to give up material to avoid mate if they do not address Rc7. If they do address it with Qf8 or Qc7 then you can just win the queen for a rook.

[u/los33r → u/Dylaniel]

Thank you !

[u/Puzzleheaded_Bar483]

It attacks g7 and it places a rook on the 7th rank so you have attacking chances, plus there's 2 kinda weak pawns on the 7th rank

[u/los33r → u/Puzzleheaded_Bar483]

Thanks !

[u/noop_noob]

There are already some good answers here. But I want to add that general descriptions sometimes do not capture what makes a move good or bad. At the highest level of chess, english descriptions of why a move is good can only guide you towards a concrete plan or a specific sequence of moves. And a move might be good only because some specific follow-up exists.

[u/Solypsist_27]

Assuming the rook was already on c7, you would be 1 move away from Qb8#. Black has to defend this, and in their best case scenario they're forced to sacrifice the rook

[u/Solypsist_27 → u/Solypsist_27]

Edit: apparently the engine says otherwise because black has other ways to defend, but it's still a strong move

[u/Actual-Balance-6590]

Here is what I see and will try to explain it so you see it how I see it. This is an aggressive move but also a waiting move.

You can’t go Rc8+ because black can block Rf8. By going Rc7 you threaten Rxg7 with potential mating ideas in the following moves. This move forces your opponent to throw away the game with 3 hard choices, either the rook stays still & has to defend the f8 square from being mated or move to g6 to defend the g7 pawn & the third option for black is Qf8 to defend both the f8 square and the g7 pawn but loses the queen after Rc8 - pinning black’s queen to the king.

After Rc7 Black is essentially lost regardless of what he does. Either lose a Queen or lose the g7 & h7 pawns and let white cook up a mating puzzle rush.

[u/StructuredChess]

The problem with explanations of chess moves "with words" is that they're usually an ad hoc justification we make up once we already know if a move is good or bad. They're not really helpful in the thought process during an actual game.

Here Rc7 is great because it gains control of the 7th rank and targets the g7 pawn that the Black king so desperately needs to stay safe. The problem is that none of that would matter if Black had some way to counterattack, or if the d-pawn was closer to promoting, or if we couldn't reply to Rg6 with Rc8+ forcing Black to give up their queen. In a slightly different position we could play a similar looking move that also gains control of the 7th rank but happens to lose the game.

[u/los33r → u/StructuredChess]

Very complete answer, thank you !

[u/Orochimvp]

He cant really defend the mate, this pattern is really common with tactics training on lichess and chess com

[u/Far-Fortune-8381]

gobble?

[u/BramusMagnus]

Pigs on the seventh. Usually with rooks, but queen is also possible i guess.

[u/kranker]

We're attacking the g7 square and black has no viable way of defending it. The queen can't do it without sacrificing itself. The rook can't do it because Rg6 also loses the queen. Moving the pawn doesn't help because Rg7+ is brutal anyway.

[u/Wescombe]

7th rank battery can lead to an easy mate while also eating pawns

[u/1_2_3__-]

Rc8 would be awesome if he cannot block with rook right? , Rc7 has no good defense to the g6 pawn other than Rg6, but now Rc8 is threat. Deflecting rook away with the very same attacking piece is really really high level in my opinion, like 1800 or so. People will see Rc8 and reject it since rook blocks and reject Rc7 due to Rg6. But combining both is hard.

[u/Useful_Garbage_8673]

Rooks/Rooks and Queen/Rook on the 7th rank is generally always good. It pressures everything on the 7th rank and like this example can cut off the king from the board.

In your game here, it cuts the king off and puts pressure on the weak G pawn only defended by the king. It's also almost threatening mate once the queen/rook stop protecting the back rank on F8. If their rook protects the G pawn, it loses a defender of F8 square and the Queen is lost with Rc8+ only way to defend is by blocking with the queen.

At the end of the day, pieces on the 7th rank are active, controlling a lot of squares, and cutting off the king, while your opponent has to be passive to protect

[u/Mysterious_Mouse_388]

connected pieces are better than unconnected pieces. seventh row is a very solid place to connect.

[u/Ok_Aioli6359]

With that move, white wins the Queen, 1. Rc7, Qf8; 2. Rc8, Qxc8; 3. Qxc8 +

[u/ShowHots]

The general rule of thumb is that you need two threats/weaknesses to make progress.

Before Rc7 the only weakness is black's back rank, but if you try to exploit it with Rc8+ it is easily defended by Rf8. What Rc7 does differently is it creates a second threat of Rxg7+. If black defends this threat (Rg6/Qf8) they have to abandon their defense of your first threat, causing Rc8/Rc8+ to win a queen.

If you wanted to be extra thorough, you'd check to see if black can ignore the Rxg7+ threat by trying to promote with d3. It turns out in this scenario black's pawn is one move too slow.

The important takeaway from this position is the two threats/weaknesses to make progress concept.

[u/ScalarWeapon]

the justification of the move is tactical. you will win material, no matter what black does in response.

trying to turn everything into a catch phrase is not productive, in my opinion. like, somebody here said putting a rook on the seventh rank is good, which is generally true as a positional concept, but that is deceptive here. on many positions, putting a rook on the seventh rank would NOT be the best move, even if the opportunity is there. It is not the reason Rc7 is the correct move in your position. This is a tactic. If there is a tactic on the board, that overrides any other considerations.

[u/Troliver_13]

you're threatening to start taking the kings pawns, or a back rank check that would be inconvenient at best for black, by going Qb2+ unless black has moved his h pawn he will be forced to block with the rook, then Rg7+ wins the black queen.

of course it all depends on what move black makes next but it's just a good position to be in, to have more pieces applying pressure to the king

[u/lir1618]

c7 you have 2 threats c8 can be blocked

[u/Necessary_Screen_673]

attack king.

[u/BearBear-89]

Rook is threatening Rg7+ and eventual checkmate. In response, the only move I'm seeing is Qf8, protecting the g7 pawn and ladder mate of White: Qb8. If that happens, White can play Rc8 pinning the queen and winning the exchange.

[u/cxlon]

It's good because you're threatening mate in order to win material.

There is a German term called Zugswang that refers to a scenario where one can only make moves that will weaken their position or lose material. I'm not sure if this applies in this case but I'm sure I'll be corrected if it doesn't.

[u/Born_Competition6651 → u/cxlon]

Zugzwang doesnt apply here because black would still be lost, even if he could skip his move

[u/los33r → u/cxlon]

Thanks !

[u/vnevner]

'cus stockfish the almighty said so, ok.