The Philidor position is the basic drawing method when you defend a rook against a rook and pawn. Your king stands on the pawn's queening square, your rook sits on your third rank (the 6th rank for Black), and it stays there until the pawn steps onto that rank. Then the rook drops to your far back rank and checks the enemy king from behind. The attacker's king has no shelter from those checks, and the game is a draw. This is why it is also called the third-rank defense.
The Philidor position, step by step
This is a constructed position. Black's king is on d8, in front of White's d-pawn. White's king on e5 wants to reach the 6th rank, and White's rook on g7 keeps Black's king on the back rank. Black's rook on h6 guards the whole 6th rank.
3k4/6R1/7r/3PK3/8/8/8/8 w - - 0 1
Open the Philidor position in the analysis board → · Play it against the computer →
White has 19 legal moves, and Stockfish 17.1 scores the position 0.00 at depth 30. The method has two steps.
Step 1: Keep the rook on the third rank
While the pawn is on d5, Black's rook stays on the 6th rank. Now White's king cannot go to d6, e6 or c6 without being checked, and it cannot hide in front of its own pawn. If White waits, Black waits too, shuffling the rook along the 6th rank. Never move it to the back rank early.
Step 2: When the pawn advances, check from behind
White's only way to make progress is 1.d6. That pawn now blocks the 6th rank and takes the d6 square away from White's own king. Black has 13 legal moves, and the answer is 1...Rh1!, going to the far back rank.
3k4/6R1/3P3r/4K3/8/8/8/8 b - - 0 1
Open the position after 1.d6 →
Stockfish at depth 30 rates 1...Rh1, 1...Rh5 and 1...Rh2 all at 0.00: Black only has to reach the checking position in time. After 2.Ke6 Re1+, White has four legal moves (Kd5, Kf5, Kf6 and Kf7), and none escapes: the king cannot go to d7 or e7 next to Black's king, and every step away from the pawn invites more checks. Stockfish scores this position 0.00 at depth 30. The pawn on d6 also blocks the 6th rank that would have given White's king a hiding place.
Does the third-rank defense hold on every file?
We built the same setup on each file and asked Stockfish 17.1 for its score at depth 30, White to move: defending king on the queening square, pawn on the 5th rank, attacking king beside it, White rook on g7, Black rook on h6. Files e to h are mirror images of d to a.
| Pawn | Starting FEN | Score | Result |
|---|---|---|---|
| Rook pawn (a) | k7/6R1/7r/PK6/8/8/8/8 w - - 0 1 | 0.00 | Draw |
| Knight pawn (b) | 1k6/6R1/7r/1PK5/8/8/8/8 w - - 0 1 | 0.00 | Draw |
| Bishop pawn (c) | 2k5/6R1/7r/2PK4/8/8/8/8 w - - 0 1 | 0.00 | Draw |
| Centre pawn (d) | 3k4/6R1/7r/3PK3/8/8/8/8 w - - 0 1 | 0.00 | Draw |
Method: each FEN was checked as legal with chess.js and analysed by Stockfish 17.1 (the lite single-thread build) to depth 30, with no tablebases. These are engine scores, not tablebase proofs, but the result is consistent: with the king in front and the rook on the third rank, every file is a draw.
When the Philidor defense fails
The defense fails when the rook is passive on the back rank and the attacker gets both king and pawn to the 6th rank. Here Black's rook waited on a8 instead of guarding the 6th rank, and White has played Ke6 and d6.
r2k4/6R1/3PK3/8/8/8/8/8 b - - 0 1
Black is to move with 11 legal moves, and all of them lose. White threatens Rg8#: the king on d8 cannot go to c7 (pawn), d7 or e7 (king), and stays on the 8th rank if it goes to c8 or e8. Stockfish at depth 30 finds that Black's best, 1...Kc8, still loses to mate in 10, and rook moves such as 1...Ra1 allow mate in 1. Compare the main example: there the rook on the 6th rank kept White's king off e6 until the pawn advanced.
The other way to fail is to let your king get cut off from the queening square. Then you are no longer defending a Philidor but facing a Lucena position, which is a win for the attacker.
Philidor vs Lucena
The two positions are the pillars of rook endgames. In the Philidor, the defending king is in front of the pawn and the result is a draw. In the Lucena, the pawn is on the 7th, the defending king is cut off, and the attacker wins by building a bridge. Most practical rook endings are a race to reach one or the other: the defender rushes the king to the queening square, while the attacker uses the rook to cut it off.
How to defend with the Philidor in your games
- Get your king in front of the pawn. The queening square is best. If you cannot get there, you are probably in Lucena territory.
- Put your rook on your third rank. This keeps the enemy king off your 6th rank (3rd rank for White).
- Wait. Shuffle the rook along that rank until the pawn advances onto it.
- Go behind and check. As soon as the pawn steps onto your third rank, drop the rook to the far back rank and give checks from behind.
And the attacker's view: if the defender's king reaches the queening square with the rook active, the game is a draw. Your winning chances lie in cutting the king off before it gets there.
Practice: Rook endgame
All 44 rook endgame puzzles →Frequently asked questions
How do you draw with the Philidor position?
Put your king on the pawn's queening square and your rook on your third rank. Keep it there while the pawn is behind that rank. When the pawn advances onto it, move your rook to your far back rank and check the enemy king from behind until it gives up.
When does the Philidor defense fail?
It fails when the defending rook goes passive on the back rank and the attacker gets king and pawn to the 6th rank, as in the mate-in-10 position above, or when the defending king is cut off from the queening square.
What is the third-rank defense?
Another name for the Philidor defense. The defending rook stands on its own third rank (the 6th rank for Black), so the attacking king cannot advance in front of its pawn without being checked. It is the first stage of the Philidor method.
Ready to practise? The puzzle trainer has 44 rook endgame puzzles, and you can test the checks from behind on the analysis board. For the winning side, read the Lucena position; for the king skills behind both, see opposition, the king and pawn endgame and endgame practice. The king and rook checkmate covers what happens once one side wins the other's rook.