Rook sacrifice clears the promotion square — Chess Library

White’s rook deliberately steps onto the pawn’s promotion square. Black is forced to capture it, allowing the pawn to recapture and promote with mate.

Lesson

White to move. Main line: 1. Re8+ Rxe8 2. dxe8=Q#

Re8+ looks as though it blocks White’s own pawn, but the placement is temporary and forcing. The rook checks along the eighth rank, while Black’s rook on a8 is the only defender able to capture the checking piece.

The forced ...Rxe8 places Black’s rook directly on the promotion square. The d7-pawn then captures it with dxe8=Q#, combining promotion, material recovery and checkmate in a single move.

The new queen controls f8, g8 and h8 along the back rank. Black’s pawns on f7, g7 and h7 occupy every lower flight square. The key idea is clearance: the sacrificed rook determines exactly where the defender must land, then the pawn uses that square.