Tarrasch Rule
A general endgame guideline stating that rooks belong behind passed pawns, whether one's own or the opponent's.
Placing a rook behind a passed pawn maximizes its activity: behind a friendly pawn it supports the pawn's advance, and behind an enemy pawn it can attack the pawn from the rear as it moves.
Etymology
The rule is named for Siegbert Tarrasch, the German master and teacher born in Breslau on 5 March 1862 and died in Munich on 17 February 1934, who was known as Praeceptor Germaniae, the teacher of Germany. The maxim that rooks belong behind passed pawns, whether one's own or the opponent's, comes from his own writing: Wikipedia traces the original statement to Tarrasch's book on the St Petersburg 1914 tournament, quoted from the 1993 English translation, and notes that he restated it in The Game of Chess (1938), page 57. Tarrasch's authority as a writer of didactic rules is why the maxim carries his name rather than a descriptive title. Wikipedia's Chess endgame article lists the Tarrasch rule first among endgame rules of thumb.
First documented: 1914 tournament book (English translation 1993); restated 1938 — Siegbert Tarrasch, book on the St Petersburg 1914 tournament; restated in The Game of Chess (1938), p. 57
Translations
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