Answers.Body: <p>I can only try to give a very generic and partial answer, since details matter extremely. I shamelessly copy stuff from Müller/Lamprecht &quot;Fundamental Chess Endings&quot;.</p>
  <ul>
  <li>Q2 can be answered fully: as always, pawns on different wings means the knight usually loses (being a slower unit than a rook or even a bishop), especially against a rook. Here, they are on one wing, and Black even has a rook pawn, meaning that resacrificing the exchange to win with the last pawn is even harder.</li>
  <li>As always, the weaker side should try to exchange pawns.
  <ul>
  <li>But note that this is not the all-cure, in the game Reddmann-Müller :-) (RPP-NPP same wing, BCE 7.15) White (the R party) had even to sacrifice a P to convert into a clear win.</li>
  <li>This means the knight should not land on a &quot;bad circuit&quot;, but try its best to hold a fortress. E.g. RP-NP, same line, usually can be hold.</li>
  </ul>
  </li>
  <li>Zugzwang gives N knightmares. (Sorry.) It is thus the best weapon to break pseudo fortresses.</li>
  <li>Without a P stronghold the N might get chased and ultimately caught.</li>
  <li>Black must try to penetrate with the king from below. For example, White's Kf2/Nf1/Pg2/Ph3 can only be busted by running in via d3-e2.</li>
  <li>Black's pawns are split (disconnected), thus annoying counterattacks are possible if Black tries the former.</li>
  <li>I played blitz with engine suggestions and it seems that Black wins with exactly the suggestions outlined above: White plays h3 and then &quot;nothing&quot;. Black protects the bad Ps with the R if necessary, plays a P to h4 (White can never play g3, it frees the f pawn - this also means if White sets up g3-h2 instead of h3-g2, it is even easier to attack by h4), penetrates with the K and keeps the wK encased, and as soon as the bK appears on e3, even f3 is no longer a stronghold for the wN, as Rxf3 always wins.</li>
  <li>Overall: A win with precise Black play, at least Carlsen should convert without problems. White always has too much &quot;holes&quot; to construct a fortress.</li>
  </ul>
  
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Body: <p>From <a href="https://youtu.be/pkWNpIGUiRY?t=202" rel="nofollow noreferrer">pogchamps</a>, specifically <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PogChamps#Consolation_bracket_3" rel="nofollow noreferrer">semifinals of consolation bracket of pogchamps 3</a>:</p>
  <pre><code>[FEN &quot;4k3/7p/5p2/8/P2rr3/5N2/6PP/4R1K1 w - - 0 1&quot;]
  </code></pre>
  <p><a href="https://i.sstatic.net/a4PhH.jpg" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.sstatic.net/a4PhH.jpg" alt="enter image description here" /></a></p>
  <p>Black (Michelle Khare) just blundered a rook, but white (pokimane) failed to capitalise.</p>
  <p>White is currently 1 pawn down but is about to be 2 pawns down so it's basically (rook and) knight vs rook (and rook).</p>
  <hr />
  <p>Questions:</p>
  <ol>
  <li><p>How does black win this? I <a href="https://lichess.org/analysis/standard/4k3/7p/5p2/8/P2rr3/5N2/6PP/4R1K1_w_-_-_0_1" rel="nofollow noreferrer">tried running in an engine</a> and even though it gives black an evaluation of around -1, the evaluation slowly went up to -0.4. Or if it's not really a win for black then how does white draw this?</p>
  </li>
  <li><p>The pawns are on 1 wing. What, if anything, does this mean? Eg more/less likely black will win/white will draw as opposed to pawns on both wings.</p>
  </li>
  </ol>
  <hr />
  <p>Note 1: If this turns out to be a fortress or something, then please feel free to edit the tags.</p>
  <p>Note 2: This might be covered in <a href="https://chess.stackexchange.com/questions/35641/practical-endgame-resources-whats-next-after-josh-waitzkins-series-in-chess/36829#36829">Karsten Müller's endgame series</a> probably Volumes 9 or 12, but I think it was covered a bit in Volumes 1, 2 or 4. What I do remember in Volumes 1-4 that might be relevant is that all the pawns are (going to be) on 1 wing.</p>
  <p>Note 3: In case it isn't obvious, I'm talking about serious higher level play. A 1500+ in pogchamps should of course win this easily. So what I really mean to ask is how black wins the position, if possible and not <em>literally</em> how Michelle Khare beats Pokimane like literally explaining to a 600+ how to beat another 600+.</p>
  
Tags: <endgame><rook-and-minor-endgame><fortress><pogchamps>
Title: Pogchamps: How does Michelle Khare beat Pokimane (rook and knight vs rook pair)?
ThreadText: # Pogchamps: How does Michelle Khare beat Pokimane (rook and knight vs rook pair)?
  
  (Asked by: username_0 on 2021-10-08)
  
  From pogchamps, specifically semifinals of consolation bracket of pogchamps 3:
  [FEN "4k3/7p/5p2/8/P2rr3/5N2/6PP/4R1K1 w - - 0 1"]
  
  
  Black (Michelle Khare) just blundered a rook, but white (pokimane) failed to capitalise.
  White is currently 1 pawn down but is about to be 2 pawns down so it's basically (rook and) knight vs rook (and rook).
  
  Questions:
  
  How does black win this? I tried running in an engine and even though it gives black an evaluation of around -1, the evaluation slowly went up to -0.4. Or if it's not really a win for black then how does white draw this?
  
  The pawns are on 1 wing. What, if anything, does this mean? Eg more/less likely black will win/white will draw as opposed to pawns on both wings.
  
  
  
  Note 1: If this turns out to be a fortress or something, then please feel free to edit the tags.
  Note 2: This might be covered in Karsten Müller's endgame series probably Volumes 9 or 12, but I think it was covered a bit in Volumes 1, 2 or 4. What I do remember in Volumes 1-4 that might be relevant is that all the pawns are (going to be) on 1 wing.
  Note 3: In case it isn't obvious, I'm talking about serious higher level play. A 1500+ in pogchamps should of course win this easily. So what I really mean to ask is how black wins the position, if possible and not literally how Michelle Khare beats Pokimane like literally explaining to a 600+ how to beat another 600+.
  
  **Tags:** endgame, rook-and-minor-endgame, fortress, pogchamps
  
  
  ---
  
  ## 1 answers
  
  ### Answer by username_1 on 2021-10-09. Score: 5 | Accepted answer
  
  I can only try to give a very generic and partial answer, since details matter extremely. I shamelessly copy stuff from Müller/Lamprecht "Fundamental Chess Endings".
  
  * Q2 can be answered fully: as always, pawns on different wings means the knight usually loses (being a slower unit than a rook or even a bishop), especially against a rook. Here, they are on one wing, and Black even has a rook pawn, meaning that resacrificing the exchange to win with the last pawn is even harder.
  * As always, the weaker side should try to exchange pawns.
    + But note that this is not the all-cure, in the game Reddmann-Müller :-) (RPP-NPP same wing, BCE 7.15) White (the R party) had even to sacrifice a P to convert into a clear win.
    + This means the knight should not land on a "bad circuit", but try its best to hold a fortress. E.g. RP-NP, same line, usually can be hold.
  * Zugzwang gives N knightmares. (Sorry.) It is thus the best weapon to break pseudo fortresses.
  * Without a P stronghold the N might get chased and ultimately caught.
  * Black must try to penetrate with the king from below. For example, White's Kf2/Nf1/Pg2/Ph3 can only be busted by running in via d3-e2.
  * Black's pawns are split (disconnected), thus annoying counterattacks are possible if Black tries the former.
  * I played blitz with engine suggestions and it seems that Black wins with exactly the suggestions outlined above: White plays h3 and then "nothing". Black protects the bad Ps with the R if necessary, plays a P to h4 (White can never play g3, it frees the f pawn - this also means if White sets up g3-h2 instead of h3-g2, it is even easier to attack by h4), penetrates with the K and keeps the wK encased, and as soon as the bK appears on e3, even f3 is no longer a stronghold for the wN, as Rxf3 always wins.
  * Overall: A win with precise Black play, at least Carlsen should convert without problems. White always has too much "holes" to construct a fortress.
  
  > **Comments:**
  > **username_2**: @username_0 that last edit was completely unnecessary, please stop. [*Tiny, trivial edits are discouraged - try to make the post significantly better when you edit, correcting all problems that you observe.*](https://chess.stackexchange.com/help/privileges/edit)  
  > **username_1**: @username_2: I hope this doesn't hold for typos, those annoy me to the max :-)  
  > **username_2**: @HaukeReddmann fixing typos is absolutely fine (I do that all the time), and an *occasional* trivial edit isn't that much of a problem either.  
  
  ---
  
  