We have already seen that the queen is clearly stronger than the rook. But often a single pawn is enough to force a draw against the queen together with the rook. However, it is necessary to prevent the king of the attacking side from getting close to the defensive formation. Let’s look at both basic situations.
White wins
Black draws
As a rule of thumb, you can remember this: If you are defending with a rook and a pawn against a queen, your pieces are close together, the pawn isn’t a rook pawn, and stands at the base rank, the game will end as a draw. Of course, you must be still careful and not to break the formation.