Ladder escape

In the ladder situation below, the piece h8 is a ladder escape, or an escape piece.

R9 C9 Q1 Ve3 Vd4 Vd5 Vc6 Vc7 Hb8 Hb9 Hd7 He6 Hf6      Vh8

It allows Red (the attacking player) to jump a move ahead of the ladder and win the game. Red can play along the ladder, forcing Blue's response at each step. After c8, c9, d8, d9, f8, f9, g8 Red is connected to the bottom.

R9 C9 Q1 Ve3 Vd4 Vd5 Vc6 Vc7 Hb8 Hb9 Hd7 He6 Hf6      Vh8    Vc8 Hc9 Vd8 Hd9 Ve8 He9 Vf8 Hf9 Vg8

In general, for a ladder escape to be successful, it should be safely connected to the edge and not interfere with the ladder's projected path.

Related articles

 * ladder escape template
 * ladder escape fork