Today we'll talk about a relatively common chess idea known as a "Rook Lift". When you do a Rook Lift, a Rook usually moves from the initial position to the third rank (or sixth rank for Black) and then jumps to the opposite side of the board almost like it was fired from a slingshot.

Here is a typical example of a Rook Lift:

Thanks to the Rook Lift, Black's attack was swift and decisive. As a matter of fact, the Rook Lift is one of the main ideas of the Budapest Gambit (we discussed this opening here: http://www.chess.com/article/view/openings-for-tactical-players-budapest-gambit ).

Even though in the majority of cases you lift your Rook from one side of the board to another, sometimes the Rook Lift is the quickest way to put your Rook on the open file in the center:

Here is a similar example:

In the next game Artur Yusupov proves that he has learned his lesson from the previous loss:

Sometimes a Rook Lift can happen even in an endgame:

In some cases you can lift your Rook even in the opening. The earliest Rook Lift I have ever seen happened in my own online game played with a time control of only 3 minutes for the whole game.

The Rook Lift is a very simple and yet powerful chess tool, so I hope you'll use it in your own games.

Happy Rook Lifting!