How to know if its the right time to develop your rooks?

If you have played chess in past then you know that when we are at the Endgame rooks can beat every other piece except queens. But, to actually understand the reason behind it, we must get to know the almighty Rook and its strength and weaknesses.

Rooks are simple pieces that can move in any square in the corresponding file or rank? If you had trouble following the files and rank analogy just look at the picture below, files are the columns denoted by alphabets and ranks are rows denoted by numbers. A rook can move along the file or rank he is present at any number of squares at a time. 

Rook's strengths:

Rooks can control and dominate a whole rank or file:  

When rooks are given space rooks can control a whole rank/file and stop any other piece to move to that square. Any piece can not move without support in the file. So if the opposition has only two bishops left. they can get into real trouble because of the rook's control of files/ranks.

In open ranks/files, rooks can stop the opposition's king to cross a file/rank:

This is not a new thing, this strength of the rook is based on its ability to control and dominate a rank or files. If a rook stands at a rank the opponent's king can not dare to cross that rank/file unless it goes from behind a piece. 

Rooks can support pawn advancements:

Rooks can support a pawn in any file for its advancement. In fact, rooks can singlehandedly lead to pawn promotion in an open board. It can sit on a file and keep advancing it to the next rank. But, also, it can cut off the opponent's king to go near that pawn.

Rooks can support each other: Two rooks in the same open file/rank can act as a firewall that can destroy any peace which comes between them. This is the biggest advantage with them, but knights can also support each other well not really if one of the knights is under attack and it had to move then the protection bond between two knights can break as soon as any of them moves. This is not the case with rooks they can easily move in the same file when threatened still maintaining the protection bond between the two of them. This is so far the biggest advantage of knights. 

Rook's weakness: 

Costly tradeoffs with lower important pieces: When a piece like bishop or knight corners a rook, the player's priority changes to saving its rook and this makes the player change his plans. A tradeoff between a bishop and a knight is almost equal and one would rather move ahead with their plan instead of worrying for their piece, that's not the case with rooks. Your instinct is to save the rook which is a disadvantage when you are in a closed space, in which the opponent's bishop and knights can target your rook and get a reaction out of you. 

Can get trapped in because of their own Pawns: If you have played chess you know rook takes more time to develop than any other piece on the board. If rooks can be easily trapped if you block the pawn ahead of them, this can lock the rook in the same rank and make them useless to help other pieces on other ranks. 

Very easily trapped by the knight in a double-check situation: How many games have you seen/played where a knight captured a player's rook just by checking the king and knight at the same time. This is less to do with the rook's weakness and more two do with the strength of Knight, the story of another time. But, nonetheless, the rooks are very vulnerable in the starting sequences.

So, now we know our rook. it has some weaknesses but greater power and strengths. It can go from never playing part in the endgame sequence just by hulk to changing the whole endgame scene. So, now the same question when to get that rook out? Well, there is no right answer, but there are multiple situations to take into account when making a discussion. Mostly, by taking the strengths and weaknesses of rooks they are best at the endgame sequence But there are other opportunities when you want to get that rook out.

When to get that rook out: 

Overwhelming an Opponent's piece:

You might find a situation where there is a position on inboard that if you take charge of you can advance to get a significant advantage or get a checkmate sequence. If your other pieces are scattered through the board, this might be the right time to call the rook in action as he can simply target the point on that file and might be the fastest to develop. Bishop might need to make multiple diagonal moves and knights often takes multiple moves from moving to another further position.  

Open Board: 

If you see the open files and ranks on a board, it's the best time to get angry with your rooks. There are not those pyramids that can threaten your rook and they can overwhelm your opponent easily. Believe me, only very few situations scare the players other than open dominating knights.

End Game:

If those queens are dead and there is chaos on the board get those rooks out, simple. Now, knights wouldn't scare rooks, and pawns can't trap rooks, this is the perfect world for rooks they can destroy everything on the board.

There can be thousands of situations when you would need those rooks. To understand chess first thing to learn is that every game in chess is unique. So, I can't generalize all the situations where rooks might be best suited to develop. But, the above discussed are some of the situations where rooks are suited well in general, this is no formulae you might find sequences in which not getting a rook out is better in end games and similarly you might get into the sequences in early games where a rook would be needed for backup. So, whenever you play a game ask yourself a question every time you get into similar situations is this the right time to get that rook out and trust your instincts. 

Please share your valuable feedback and do let me know if you want me to include games to illustrate in these posts or should we stick to the abstract ideas and strategies? Do write in the comments sections I will be willing to engage in conversations with you guys.