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The ladder checkmate is the simplest endgame checkmate. You can do a ladder checkmate with two queens, a queen and a rook, or two rooks.
In this position, the rook on b3 keeps the king from moving to the 3rd rank.
When you move the rook on a2 to a4, the king has to move back to the 5th rank.
Now, move the rook on b3 to b5. The rook on a4 keeps the king from going down, so the king has to go up.
Do you see the pattern?
When you try this checkmate, don't keep the rooks on the same file. If you do that, the rook in the back can't move up!
Make sure to use the right rook to check the king. Whichever rook is two ranks away should be the one to move.
Switch between the rooks until you make it all the way to the edge. That's checkmate!
But there's just one small problem. Black can mess up your plans. Can you see how?
Hint: Look at the path of the rook on the b-file. Can the king get close to it?
The opponent's king can move over to your rooks. Now you can't give checkmate the same way!
If you move the rook on a4 to give check, the black king will capture the b5 rook!
So what can we do?
Remember, rooks can move across the board.
So, you can move the rooks to the other side of the board!
Now, we can continue the checkmate like we did before!
It's the same pattern for a queen and rook or two queens. Move one, then the other, and back and forth, like climbing a ladder!
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