A rook on the seventh rank sits on the row where the enemy pawns start, attacking them sideways and pinning the enemy king to its back rank.
From the opponent’s 7th rank (the 2nd from their point of view) a rook attacks the pawns still sitting on their starting squares, all at once, while the enemy king is often boxed in on the back rank. Players nickname such a rook a ‘pig’ because of how it gobbles pawns.
Getting a rook to the 7th is a standard reward for controlling an open file — the file is the road, the 7th rank is the destination. Once there it can be hard to evict and pays for itself in won pawns.
Two rooks doubled on the 7th — ‘doubled pigs’ or ‘pigs on the seventh’ — are often decisive: they can chase the enemy king, win pawn after pawn, and frequently force perpetual check or mate even down material.
It attacks the pawns on their home squares and confines the enemy king to the back rank, often winning material and creating mating threats at the same time.
A nickname for two rooks doubled on the 7th rank. They’re extremely powerful — frequently winning several pawns or delivering mate, even when behind in material.
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