Rooks are the hardest pieces to develop: they start in the corners, and pawns block them everywhere. An open file, one with no pawns of either color on it, is a rook's highway: control it and your rook sees all the way into the enemy position, ready to invade.
This is one of the simplest positional rules with the highest payoff: when a file opens up, race your rook to it first. A rook that controls the only open file often decides the whole endgame by itself, because the opponent's rook is stuck reacting instead of invading.
8
7
6
5
4
3
2
a1
b
c
d
e
f
g
h
Both d-file pawns are gone, it's the only fully open file on the board. Neither rook has claimed it yet.
Seize the open file before Black does.
8
7
6
5
4
3
2
a1
b
c
d
e
f
g
h
