i think it might be a good idea to confront the black king with two possible breakthroughs which he can´t stop both at the same time: 1. f6+ gxf6 2. exf6+ Ke8 3. g5 followed by h5, g6 and the march of the h-pawn, if the king tries to stop it, c6 and the b-pawn converts. If 2. … Kxf6 3. c6 bxc6 4. b6 e5+ 5. Kd3 e4+ 6. Kd2 d4 7. b7 quite obvious, who will queen first. If 1. … Kf8 2. fxg7+ Kxg7 3. c6 bxc6 4. bxc6 Kf8 5. c7 Ke8 6. c8Q# (for example) greets, jan
My first instinct would be to look at b6 in order to set up c6 as crusher should the black king stay on the e-file or stray to the f-file. The point is that if the king doesn’t move from the e-file, c6 wins as Kd8 loses to cb7 and the king is cut off from c-file and the b8 queening square:
1. b6 f6 (any pawn move is same) 2. c6 bc6 (Kd8 3.cb7+-) 3. b7 and the pawn is unstoppable. So, black must play either Kd7 or Kd8 on the very first move.
1. b6 Kd7
And, now, the question is back on white’s shoulders, and I have to admit that I don’t see any advantage for white. His backward c-pawn is an actual liability if the black king reaches c6, and I don’t see any way to prevent the black king from reaching this square and setting up a zugzwang for white:
2. fe6 fe6
And now white has only Kc3, Ke3, g5 and h5 as reasonable moves as c6 just loses immediately to Kc6. None of the moves looks promising to me:
3. Kc3 Kc6 (direct and simple) 4. Kb4
If 4.Kd4 then Kb5 wins easily. Cont.:
4. …..h6 (d4 and g6 win too) 5. h5 d4 6. Kc4 d3 7. Kd3 Kc5 and black wins b6 and the the game with the passed b-pawn. At move 3, the alternatives for white are no better:
3. Ke3 Kc6 4. Kd4 Kb5 (direct and simple) 5. g5 g6 and white is in a terminal zugzwang. The same will happen in the lines with 3.h5 or 3.g5.
All in all, 1. b6 isn’t what I was hoping for. Will continu in my next comment.
The win comes from making the Black king defend two entry point at once: 1. f6+ gxf6 2. exf6+ Kd7 (2. … Kxf6 3. c6 bxc6 4. b6 and the pawn is out of reach) 3. g5 +- The Black king cannot support the advance of the d and e pawns, while White has a break through on both wings (c6 and b6 or bxc6; h5 g6 and, after exchanges, f6) For example: 3. … Kd8 4. h5 Ke8 5. c6 bxc6 6. bxc6 Kd8 7. g6 fxg6 8. f7 Ke7 9. c7 One or the other pawn with promote.
This is not easy, at 1st I thought b6, but that might lose for White. The black king is within the square of the possible passed pawn so looking for something forcing to move the king I considered f6+. Black can’t win a pawn after f6+ with …as his king will be too far from the passed pawn, White would queen it quickly. Black must, however take on f6, that is forced. Notice, however, after white retakes on f6 he will then have a 3:2 pawn majority on the kingside. White will have the chance to create a passed pawn on both wings and his king is in position to stop blacks central pawns. White wins! BillyJack
In my last comment, I discussed playing an immediate 1.b6 to threaten c6 and the creation of a winning passed pawn on the queenside. Unfortunately, this idea failed to the black king’s move to d7. This should give one the idea of a distracting the black king to the f-file first, then play b6 or c6 in either order. The most obvious attempt at this is plan is
1. f6 gf6 (otherwise 2.fg7+-) 2. ef6
And, now, black is in a world of trouble. White is threatening the creation of passed pawns on both wings with move sequences like c6 followed by b6 if the black king takes at f6 or plays to f8, or with move sequences like g5 followed by h5 and g6 if the black king retreats to d7 or d8. Cont.:
2. …..Kf6 3. c6 bc6 4. b6 e5 5. Kc5 and the b-pawn queens and black’s counterplay with the passed pawns is far too slow to matter. Or
3. …..Kf8 4. c6 with an even worse position than in 3. ….Kf6. Or
3. …..Kd7 4. g5 b6 (what else?) 5. cb6 Kd6 (Kc8 6.h5 Kd7 7.g6+-) 6. h5 e5 7. Ke3 d4 (everything loses) 8. Ke4 and it is over for black.
b6 would win if Black couldn’t move the King to d7. Therefore it looks like White needs to distract the Black King first, and then move to b6. So I would move f6+, and either Black takes the pawn, or White takes fxg7. In both cases the Black King is distracted, then White wins with b6 and c6
White wins. Black threatens 1…g6!, drawing, so White must strike with 1.f6+! gxf6 2.exf6+. Now Black can’t play 2…Kxf6 because of 3.c6 bxc6 4.b6! So Black must instead play something like 2…Kd7. Then White uses his local king-side pawn majority (3-2 on the f-g-h files) and creates a passed pawn with 3.g5, h5, g6, etc. Black’s king can’t stop both of the passed pawns that White can create (on the queenside with c6, and the kingside with g6).
My first thought is to start out with 1. b6 and follow that with 2. c6 but Black can defend 1. b6 adequately with 1…. Kd7. So must combine kingside promotion threats with queenside promotion threats. This can be done with:
1. f6+ gxf6 [ 1… Kf8 2. c6 ] 2. exf6+ Kd7 [ Black king can’t afford to lose sight of queenside pawns by playing 2… Kxf6 ] 3. g5 Kc7 4. h5 Kd7 5. g6 fxg6 [ or 5…. hxg6 6. h6 ] 6. c6+ bxc6 7. bxc6+ and Black can’t stop both advanced pawns.
I think White would do best to create passed pawns on both sides of the board. Some example lines:
1. f6+ gxf6 2. exf6+ Kd7 (2…Kxf6? 3. c6) 3. g5 Kc7 4. h5 Kd7 5. g6 fxg6 and White should be able to win in multiple ways here, for example 6. c6+ bxc6 7. b6 and either the b-pawn or f-pawn will queen.
1. f6+ is the crusher, because at this moment it is a check and black does not have an option of 1. … g6. Also 1. … gxf6 2. exf6+ Kxf6 is not possible because of 3. c6 bxc6 4. b6 black king is out of reach.
So after 1. f6+ gxf6 2. exf6+ Kd7 (for example) white has simple plan of creating passed pawns on both wings with g5-h5-g6 and c6. Black cannot stop them simultaneously and white wins.
1.f6+! gxf6 2.exf6+ Kd7 (otherwise 2…Kxf6 3.b6 Ke7 4.c6+-) 3.g5 Kc7 4.b6+ Kd7 5.h5! and there are breakthroughs on both wings 1-0
c6 then Kc5 and white probably wins.
i think it might be a good idea to confront the black king with two possible breakthroughs which he can´t stop both at the same time:
1. f6+ gxf6
2. exf6+ Ke8
3. g5 followed by h5, g6 and the march of the h-pawn, if the king tries to stop it, c6 and the b-pawn converts. If
2. … Kxf6
3. c6 bxc6
4. b6 e5+
5. Kd3 e4+
6. Kd2 d4
7. b7 quite obvious, who will queen first. If
1. … Kf8
2. fxg7+ Kxg7
3. c6 bxc6
4. bxc6 Kf8
5. c7 Ke8
6. c8Q# (for example)
greets, jan
My first instinct would be to look at b6 in order to set up c6 as crusher should the black king stay on the e-file or stray to the f-file. The point is that if the king doesn’t move from the e-file, c6 wins as Kd8 loses to cb7 and the king is cut off from c-file and the b8 queening square:
1. b6 f6 (any pawn move is same)
2. c6 bc6 (Kd8 3.cb7+-)
3. b7 and the pawn is unstoppable. So, black must play either Kd7 or Kd8 on the very first move.
1. b6 Kd7
And, now, the question is back on white’s shoulders, and I have to admit that I don’t see any advantage for white. His backward c-pawn is an actual liability if the black king reaches c6, and I don’t see any way to prevent the black king from reaching this square and setting up a zugzwang for white:
2. fe6 fe6
And now white has only Kc3, Ke3, g5 and h5 as reasonable moves as c6 just loses immediately to Kc6. None of the moves looks promising to me:
3. Kc3 Kc6 (direct and simple)
4. Kb4
If 4.Kd4 then Kb5 wins easily. Cont.:
4. …..h6 (d4 and g6 win too)
5. h5 d4
6. Kc4 d3
7. Kd3 Kc5 and black wins b6 and the the game with the passed b-pawn. At move 3, the alternatives for white are no better:
3. Ke3 Kc6
4. Kd4 Kb5 (direct and simple)
5. g5 g6 and white is in a terminal zugzwang. The same will happen in the lines with 3.h5 or 3.g5.
All in all, 1. b6 isn’t what I was hoping for. Will continu in my next comment.
1. f6 gxf6 2.exf6+ and if Kxf6 b6 wins
and if Kd7 3. h5 etc also wins.
The win comes from making the Black king defend two entry point at once:
1. f6+ gxf6
2. exf6+ Kd7 (2. … Kxf6 3. c6 bxc6 4. b6 and the pawn is out of reach)
3. g5 +-
The Black king cannot support the advance of the d and e pawns, while White has a break through on both wings (c6 and b6 or bxc6; h5 g6 and, after exchanges, f6)
For example:
3. … Kd8
4. h5 Ke8
5. c6 bxc6
6. bxc6 Kd8
7. g6 fxg6
8. f7 Ke7
9. c7
One or the other pawn with promote.
I found a nice line for white
1 f6 gxf6 2 exf6 Kxf6 3 b6 ke7 4c6 Ke8 5 cxb7 and white queens
but if black does not take f6 pawn , then the game becomes a bit more complicated.
2.. Ke7 then 3 g5! followed by h5 and g6 .. then one pawn queens.
f6 looks winning to me on first glance.
han
This is not easy, at 1st I thought b6, but that might lose for White. The black king is within the square of the possible passed pawn so looking for something forcing to move the king I considered f6+. Black can’t win a pawn after f6+ with …as his king will be too far from the passed pawn, White would queen it quickly. Black must, however take on f6, that is forced. Notice, however, after white retakes on f6 he will then have a 3:2 pawn majority on the kingside. White will have the chance to create a passed pawn on both wings and his king is in position to stop blacks central pawns. White wins!
BillyJack
In my last comment, I discussed playing an immediate 1.b6 to threaten c6 and the creation of a winning passed pawn on the queenside. Unfortunately, this idea failed to the black king’s move to d7. This should give one the idea of a distracting the black king to the f-file first, then play b6 or c6 in either order. The most obvious attempt at this is plan is
1. f6 gf6 (otherwise 2.fg7+-)
2. ef6
And, now, black is in a world of trouble. White is threatening the creation of passed pawns on both wings with move sequences like c6 followed by b6 if the black king takes at f6 or plays to f8, or with move sequences like g5 followed by h5 and g6 if the black king retreats to d7 or d8. Cont.:
2. …..Kf6
3. c6 bc6
4. b6 e5
5. Kc5 and the b-pawn queens and black’s counterplay with the passed pawns is far too slow to matter. Or
3. …..Kf8
4. c6 with an even worse position than in 3. ….Kf6. Or
3. …..Kd7
4. g5 b6 (what else?)
5. cb6 Kd6 (Kc8 6.h5 Kd7 7.g6+-)
6. h5 e5
7. Ke3 d4 (everything loses)
8. Ke4 and it is over for black.
3. …..Kd8 is pretty the same as Kd7 above.
So, 1. f6+ is a clearly winning move.
b6 would win if Black couldn’t move the King to d7.
Therefore it looks like White needs to distract the Black King first, and then move to b6.
So I would move f6+, and either Black takes the pawn, or White takes fxg7.
In both cases the Black King is distracted, then White wins with b6 and c6
white can overstretch the defense by creating passed pawns on both wings after f6. If
gxf
exf+ Kxf6
black loses immediately to
c6 bxc
b6
So the king must retreat
But then white can later create a passed pawn on the kingside, for example and again draw the black king too far from the other passer
I’m too lazy to give all the lines
1.f6 gf6 2.ef6 Kd7 (2.-Kf6 3.c6 bc6 4.b6)
3.g5 followed by h5, g6. White creates a pawn at the King’s side, another at the Queenside.
White wins. Black threatens 1…g6!, drawing, so White must strike with 1.f6+! gxf6 2.exf6+. Now Black can’t play 2…Kxf6 because of 3.c6 bxc6 4.b6! So Black must instead play something like 2…Kd7. Then White uses his local king-side pawn majority (3-2 on the f-g-h files) and creates a passed pawn with 3.g5, h5, g6, etc. Black’s king can’t stop both of the passed pawns that White can create (on the queenside with c6, and the kingside with g6).
A)1.f6 gxf6; 2.exf6 … if king takes f6, 3.c6 bxc6; 4.b6;
B) if 2… Kd7; 3.g5 and h5 g6 freeing f7; if necessary (king comes here) actions other side, like in A)
C) King can´t take care both sides
1.f6+ wins!!!
My first thought is to start out with 1. b6 and follow that with 2. c6 but Black can defend 1. b6 adequately with 1…. Kd7. So must combine kingside promotion threats with queenside promotion threats. This can be done with:
1. f6+ gxf6 [ 1… Kf8 2. c6 ] 2. exf6+ Kd7 [ Black king can’t afford to lose sight of queenside pawns by playing 2… Kxf6 ] 3. g5 Kc7 4. h5 Kd7 5. g6 fxg6 [ or 5…. hxg6 6. h6 ] 6. c6+ bxc6 7. bxc6+ and Black can’t stop both advanced pawns.
Lucy
1.f6 and black cannot stop the pawns on both sides of the board (either c6 bc b6 or g5,h5,g6)
1.f6+! gxf6
2.exf6+ Kd8 [Kxf6 3.c6 +-]
3.g5 followed by h5 and g6.
White can create two passed pawns. Black king cannot stop both.
I think White would do best to create passed pawns on both sides of the board. Some example lines:
1. f6+ gxf6 2. exf6+ Kd7 (2…Kxf6? 3. c6) 3. g5 Kc7 4. h5 Kd7 5. g6 fxg6 and White should be able to win in multiple ways here, for example 6. c6+ bxc6 7. b6 and either the b-pawn or f-pawn will queen.
1. f6 looks the cleanest kill.
1… gxf6
2. exf6 Kxf6
3. c6 wins
or
2. …. Kd7
3. g5 and white can break through on the k-side and q-side
1. f6+ is the crusher, because at this moment it is a check and black does not have an option of 1. … g6. Also 1. … gxf6 2. exf6+ Kxf6 is not possible because of 3. c6 bxc6 4. b6 black king is out of reach.
So after 1. f6+ gxf6 2. exf6+ Kd7 (for example) white has simple plan of creating passed pawns on both wings with g5-h5-g6 and c6. Black cannot stop them simultaneously and white wins.
I think this ought to win
f6 gf6
ef6 if Kf6
c6 bc6
b6 & the K can’t catch the pawn
After f6 gf6
ef6 if Kd7
then the g & h pawns can be pushed
making the K move over & then
white can try c6 at the convenient
time