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1. a3 (any move)
2. b3 (any move)
3. a4
Nope, not that simple 🙂
I would try 1.g6 xg6 2.f6 gxf6 3.a3 Kg5 4.b3 Kf5 5.a4 bxa4 6.bxa4 Ke5 7.d6 cxd6 8.c6 dxc6 9.a5 and the pawn cannot be stopped! Is it right, Susan? Thank you for such puzzles!
The immediate a3, then b3, then a4 falls one move short as the black king catches the pawn on a8 via g5, f5, e5, d5, c6, b7 a8.
The idea then must be to block the black king’s path to a8 or at least slow it down by one move.
My guess would be to first play d6. If black plays c6, then the path to a8 is slowed down enough to queen the pawn. If black plays cxd6, then c6 forces dxc6 and blacks path to a8 is block by his own pawns.
Maybe first throw in 1. g6 then continue with the a3, b3, a4 plan.
I don’t use Fritz. I use Zappa!!! Still not have a solution, maybe a bit later.
Anon 8:55 got the right plan:
1 d6 cxd6
2 c6 dxc6
3 a3 c5
4 b3 c4
5 bxc4 bxc4
6 Kf1 Kxg5
7 a4 c3
8 Ke2 h5
9 a5 h4
10 a6 and blacks h-pawn will be to late..
fantastic endgame puzzle Susan! I remember Andrew Martin showing me this some years ago and remember it being very tough!
Looking at some of the answers above, i think one person has got it right.
The immediate 1. d6 doesn’t work as 1. … cxd6 2. c6 dxc6 simply creates a new path for the black king to get to a8 (g5-f5-e6-d7-c7-b7-a8).
However, I believe that if you get the black king to e5 first.
1. a3 Kxg5
2. b3 Kxf5
3. a4 Ke5 [opt. bxa4 bxa4 first]
and then
4. d6 cxd6
5. c6 dxc6
6. a5 Kd5 (only move that stays in the square)
7. a6 … and white will promote.
My endgame isn’t strong enough to be certain that I haven’t missed something, but this looks like it will work.
The trouble is that Black doesn’t have to take on f5, he can sneak in the back way via f6-e7-d8 instead.
I think the solution is
1. g6 hxg6
2. f6 gxf6
and now the a3, b3, a4 trick:
3. a3 Kg5
4. b3 Kf5
5. a4
This comment has been removed by the author.
Sorry, hit return too soon. White still has to solve one more problem but this one is much easier to find.
5. a4 Ke5
6. d6 cxd6
7. c6 dxc6
Thus forcing Black to build a wall of pawns preventing his king to the a-pawn in time!
8. a5 and White queens and wins
So I was on the right track, just didn’t carry it through far enough. Oh well … that’s the story of most of my chess career. 😉
wow! amazing game! I like to play chess, but for offline only, because I still newbie on it. hmm…I think white must…emmm…argghh…..I surrender (^^)
I will be waiting for the rite answer, eh?
ah ya, could I add this blog to my blogroll, please?
thank you!
b3 must be the move.
This doesn’t seem like a 4 out of 4 problem, but a very good and instructive endgame puzzle nevertheless. Bryan got the idea right and partial solution, and Jon took it all the way home –well done!
eglrock
Funny eh? The only plan I saw was b4 followed by Kf2….to catch the a pawn after a4…then the b4 pawn storms down for the win…guess that must not work if nobody else mentioned it.
Fun problem though..
Mike M
Just one question, guys. Why does white loose a tempo with 1. a3, then 2.b3 and then 3.a4. Doesn’t he win a tempo with 1. b3 and immediately then 2. a4.
Santiago
“Just one question, guys. Why does white loose a tempo with 1. a3, then 2.b3 and then 3.a4. Doesn’t he win a tempo with 1. b3 and immediately then 2. a4.”
no, because of 1…b4
eglrock
This position is difficult for a computer. I don’t use Fritz but I use Rybka. At depth 28 (14 moves) she gives the following:
28 0.00 14.9M 4:28.75 g6 fxg6 f6 gxf6 a3 Kg4 b3 Kf3 a4 bxa4 bxa4 Ke2 a5 f5.
So rybka sees only draw, with much difficulty.
Troitzky is known to put computers to shame. I have about 16 of his compositions which no program can solve.
Bryan got the idea right and partial solution, and Jon took it all the way home –well done!
The problem with his solution is that 3…Kg4 with the idea Ke2 f5 f2 (check!) draws Reti-like.
Or is my engine wrong here?
1. g6 !
(1. f6 g6 (1… gxf6 $4 2. a3 Kxg5 3. b3 Kf5 4. a4 bxa4 5. bxa4 Ke5 6. d6 cxd6 7. c6 dxc6 8. a5 1-0) 2. a3 Kxg5 3. b3 Kxf6 4. a4 bxa4 5. bxa4 Ke7 0-1)
1… fxg6
(1… hxg6 2. a3 Kg5 3. b3 Kxf5 4. a4 bxa4 5. bxa4 Ke5 6. d6 cxd6 7. c6 dxc6 8. a5 1-0)
2. a3 Kg4 3. b3 gxf5
(3… Kxf5 4. a4 bxa4 5. bxa4 Ke5 6. d6 cxd6 7. c6 dxc6 8. a5 1-0)
4. a4 bxa4 5. bxa4 Kf3 6. Kf1 Ke4 7. d6 cxd6
(7… c6 8. a5 Kd5 9. a6 Kxc5 10. a7 Kxd6 11. a8=Q 1-0)
8. c6 dxc6 9. a5 1-0
@ frenchplayer
What about:
1.g6 hg6 2.a3 Kg5 3.b3 Kf6
and
1.g6 fg6 2.a3 Kg5
YES, Fritz, my lovely Fritz, without her I could never solve any chess puzzle. I wish Fritz good night each evening.
Main line goes
1. g6 hxg6 2. f6 gxf6 3. a3 Kg4! 4. b3 Kf3 5. a4 bxa4 6. bxa4 Ke2
and it’s a draw
The only thing I came up with (with computer help) is that white wins if black makes an early mistake, 1 h7xg6, then white goes on to win.
Otherwise if 1 f7xg6 then the game is a draw.
1.g5-g6 h7xg6??
[1…f7xg6!!
2.f5-f6 g7xf6
3.a2-a3 Kh5-g4
4.b2-b3 Kg4-f3
5.a3-a4 b5xa4
6.b3xa4 Kf3-e2
7.a4-a5 f6-f5
8.a5-a6 f5-f4
9.Kg1–h2 f4-f3
10.a6-a7 f3-f2
11.a7-a8Q f2-f1Q
12.Qa8-a6+ Ke2-f2
13.Qa6-f6+ Kf2-e1
14.Qf6-a1+ Ke1–f2
15.Qa1–f6+ Kf2-e1
16.Qf6-a1+ Ke1–f2
17.Qa1–f6+] ½-1/2
2.f5-f6 g7xf6
3.a2-a3 Kh5-g5
4.b2-b3 Kg5-f5
5.a3-a4 b5xa4
6.b3xa4 Kf5-e5
7.d5-d6 c7xd6
8.c5-c6 d7xc6
9.a4-a5 d6-d5
10.a5-a6 f6-f5
11.a6-a7 c6-c5
12.Kg1–f2 d5-d4
13.Kf2-f3 c5-c4
14.a7-a8Q d4-d3
15.Qa8-a7 Ke5-d5
16.Qa7xf7+ Kd5-d4
17.Qf7-f6+ Kd4-d5
18.Kf3-e3 Kd5-c5
19.Ke3-d2 Kc5-d5
20.Kd2-c3 Kd5-e4 etc. 1–0
1.g5-g6 h7xg6??
2.f5-f6 g7xf6
3.a2-a3 Kh5-g5
and why don’t you try here Kg4 as in the other line?
1.g5-g6 h7xg6??
2.f5-f6 g7xf6
3.a2-a3 Kh5-g5
You’re right. Looks like a draw either way. How do you win in this position?
I also only found a draw for White. Can Susan demonstrate a win?
Susan,
Please help on this one, no one here can solve it.:(
1.c5xb6 e.p. 🙂
Very clever Siron!
Very clever Siron, but this puzzle is bogus. That means that the position here before black moved was:
8/1ppp1ppp/8/2PP1PPk/8/8/PP6/6K1 b – – 0 1
so black had to commit the huge blunder of b7-b5?? to get to the position given in the puzzle. There are other ways to get to this position via blunders, such as:
8/2pp1ppp/np6/2NP1PPk/3P4/8/PP6/6K1 b – – 0 1
1… Nxc5
2. dxc5 b5
and you have the same position but this game is a draw.
Arriving at this discussion late, but…if Siron’s suggestion of 1.cxb6 is the one and only solution, that is the point of the problem, which is why it’s so difficult.
If it were announced up front that this is a retrograde analysis problem, it would be easy. The point of the problem is to get the reader to figure out that without an en passant capture, White cannot win. So after figuring out that White doesn’t have a normal win based on the given position, the reader has to make an intellectual leap and realize that the problem becomes solvable if Black’s b-pawn is considered as exposed to capture.
Retros explore the possibilities created by the rules of chess. Quality of play is rarely the issue.