White to move. Can White hold this? How should White proceed?
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Basic endgame improvement
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White to move. Can White hold this? How should White proceed?
1.Nc1 would seem to be the ticket. The Kg1/Nf1 set up is a well known theoretical draw, found in any book on the endgame and (hopefully!) never forgotten once you have seen it.
I think White is lost. Perhaps Ng2 is the best resistance.
Looking at this puzzle i got a feeling that i should have studied endgames theory in depth instead of boring opening theory.
Knowing this endgame makes Nf1 automatic. The idea is to harry the black king on f3 and g3 something that isn’t possible from g2.
I dont know how but I guess it is a draw because I remember the game Em. Lasker vs Ed Lasker when the world champion hold the position with his knight against his opponent Rook, Pawn and King in a similar position with his pieces close on the border
I know from experience that queen vs knight is tough, but a win for the side with the queen.
I know this because I shamefully had to take a draw, by sacrificing my queen for my opponent’s knight, in a tournament game so that I wouldn’t lose on time.
After that game I went home and studied up on that particular endgame. But I don’t know how to play this one from either side.
BUT (getting to my point), I imagine the process for trying to win would be the same for both R vs N and Q vs N.
The idea with Q vs N is to push the losing-side’s king to the edge of the board, while avoiding forks. At a certain point, the losing-side will have to make a bad knight move that allows his knight to be taken.
Looking at this endgame, I am guessing that white should draw, since the rook is not nearly as powerful as the queen, and it is not all that easy to win in queen vs knight.
Looking forward to seeing a SOLUTION.
Generally speaking white can hold a knight versus rook so long as the knight and king don’t get stuck in the corner. I think Ng2 actually loses but Nc2 followed by Kf1 and then keeping the knight close to the king whenenver possible should be enough for a draw.
no idea if white can hold this. seems to be a theoretical position. actually interesting, what is black`s winning strategy? obviously to keep white`s king in the corner. achieve mate or win the knight, but how i can not see. two candidate moves for white: Nf1 and Ng2. Nf1 looks better, as it keeps the black king from the third rank and leaves the white king room to leave the backrank. this might help in what i suspect could be an endless struggle. greets, jan
Black will never be able to win the N as it can keep the King away. Therefore Draw.
1.Nf1! might be able to draw and for sure all the other move loses since either the king approaches or the knight is far away from its king.
1…Kf3 2.Nh2+ Ke3 3.Nf1+ Kd3 4.Kf2 and draw. Of course there are many variations but this is the basic drawing procedure !
White wins by
1.Nd5+ Kf3
2.Kh2 Kf2
3.Kh3 Re4
4.Nf6 Re6
5.Ng4+ Kg1
6.Kg3 Kh1
9.Kh3 Rg1
10.Nf2 mate
This is surprisingly complicated, but I would play Nf1 without hesitating too much, and I feel pretty sure it would hold the theoretical draw. The point is that either the king escapes the edge and the corner (if black moves the rook anywhere), or the knight harasses the black king should he move to f3, and harasses him again if he then moves to g3 or e3.
Having said this, I think a few other knight moves draw as well, but I am much less confident about them because the analysis is tough, very tough. The only line I am convinced loses is
1. Nd5 Kf3
2. Nc3 Re1
3. Kh2 Re5
4. Kg1 Rc5
5. Na4 Rc1
6. Kh2 Rc2
7. Kg1 Rg2
8. Kh1 Kg3
9. Nc3 Kh3
10.Nd1 Re2 and mate or loss of the knight must follow. Now, this line is much more complicated than I have outlined here, but in each case, I could always find ways to combine the threats of mate and attacking the knight to keep the knight away, and once it was far enough away, the threat of mate couldn’t be stopped. I think the real principle here is to not let the knight get too far away, and to not let the black king pin white king in the corner without the knight nearby. I think Nd5 violates both of these principles. Possibly moves like Nc4 does so as well, but I had a hard time finding the right winning line for black in that case. Ng2 seemed to be able to hold, but maybe someone else can show it loses- I couldn’t see a way to win as black in that line either.