Even though White is two pawns up, Black has excellent chances to draw due to the double pawns. This is one of those critical endgame positions where one has to understand how to zugzwang the opponent in order to win. White to move and win. No computer please! It won’t help you improve your techniques.
Chess Daily News from Susan Polgar
1. Kc3 Kc5
2. b4+ Kxb5
3. Kb3 gains the opposition and looks like it allows white to make some progress into the black camp.
I like the pawn sacrifice 1. g4 hxg4 2. g3 and now Black is in zugzwang as his king will have to either leave the defense of the b6 pawn or allow the white king over to the kingside to eat the black pawns there.
Nope, my way doesn’t win against. 2. … Ke4
1. Kc3 Ke4 2. Kc4 Ke5 3. Kd3 Kd5 4. Ke3 Ke5 5. Kf3 Kf5 6. g4+ hxg4+ 7. Kg3 Ke5
8. Kxg4 winning.
Or 1. Kc3 Kc5 2. b4+ Kxb5 3. Kb3 Kc6 4. Kc4 b5+ 5. Kd4 Kd6 6. g4 hxg4 7.g3
lets see if i can work something out here.
I have spent time on this. but will try again.
basically I see a few moves.
King to the a file a4 and a3
king to c3
pawn up g4
superficially. and this is without deep analysis. but from simple thoughts at this point.
1) king to a file gets blocked in. the king becomes too far away from the king side and black can get the opposition and keep white on the a file. so this does not have a future.
2) Kc3 I dont like because it gives up the pawn at b5. but then again this needs to be looked at deeper.
3) g4 does not advance anything. it just keeps the same overall problem but loses a pawn. things like g4 hxg4, g3. leaves white to move in a worse position.
so in review. if white is to make progress the ONLY place he can make progress is in 2).
so by default Kc3. as black I would play Kc5 taking the opposition and attack the pawn at b5. now white has 2 main choices. b4+ and Kd3. well Kd3 does not do well. to me it looks like black can mop up the pawns and have a passed pawn. white will take a long time to take the black pawns on the king side to move his pawns. so this probably loses to the black pawn on b6.
so by default it looks like b4+ which I really dont like. but it wins by default so far. so black plays Kxb5. and what is white to do. if white runs to the king side he loses faster as black gets the pawn on b4 and queens. so white must protect the pawn. his only move is then Kb3.
OK I have this setup on a board and finally I see some progress. black has to back up. Kc6 and white can move forward then to Kc4 with opposition.
So making these moves on the board it looks much better for white. I still dont know if it is a win. but this seems the only way to go by default. If I were to get here, I would relax over the board and see what black plays and then do some more work.
but I only got this far by setting up a board and thinking it out. I also spent more time twice before during the day today looking at this problem.
I am not even sure this is the correct answer. there might be resources in other moves. but this seems reasonable when i look at this position at the end. if I could get here in a real game, I dont know.
Tommy, some of your thoughts are getting warmer. Keep going.
Best wishes,
Susan Polgar
http://www.PolgarChess.com
http://www.SusanPolgar.com
I like Tommy’s idea of the beginnng moves. Then, I can see that white has the option of using his g3-g4 pawns to lose a tempo (give Black the move), and it would be a shame not use it. So I came up with the following sequence of moves
1.Kc3 Kc5 2.b4+ Kxb5 3. Kb3 Kc6 .Now the immediate 4.Kc4 will let black snatch the opposition by 4..b5+, so I would rather play 4.Ka4! Kc7 5.Kb5 Kb7 .Now, Black has the opposition and we’ll have to make him lose it. NOW is the time to play 6. g4! hxg4 7.g3 and now Black is forced to move, and loses his b6 pawn (and the game) either by . 7..Kc7 8.Ka6 Kc6 9.b5+ Kc7 10.Ka7 +-, (White gets sideways oppostion, a standard manouvre) OR 7..Ka7 8.Kc6 Ka6 9.b5+ Ka7 10.Kc7 +- .(same thing)
Is this correct ? ((I never use a board and just try to look at the diagram, so please dont laugh if there are obvious mistakes)
there is a problem with samkid’s line in that after w’s 9. b5+ black will not move his king back but forward defending his own pawn and attacking white’s and it is white who is Zugzwang
simplest is anon’s 4 Kc4 when samkid’s concern that black will snatch the opposition is is removed by the fact that white still has the g4 hg4 g3 tempo putting black back in zugzang.
anon’s analysis seems correct with the addition that in his/her second line 4 … Kc7 (rather than 4….b5+) is met by 5 kd5 kd7 6 b5
and 4 … Kb7 by 5 Kb5 Kc7 6 Ka6 Kc6 7 b5+ Kc5 8 g4 hg 9 g3
great position to analyse Susan (-:
I think it is best to give up the two b pawns and the King start rushing to the Kingside via c3-d3-e4-f4 and then pushing g pawn and able to queen first.