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1. Be4 Kf7 (… Bxe4 2. g8Q+)
2. Bxh7 Kxg7
3. d5 Kf7 ( .. Kxh7 4. d6)
4. Ka5 Ke7
5. Ka6 Kd7
6. Kxa7 wins. With the extra Bishop, white can easily stall any stalemate threats by losing a tempo at will.
For completeness, going after the d pawn doesn’t work either. White can play Be4 when the d pawn is attacked, and the Bishop cannot be taken or pawn queens.
You need to consider 1. Be4 Bg8.
An older puzzle posted here in late June of 2010.
More complex than I thought
1. Be4 Bg8 2. d5+ Kf6 3. d6 wins
1. Be4 Bg8 2. d5+ Kd6 3. Ka5 looks won, but it’ll be long.
It must indeed be more complex than these suicide variations above.
If the study was published 100 years ago by one of the greatest chess
composer and we still return to it, it must be more subtle than 2-3 moves.
As it often happens in such studies when many solvers see easy end
(“and White wins”) the study does not even start yet.
1. Be4 Bg8 (everything else is nonsense of course)
2. d5+ (the threat 2… Kf6 is serious so White has to hurry. My first thought was
something like 2. Bc2 and Bb3 but after 2. Bc2 Kf6 3. Bb3 Bxb3+ 4. Kxb3 Kxg7
Black K gets easily to d8 to draw.)
Then the only reasonable line is 2… Kf6 3. d6 and here may be true that “white wins”
but probably after some key moves of the study. There are two possible options
3… Bf7 (waiting for 4. d7 Ke7 draw) or
3… Be6 (counting on 4. Bd5 Bd7 check! and Kxg7)
In both cases similar little geometry is cute:
3… Bf7 4. Bg6! discoordinating Black forces, nothing can be taken
3… Be6 4. Bf5! ditto
Is this a solution though? What about Black not capturing anything
and waiting with Bf7-e6?
1. Be4 Bg8 2. d5+ Kf6 3. d6 Be6 4. Bf5 Bf7 5. Bg6 Be6 (6. Bf5 Bf7 etc) what now?
I suspect this is a key moment when the study actually begins.
The only line I can see for now is 6. d7 Ke7 7. Be8 Black is completely paralized
and it seems that forcing some Zugzwangs White will collect the a pawn and
then go around to f6 or h8 to block the B and promote the g pawn
but I’m not so certain.
For instance: 7… Bc4 8. Kb4 Bg8 9. Kb5 Bd5 10. Ka6 Bg8 11. Kxa7 Bd5 12. Kb6 Kd8
13. Kc5 Bg8 14. Kd4 Ke7 15. Ke5 Bb3 16. Kf5 Bc2+ 17. Kg5 Bb3 18. Kg6 Bc2+ 19. Kh7 Bc4
20. Kh8 Bb3 and now finally 20. Bg6 Kxe7 21. Bh7 Ke7 22. Bg8 Bc2 23. Bc4 and promotes.
Yancey, you apparently know the study. What do I miss? Or is this such a long solution?
One a bit shorter line seems to be blocking Black K on d8 with Kd6 and then
freeing B to get to d5 or e6.
For instance, as above: 13. Kc5 Bg8 14. Kc6 Bb3 15. Kd6 Bg8 16. Bg6 Bb3
after avoiding some simple stalemate traps white wins 17. Bf5 Bg8 18. Be6 Bh7
19. Kc6 Ke7 20. Kc7 wins. Well, not much shorter but simpler.
Here is the link to the previous posting that contains both my analysis at the time and that of a few other of the stronger commentators we had at that time, including the great Lucymarie.
Link
Your analysis of the 2. …Kf6 line is sufficient in my opinion. The paralysis of the black position after 4.Bf5 (or the corresponding Bg6) simply allows white to gobble up the a-pawn and then bring the king into the action for the kill.
I consider this study to be best ever for a bishops of same color ending. However, if you want a complete view of this position in every detail, it is possible to purchase access to the Lomonosov 7-man tablebase which became available in 2012.
Thanks! I can see that 6 years ago people also tended to conclude their analyses
after 3. d6 Be6 4. Bf5! as finishing, while it’s still not so crystal clear. So, I guess, my
longer explorations were not futile. Cheers!
Yes, people often miss informative aspects of these compositions by cutting the analysis off a bit short.