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Qf8 + and then it is stalemate.
1…Qf8+ 2.Ke5 Qf5+ 3.Kd4 Qxg5 4.Qc7+ Kh6 5.Qe5 or 3…Qxf3 4.Qd7+ followed by 5.Qxb5
so 2…Qxf3! 3.Qe7+ Kg8 4.Ke6 Qc6+ with plenty more checks available to draw.
James,
That line with 2. ….Qf3 looks a bit iffy to me:
1. ……….Qf8
2. Ke5 Qf3?!
3. Qe7 Kg8
4. Kd6!
And black is going to have a bit of trouble to work out, no? For example:
4. ………..Qf4
5. Kc6!
And the b-pawn is suddenly a liability. Black can protect it from f1, c4, or b8, but all of those moves have basically the same problem:
5. ………..Qc4
6. Kb7! Qd5
7. Kb6
And now what? Like a lot of Q and P endings, the variations are multitude, and I can’t evaluate them adequately without an immense amount of work- but black’s position here is hanging by a thread just at a cursory look.
I like the first line of 2. …Qf5 much more than 2. ….Qf3:
1. ………..Qf8
2. Ke5 Qf5!
3. Kd4 Qg5!
4. Qc7 Kh6
5. Qe5 Qe5
6. Ke5 g5!
This is ending should be perfectly balanced for black- the g-pawn can always be protected by the black king (for example, 7.Kf6 Kh5!); if white pushes with f4, black just refuses the exchange with g4 for an even pawn race; if white tries Kf5 followed by f4, black again puts the king on h5 and refuses the exchange; and, finally, if white goes for the b-pawn, black attacks the f-pawn and queens the half-move after white for another draw.
Didn’t see g5 but 1…Qf8+ 2.Ke5 Qf5+ 3.Kd4 Qxg5 4.f4 and at my level of play White would still have a good chance of winning.
1…Qf8+!! works.