White to move. How should white proceed?
GM Cordova vs IM Terry (2017)
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It is surprising to me how often this ending arises at the GM level in a situation where it can actually be won.
I am not going to post the solution, but for me it was almost trivial- I will just point out that it should be obvious that white cannot move the king or the bishop without losing material and ending up in a draw or worse. I don’t think the first move should be that hard to find- it is really the overall plan you have to get a handle on here.
What was the solution to the 8/8/2p2p2/8/7P/8/1k1K4/8 w – – 0 1 endgame?
James,
Let’s first talk about white playing 1.h5 and black replying with 1. ……f5:
1. h5? f5??
2. h6
There are several wins for white after black’s return of the mistake, but this one highlights one of the features- that white will queen with check at h8 the half-move before black does at f1 if both players continue to push the same two pawns. Of course, white can win now by just going over to the e-file, or even playing the winning move at move 1 which is below. So, black cannot draw with 1. …f5 if white has erred at move 1. So, let’s move on to 1.h5 c5!:
1. h5? c5!
This move should be easy to spot after white has erred because it promises black a tempo when c3 is played with check, and it leaves the pawn on f6 blocking the check after white plays h8(Q). Here is the full line for clarity:
2. h6 c4
3. h7 c3+
4. Ke2
All of whites king moves draw here, though he can lose with 4.Kd1 followed by 5.Ke1/Kd2 which hand black two more tempi.
4. …………..c2
5. h8Q c1Q
And with the move, white can draw this ending even though black has the material edge, though it is almost surely drawn even if black was to move in the position after move 5.
So, we have established that white cannot win with any variation after 1.h5 if black plays c5 in response- the f6 pawn takes away one of white tempi by blocking up the diagonal to h8, and black gains the othe tempo need with c3+. This leaves only king moves for white to win, but which one? Since we now know black must push c5 rather than f5 (the pawn needs to remain on f6 to block the check for a move, and we should know white cannot regain the tempo lost to c3+ by wasting the tempo moving the king to the e-file, this really leaves only 1.Kd3 as a plausible move. So that is the next step:
1. Kd3!
We have already shown that the f-pawn is no threat to white because of the check with h8Q that arises after black has played his pawn from f6- it is the c-pawn that is the threat, and white is going after the c-pawn. In the given position, black no longer gains a useful tempo since the check happens with c4 rather than c3 and white just captures the unprotected pawn, so all black can do here is keep his own king within range of the c-pawn to protect it:
1. …………….Kb3
2. Kd4
Repeats the theme just described- white is again threatening the c-pawn and prevents black from gaining the tempo with c5+ now. Additionally, though black has now moved the king off of b2 which means white won’t queen at h8 with check and the f-pawn can be pushed without worrying about that lost tempo, the f-pawn can’t be protected either……
2. …………….Kb4 (no better is f5 3.h5! f4 4.Ke4 wins the f-pawn and the game)
3. h5
White also wins with Ke3 here which guards both of black’s queening lines depending on whether or not black pushes one pawn or the other. This will be clarified below as we follow the 3.h5 line:
3. …………….c5 (of course, f5 4.h6 f4 5.h7 f3 6.h8Q wins for white)
4. Ke3!
The only winning move. Of course, Kd3 fails because white loses another tempo to black’s reply of 4. ..Kb3 followed by 5. ….c3+ etc. Also, 4.Ke4 only draws because black pushes the c-pawn immediately at move 4 and white can’t access the d3 square at that point and black will queen the half-move after white does gaining at least a draw. So, let’s finish out the line:
4. …………..c4 (what else now?)
5. h6
White wins with Kd2 here, too, but h6 is more accurate:
5. ……………c3
6. h7! c2
7. Kd2! and white wins.
In essence, by attacking the c-pawn before advancing the h-pawn, white forced black to exchange tempo gained with the check for giving up control of the c1 square- the check happens anyway, but further up the board allowing the white king to gain the march back to the queening square.
Yes, I saw Ke3 but I switched to playing 4. … Kb3 when I saw 4. … c4 didn’t work and lost a move for White somewhere or maybe I’d left the pawn on c4 so Black’s K was in place to counter Kd2 with … Kb2 and the c pawn was only a move behind the h pawn.
And, as I frequently write here- don’t just be satisfied with understanding how white wins this- understand how black defends if white errs at move 1.
Able to find solution.Trivial.Due to Mr ward.
Not able to find the solution to this or the endgame .
If no one has posted the solution to the R+B vs R ending, I will post it later tonight.
1. Rg4+ Kh5
2. Rd4 Rb6
3. Rd8 Rxe6+
4. Kxe6
Sorry I didn’t understand your Rd8 move.
Rd8 is a mate threat
I was saying sorry for not believing your line was solid in terms of White’s moves and posting a longer solution because I wasn’t seeing the 3. Rd8 Kh4 4. Rd3 threatening Rh3# line mentioned by S.. Srivastava below.
1. Rg4+ Kh5
2. Rd4 Rb6 ( Black pins the B so that White can’t play Bf7+ followed by Rh4# )
3. Ra4 Rd6 ( if 3. … Rc6 4. Ra3 and the bishop is preventing … Rc4 so the BR can’t block at h4 )
4. Ra5+ Kh4 ( if 4. … Kh6 then 5. Ra3 and the bishop is preventing … Rd5 so the BR can’t block at h5 )
5. Ra3 and now there isn’t enough space to block so White wins.
1Rg4 kh5 2Rd4 rb6 3Rd8 kh4 4Rd3 mate next move. Thanks to James and Alena.