This was sent in by A. Weiler. Thanks for the puzzle. Black to move. Is this a loss or draw for Black?
7k/1R6/8/4p1R1/4P3/6r1/5K1P/8 b – – 0 2
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Tim Krabbé calls this theme the “rambling rook.” Black draws with:
1…Rf3+
2.Ke2
(2.Kg2 Rg3+ 3.Kh1 Rg1+)
2…Re3+
3.Kd2 Rd3+
4.Kc2 Rc3+
5.Kb2 Rc2+
6.Kb3 Rc3+
7.Kb4 Rc4+
8.Kb5 Rc5+
9.Kb6 Rc6+
10.Ka7 Ra6+
11.Kb8 Ra8+
12.Kc7 Rc8+
etc.
Hm. Did I stop too soon? Does Black eventually run out of checks?
If black simply takes the rook
1. Rxg5, how does white win?
Its a draw.
WCM Claudia Munoz
10-yrs. old
womancandidatemaster.blogspot.com
1..Rf3+
2.Ke2 Re3+
3.Kd2 Rd3+
4.Kc2 Rc3+
5.Kb2 Rc2+
6.Kb3 Rc3+
7.Kb4 Rc4+
8.Kb5 Rc5+
9.Kb6 Rc6+
10.Ka7 Ra6+
11.Kb8 Ra8+
12.Kc7 Rc8+
13.Kd7 Rd8+
etc…until Whites King gets to h6.
until Whites King gets to h6
I think Black can keep White’s king from ever making it to h6:
13.Kd7 Rd8+ 14.Ke7 Re8+ 15.Kf7 Rf8+ 16.Kg6 Rf6+ 17.Kh5 Rh6+
The road goes on forever, and the party never ends….
What about 13.Kd6 after 12.-Rc8+, with the idea of picking up Pe5?
E.g.: 13.-Rc6+ (13.-Rd8 14.Rd7)
14.Kxe5 Re6+ 15.Kd5 Rd6+ 16.Kc5 Rc6+ 17.Kb5 +-
i’m afraid white will win this – the critical field is b5, the critical file is the c-file – the white king – molested by the black rook – has to head to the 8th rank (d8), then back to b5 – crossing the c-file way over c6 (opening the possibility to intersect a rook check from c8 by rc7) – to reach b5 with a black rook still on the d-file (d8 or d6. no rook check is possible via d5 because the pawn on e4 would take back opening the field e4 for the remaining black pawn, neutralizing the stalemate threat.
This winnning plan will take about 25 – 30 moves – so hurry on … 🙂
greetings from germany
PS: i don’t want to bore you with my tons of variations (VERY DEEEEEP!)
I don’t see how black can hold a draw in the variations starting with 1.-Rf3+. But one could try a
different strategy with
1.-Rg2+
2.Kf3 Rg3+
3.Ke2 Rg2+
4.Kd3 Rg3+
5.Kc4 Rxg5,
This doesn’t seem so easy for white do win, e.g. 6.Kd5 Rh5 7.Ke6 Rh2=
Anon 9:21, you’ve hit on the key stumbling block I’ve been running up against on this problem. At each turn Black has the choice: check along the rank, or along the file?
An advantage of 1…Rg2+ is that if White moves his king to the third rank, Black can shift gears and check along the file from behind. This may keep White’s king from reaching the b-file, because of the potential skewer check.
Anon 2:05 asked why 1…Rxg5 isn’t adequate. For all I know about R+P endings, it may well be. Whether and why it’s better for Black to win the rook on b7 (via a potential skewer check on b2) than the one on g5, I couldn’t tell you.