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White can achieve a draw here as the Black king is stuck in the corner : 1.Nxa4 a8(Q) 2.Nc3! Qb7+ 3.Kc2 Qb2+ 4.Kd3, and Black will not be able to get his king out in the open – draw!
Lol.. were are your pawns going? black pawns promoting at the back?
It was very obvious that black will run into a zugzwang with 1. Kc2 and Kc1 followed by perhaps Knight moves when possible (e.g. there is pawn on a2) to deliver checkmate (c2 or b3). But it seems black can escape with a draw…
(Nayk Segismar)
White must win moving his king on c1 and c2. Black king must stay in the corner while black pawns reach a2 and a3. After that white must win with Nb3 or Nc2.
i assume, that we´re looking at the position from white´s point of view? i think, there might be a mating possibility, but i find it so hard to calculate such a large number of m oves. let´s see:
1. Kc2 a6
2. Kc1 a5
3. Kc2 a3
4. Kc1 a2
5. Nd5 a4
6. Nb4 a3
7. Nc2#
so it seems to work. but what, if black chooses a different move order?
1. … a5
2. Kc1 a3
3. Kc2 a2
4. Ne2 a4
5. Nc1 a3
6. Nb3#
now it´s also possible, because the knight can come via another route! and what, if black´s pawns stick together?
1. … a6
2. Kc1 a5
3. Kc2 a3
4. Kc1 a4
5. Nd5 a2
6. Nb4 a3
7. Nc2#
so this doesn´t make any difference. but what if
5. … Ka2
6. Nb4+ Ka1
7. Kc2 a2
8. Kc1 a3
9. Nc2#
ok, so this does also work. but there´s another possibility for black:
1. … a5
2. Kc1 a3
3. Kc2 a4
4. Nd5 Ka2
5. Nb4+ Ka1
6. Kc1 a2
7. Nc2#
so in fact in can be done, though at first i thought the king and the knight will eventually stand in each other´s way. nice one! jan
Without any chessboard, I’ll propose
1.Kc2, with the prospect of reproducing the same mate in the same way as many centuries ago, i.e. for the final tableau
White: Kc1, Nc2
Black: Ka1, pawn a2
Now, with a chessboard, this can be done with:
1. Kc2 a6
2. Kc1 a5
3. Kc2 a3
4. Kc1
and now there is a choice :
4… a4
5. Nd5 Ka2 (if 5… a2 6. Nb4 a3
7. Nc2# is shorter)
6. Nb4+ Ka1
7. Kc2 a2
8.Kc1 a3
9.Nc2#
4…a2
5. Ne2 a4
6. Nd4 a3
7. Nc2#
As we can see, zugzwang is the name of the game, forcing Black to push his pawns and to incarcerate his own King.
To respond namely to anonymous 12.49 AM, you have clearly confusion between top and bottom of diagram.
As a general convention, and if not said otherwise White is in the bottom of the diagram (the left file is the a file) and your black move a8Q is an extraterrestrial promotion.
To summarize, here, black promotes at the bottom of the diagram.
And, to make it worse, even if he promotes at the top of the diagram, your line doesn’t even draw!
1.Nxh5 h1Q
2.Nf6! Qg2+
3.Kf7 Qg7+
4.Ke6 and the position isn’t draw, because
4… Qg6 and the black King can reach g7 next move.
As a matter of fact, knight vs. queen is very rarely a draw.
A fork between King and Queen is a possibility, but there is another case, and a cornered black King can generate other possibilities, such as
White: Ka6, Na4
Black: Ka8, Qb8
the obvious 1.Nb6+ draws, or
White: Kb6, Nb5
Black: Ka8, Qc8
there is perpetual check with
1.Nc7+ Kb8 2.Na6+ Ka8
Regards!
1.Nxa4 a8=Q
2.Nc3 Qb8+
3.Kc2 Qb2+
4.Kd3 Qc2
5.Kd2 Kb2
6.Nd1+ Ka3
7….
– Game draw 1/2-1/2:
***Black not available to checkmate because white had Knight ( powerful defend !!! )
Hahaha fortress with knight against queen.. in your dreams! Btw, the black pawns go down and white should win.
White moves 1. Kc2 and then black can do 5 or 6 moves. White moves the knight to e2 and d4, and the king to c1 and c2, doing “mate” with Nb3 or Nc2
Kc2,c1 etc until black pawn is forced to a2 then checkmate with Nc2 or Nb3
really awesome end game…white will win in either way by not taking the pawns..
There must be a zugzwang and mate here, with black king on a1, black pawn on a2, white king on c1 and white knight on c2.
But can’t calculate all variations in my head.
a. e. oslo
Challenge must obviously be for white to win, since a draw looks far to easy, and a win should not be out of reach.
Good challenge for me, I am far from good in endgames!
First putting up an “exemple line”:
1. Kc2 a5 (a6 was possible too)
2. Kc1 a3
3. Kc2 (absolutely necessary before moving knigh, king must not escape to b3)
3. … a4
4. Ne2 a2 (Ka2 was possible too)
5. Nd4 a3 (zugzwang now)
6. Nb3#
Question is, how could black improve this?
4. … Ka2 (obviously better)
Now white can’t move king first, so it has to be
5. Nc6! Ka1
6. Kc1! Ka2
7. Nb4+ Ka1
8. Kc2 a3 (zugzwang)
9. Nc2#
I dont have energy to investigate the line 1. … a6, but feel it must have a similar solution, since white doesn’t seem to run out of moves easily.
Hope this is at least close to the correct solution 🙂
Challenge must obviously be for white to win, since a draw looks far to easy, and a win should not be out of reach.
Good challenge for me, I am far from good in endgames!
First putting up an “exemple line”:
1. Kc2 a5 (a6 was possible too)
2. Kc1 a3
3. Kc2 (absolutely necessary before moving knigh, king must not escape to b3)
3. … a4
4. Ne2 a2 (Ka2 was possible too)
5. Nd4 a3 (zugzwang now)
6. Nb3#
Question is, how could black improve this?
4. … Ka2 (obviously better)
Now white can’t move king first, so it has to be
5. Nc6! Ka1
6. Kc1! Ka2
7. Nb4+ Ka1
8. Kc2 a3 (zugzwang)
9. Nc2#
I dont have energy to investigate the line 1. … a6, but feel it must have a similar solution, since white doesn’t seem to run out of moves easily.
Hope this is at least close to the correct solution 🙂
Kc2
—
White can achieve a draw here as the Black king is stuck in the corner : 1.Nxa4 a8(Q) 2.Nc3! Qb7+ 3.Kc2 Qb2+ 4.Kd3, and Black will not be able to get his king out in the open – draw!
—
What about 4. … Qh2
Anon 1249am. The diagram is shown from white’s end, so the pawn at the top of the diagram is moving downwards, rather than being able to promote in one move.
If the pawn was to promote in one move, then this puzzle would be more interesting.
White must allow the pawn to advance.
1. Kc2
Stay there
Once the pawn is at a1, the king will be trapped
Put the knight at b3 and its a checkmate
White wins!
black promotes at a8? that’s something new…
King should stay between c1 and c2
Kc2 a6
Kc1 a5
Kc2 a3
Then move the Knight to mate.
Sample:
Ne4 a2
Nc5 a4
Kc1 a3
Nb3#
White wins
Zam
Anonymous Thursday, January 20, 2011 12:49:00 AM CST
How can the pawn move backwards??
nxa4 then return to prior position and await for other pawn to arrive repeat the process nxa4 then return. This leads to stalemate.
But of course White can draw, the question is can he win. The idea would be to stalemate black king on a1, force him to play pawn moves and deliver checkmate with Nb3 oor Nc2 at the right moment
I think the trick here is for white to mate black by creating some form of Zugzwang with white king’s on c1 and then white can checkmate black with Nc1#.
Something like this:
1.Kc2 a6 ( I think 1…a3 and 1…a5 should lead to the same thing)
2.Kc1 a3
3.Kc2 a5
4.Kc1 a4
5.Nd5 ka2 ( 5…a3 6.Nb4 and mate follows)
6.kc2 ka1
7.Nb4 a2
8.Kc1 a3
9.Nc2#
White mates because of Black’s extra pawn. The King and Knight maneuvers are slightly different, depending on whether Black plays … a6 or … a5 when he moves that pawn.
1 Kc2!
Trapping the Black King and forcing the pawns to move forward.
1 … a6
1… a3 will transpose into one of the two lines. If Black plays the forward pawn to a2, White has plenty of time to mate, e.g. 1 … a3, 2 Kc1 a2, 3 Nd1, followed by Ne3 and Nc2#.
2 Kc1
White moves the King back and forth from c2 to c1 until Black’s forward pawn is at a2
2 … a5
3 Kc2 a3
4 Kc1 a4
Black wants to move his rear pawn as far forward as possible, in order to stalemate himself before White can maneuver the Knight into position. If 4 … a2, 5 Nd5 a4, 6 Ne3 a3, 7 Nc2#
5 Nd5!
White needs to be careful. If 5 Kc2? she no longer has the time to work with the Knight, e.g. a2, 6 Nd5 a2, and White is a tempo short.
The given move allows White to gain the needed tempo.
5 … Ka2
Or 5 … a2, 6 Ne3 a2, 7 Nc2#
6 Kc2
White temporizes again and forces the King back to a1
6 … Ka1
7 Nb4
Shutting off the King again.
7 … a3
8 Kc1 a2
9 Nc2#
If Black plays the pawn two squares on the first move, it’s done in a slightly different way.
1 Kc2 a4
2 Kc1 a3
3 Kc2 a4
4 Ne2
White again needs to be careful. 4 Nd5? doesn’t work here as it did in the other line, e.g. 4 …a2, and White can’t get to b3 and doesn’t have time to move the King first.
4 … Ka2
5 Nc1+ Ka1
6 Nd3
Now the Knight is in position.
6 … Ka2
Or 6 … a2, 7 Nc5 a2, 8 Nb3#.
7 Nb5+ Ka1
8 Kc1 a2
9 Nc2#
Come on guys, this isn’t a problem unless white can play to win.
The black king can conceivably be mated with the help of his own pawn at a2- the mate will have the white king at c1 and the knight at c2 or b3. There is really only one winning move, too, since the the black king escapes the corner on one of the next two moves on any other move by white:
1. Kc2
Absolutely key. Now white can simply move the king back and forth between c1 and c2 (when the black pawn is at a4. b3 is open when black eventually plays a3) without having to ever moving the knight. If he had played Ka3, black replies by moving the a7 pawn, and the white king either has to move to a4 or b4 allowing the black king access to b2, or the knight has to move allowing the black king access to b1. I can envision several different lines depending on how black moves his pawns. Here, there are three moves- a3, a6, and a5. The key will be to avoid stalemating the black king while keeping him imprisoned on a1 and a2.
1. …..a3
2. Kc1
I think Kb3 is also mate in the same number of moves, but this is the line I worked out exhaustively:
2. …..a6 (a2 3.Ne2 4.Nd4 5.Nc2#)
3. Kc2 a5 (on a2, Ne2-Nd4-Nc2#)
4. Kc1 a4 (on a2, Ne2-Nd4-Nc2#)
We have now reached a critical position, but I think it is only a matter of finding the shortest mate from here. By my count, the shortest is
5. Nd5 Ka2 (a2 6.Ne3 a3 7.Nc2#)
6. Kc2
Cutting off b3. Continuing:
6. …..Ka1
7. Nb4 a2
8. Kc1 a3
9. Nc2# At move 2 in this line, black ends up in the same position by playing a5:
2. …..a5
3. Kc2 a4 (on a2, Ne4-Nc5-Nb3#)
Here is the trickiest position of them all. I think Kc1 draws after black plays a2 since white won’t have enough time to maneuver the knight as black has one legal move left and it takes 3 moves to get the knight into mating position. So, a knight move is called for, and though I am not 100% sure, it looks to me that all of them are equivalent since the mate will be delivered from either b3 or c2:
4. Ne2 Ka2 (on a2, Nd4-Nb3#)
5. Nd4 Ka1
6. Nc6
Shortest line now, I think. Continuing:
6. …..Ka2 (on a2, Nd4-Nb3#)
7. Nb4 Ka1
8. Kc1 a2
9. Nc2#
Back at move 1, black is still mated on playing a5:
1. Kc2 a5
2. Kc1 a3
3. Kc2 a4 and we saw this position above (the tricky one, I think).
And, finally, at move 1
1. Kc2 a6
2. Kc1 a3
3. Kc2 and we saw this earlier was mate, and, also, with the move 2 alternative of a5.
Very rare in game:
1. Kc2 a6
2. Kc1 a5
3. Kc2 a3
4. Kc1 a4
5. Nd5 Ka2
6. Kc2 Ka1
7. Nb4 a2
8. Kc1 a3
9. Nc2#
Susan, sweet greetings.
Stef
Edit;
I think the trick here is for white to mate black by creating some form of Zugzwang with white king’s on knight on c2.
Something like this:
1.Kc2 a6 ( I think 1…a3 and 1…a5 should lead to the same thing)
2.Kc1 a3
3.Kc2 a5
4.Kc1 a4
5.Nd5 ka2 ( 5…a3 6.Nb4 and mate follows)
6.kc2 ka1
7.Nb4 a2
8.Kc1 a3
9.Nc2#
1. Kc2 a6
2. Kc1 a3
3. Kc2 a5
4. Kc1 a4
5. Nd5 Ka2
6. Kc2 Ka1
7. Nb4 a2
8. Kc1 a3
9. Nc2#
1-0
Easy. The basic idea is winning with N vs RP.
White plays his king to c2 then c1, then mates with the knight in 3 more moves. Black can only advance the pawns and wait to be checkmated.