White to move. Is this a win, draw, or loss for White? How should White proceed?
8/5p2/k3p1p1/P2pP2p/1Kp4P/4P1P1/5P2/8 w – – 0 44
Chess Daily News from Susan Polgar
- About Us
- Chess Improvement
- Chess Puzzles
- Chess Research
- College Chess
- General News
- Home
- Major Tournaments
- News
- Polgar Events
- Privacy Policy
- Scholastic Chess
- SPICE / Webster
- Susan’s Personal Blog
- Track your order
- USA Chess
- Videos
- Women’s Chess
- Contact Us
- Daily News
- My Account
- Terms & Conditions
- Privacy Policy
White wins with the slow plan of creating a second passed pawn, against which Black has no defense because of the passed a-pawn. The winning plan begins with:
1. e4
and if Black plays …d4 or …dxe4 White will capture on c4 and win because his king will invade Black’s position first. Therefore, Black can only pass:
1…Kb7 2. exd5 exd5
And now White has a 4-3 advantage on the kingside, and creates a second passed pawn with f3, g4 – if Black captures on g4 White creates a passed pawn on the h-file – gxh5 and then creating a passed pawn with the e- and f-pawns against the single Black f-pawn. It looks like Black is powerless to stop this plan.
Deja vu?
This is a draw after black plays c3 and white promotes his king rook pawn but black promotes his king pawn
Oh, I said c3 draws for black, unless white plays e4 immediately, when black must play e4
White wins with 1 e4 !!! If Black takes on e4 the win should be pretty easy. If Kb4 then White exchanges on d5 and then plays f3 and g4. If hxg4 then white will be able to force a passed h-pawn. And after White plays gxh4 he will be able to force a passed pawn with his e and f pawns.
White has only one move that doesn’t lose, f4.
Now black has to move, and has no moves that don’t lose.
Mark
Black King is trapped on the queen side because of the pawn on a5.
Black cannot advance the d pawn because White can capture both c and c pawns.
White can move his f pawn and g pawn, i.e. f3 followed by g4. Black cannot exchange pawns at g4 because White will end up two pawns on g4 and h4, which leads to queening on h file by h5! So, Black has to wait another move and let the white take the h pawn with g pawn, which end up with pawns locked in h file.
After locking the pawns in h file, White can advance the f pawn to f4.
Then, White can do his pawn to e4! Black have to take the pawn in e4 because if not White can queen on e file. After Black takes the pawn at e4, White will take both pawns and move to the King side.
After Black’s dxe4 move:
1.Kxc4 Kxa5
2.Kd4 Kb6
3.Kxe4 Kc7
4.f5 Kd7
5.f6
White can take Black’s h pawn in three moves:
5..Ke8
6.Kf4 Kf8
7.Kg5 Kg8
8.Kxh5 Kh8
9.Kh6 Kg8
From this point, White can maneuver the king to to queen side and use the passed pawn at h file to keep the black king on the king side preventing it to go back to the queen side.
It will take White 6 moves to reach d6 and 7 moves to e7; Black 6 moves to f4 take the pawn at e5 and 6 moves to g6 to protect the f pawn after taking the pawn at h4.
But the g7 square is covered by White. Black king cannot move there, so eventually White can take Black’s pawn at f7 and win the game.
Conclusion: White wins.
My name is Bryan Laff-at-me, and I have no idea. I can barely remember how the pieces move, actually.
1. f3 and 2. e4 wins
White to win with e4.
I think black king and white king are force to stay where they are to stop the pass pawns. White wins by trying to have pawn breakthrough on the F pawn or H pawn.
Egoist Paul
Pawns can’t move backwards!
4.f5 Kd7
5.f6
Black draws, a typical sequence:
1.e4 e4
2.kc4 ka5
3.kd4 kb6
4.ke4 kc5
5.f3 kc6
6.g4 kc5
7.kf4 kd5
8.h5 h5
9.kg5 ke5
10.kh5 kf4
11.kh6 kf3
12.kg5 e5
13.h5 e4
14.h6 e3
15.h7 e2
16.h8q e1q
If I am honest I cant see how White wins after e4. I would prefer that plan with f3, g4 and g5, followed by building a free pawn on the king side. It is essential to build the free pawn without loosing the a pawn.
After
1. e4? dxe4
2. Kxc4 Kxa5
3. Kd4 Kb6
4. Kxe4 Kc7
5. f5 Kd7
6. f6 Ke7
I dont see how White can catch a pawn nor build a free pawn.
If White does not take on e4 and plays
3. Kc5 Black must play
3. … Ka4
4. Kd6 Kb3
5. Ke7 Kc3
6. Kxf7 Kd2
7. Kxe6 Ke2
8. Kf7 Kxf2
9. e6 e3
Both pawns come in at the same time, and the result cant be clear.
Ah, so white can win!
If White does not take on e4 and plays
3. Kc5 Black must play
3. … Ka4
4. Kd6 Kb3
5. Ke7 Kc3
6. Kxf7 Kd2
7. Kxe6 Ke2
8. Kd5 wins
Anonymous:
They are white pawn moves.