White to move. Which side is better? How should White proceed?
Source: ChessToday.net
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1.Bf5 with the idea Bc8 and Bxb7, black can’t do nothing
I think white is winning with:
1.Bxf5 Ke7
2.Bc8 Kd7
3.Bxb7! Nxb7
4. a6 and promotes
The knight is on its so-called “dumb square” b7 – it even manages to stop the king reaching the white pawn!
After 1.Bf5!, Black can resign, e.g. 1…Na6 2.Bc8 Nc5 3.Bxb7! Nxb7 4.a6 1-0.
White is better. If he achieves playing Bc8 with a Zugzwang position he captures the b7 or c6 and wins by promoting his a or c pawn. A first suggestion is
1. Bc4 Ne4 (what else?)
2. Be6 Bc5
3. Bc8 Kg8
The first step is done, but how proceed now?
Dan from Germany
4. Kf5 Kf7
7. Ke5 Ke7
8. Kd4 N whatever, and White wins the b pawn
Black also can play
7. Kg6
8. Kd4 Na4 (whatever)
9. Bxb7 Kxg5
10. Bxc6 and White wins easy again
Equal material. Draw.
white is winning start with 1.bf5..
b6 (otherwise b7 pawn will be taken)
2.axb6 na6 3.b7 nb8..and white king will win the pawn in queen side
white is winning start with 1.bf5..
b6 (otherwise b7 pawn will be taken)
2.axb6 na6 3.b7 nb8..and white king will win the pawn in queen side
white is winning start with 1.bf5..
b6 (otherwise b7 pawn will be taken)
2.axb6 na6 3.b7 nb8..and white king will win the pawn in queen side
white is winning start with 1.bf5..
b6 (otherwise b7 pawn will be taken)
2.axb6 na6 3.b7 nb8..and white king will win the pawn in queen side
From Spain…
1)Bf5!… and 2)Bc8 win
1)Bf5,Kg8
2)Bc8,Kf8
3)Bb7!,Nb7
4)a6,Nd6 or Nd8 or Na5
5)a7 and white win with; 6)a8=Q
1)Bf5,Na6
2)Bc8,Nb4
3)Bb7,Nc2
4)a6 and white win
Greetings from Spain
white is winning start with 1.bf5..
b6 (otherwise b7 pawn will be taken)
2.axb6 na6 3.b7 nb8..and white king will win the pawn in queen side
Bf5 followed by Bc8 should win, as white sacs the bish for the b-pawn with Bxb7 next, and then marches the a-pawn to queen (after the knight captures the bishop at b7, there is no way the knight can hop around and stop the a-pawn in time).
1.Bf5 – knight has to move, 2.Bc8 Nc5 3.Bxb7 and over.
Interesting position. My first thought was can we put the bishop on a square that either holds the knight in place and forces the black king or the b-pawn to move, or can we move the bishop to a square that forces the knight onto a worse square? There is no way for the bishop to cover e6, d7, and a4, so the knight has mobility if needed in that regard. With that idea out of the way, my second thought is to limit the knight’s mobility by attacking the b-pawn. This idea has more promise to my eye, but requires two moves of the bishop:
1. Bf5
And, now, black has only a few possible moves- b6/b5, Na6, Na4, Kg8, Ke8, Ke7. Let’s just take each in turn:
Option 1 with 1. …b6/b5
1. …..b6/b5 (same reply by white)
2. ab6 Na6 (what else?)
3. b7 c5 (Kg8 and Nb8 below)
4. Bd3 Nb8
5. Kh7 Nc6 (Kf7, Nd7 below)
6. g6 Nb8
7. Bb5 and zugzwang is complete- white will win either pawn or the knight along with the game. At move 5, black ends up in the same bind with
5. …..Kf7
6. g6 Kf8 (Kf6 is same)
7. Bb5 Or
5. …..Nd7
6. Bb5 Nb8
7. g6 At move 3 in this line, black can do no better with
3. …..Kg8
4. Bd3 Nb8
5. Bc4 Kf8 (Kh8 6.Kf7 c5 7.Ke7+-)
6. Kh7 Nd7 (c5 7.Bb5 or g6+-)
7. g6 Nf6 (Nb8 is below)
8. Kh8 Nd7
9. Bb3 Nb8
10.Ba4 c5
11.Bb5 with zugzwang. At move 7 in this variation, black still loses with
7. …..Nb8
8. Bb3 Nd7
9. Ba4 Nb8
10.Kh8 c5
11.Bb5 with zugzwang once again. Or
3. …..Nb8
4. Be6 Na6
5. Bb3 Nb8 (c5 below)
6. Kh7 Na6 (Nd7 7.Ba4+-;Kf7 7.g6)
7. g6 Nb8 (c5 8.Bc4 Nb8 9.Bb5+-)
8. Ba4 c5
9. Bb5 with zugzwang.
Option 2 with 1. …Na6
1. …..Na6
2. Bc8 Nc7 (Nc5 3.Bb7! Nb7 4.a6+-)
3. Bb7 Nb5 (what else?)
4. Bb6 and this is easily won. At move 2 in this variation, black does no better with
2. …..Nb4
3. Bb7 c5 (everything loses)
4. a6 Na6
5. Ba6 Kg8 (trying for stalemate)
6. Bc4 Kh8
7. Kf7 Kh7 (g6 8.Bd3+-)
8. Bd3 Kh8
9. Ke6 and white will just queen the c-pawn instead.
Option 3 with 1. …Na4
1. …..Na4
2. Bc8 b5 (b6 and Kg8 are below)
3. Bd7 Nc5 (b4 and c4 below)
4. Bc6 b4
5. Bb7! Nb7 (everything loses)
6. a6 and the pawn is unstoppable.
At move 3 in this variation, black does no better with
3. …..b4
4. Bc6 Nc5 (b3 5.cb3! not 5.Ba4)
5. Bb7 with the win as above. Or
3. …..c4
4. Bb5 Nc3 (what else?)
5. Bc6 and the knight will never find a path back to b6 or c7 in time to stop the a-pawn. At move 2 in this variation, black still loses with
2. …..b6
3. a6 b5 (knight needs b6 square)
4. Bd7! Nc5 (we seen altern. above)
5. a7! and white gets a queen. Or
2. …..Kg8
3. Bb7 c5 (what else?)
4. Bc6 and the knight will never stop the a-pawn.
Option 4 with 1. …Kg8:
1. …..Kg8
2. Bc8 Ne4 (Kf8 or Kh8 3.Bb7!+-)
3. Bb7 Nd6 (what else?)
4. a6 Nb5 (Kf8 or Kh8 5.a7+-)
5. Bc6 Na7
6. Bb7 Kh8 (Nb5 7.c4 Na7 8.c5+-)
7. c4 and one of the white pawns will queen, no question.
And, for completeness
Option 5 with 1. …Ke8 or Ke7:
1. …..Ke8
2. Kg7 and I shouldn’t have to finish this- this is clearly won for white.
1.Bf5! Na4 (or Na6 or Kg8 which don’t change anything) 2.Bc8! Nc5 3.Bxb7! Nxb7 4.a6! +-
Hmm, Bf5 with idea Bc8 and Bxb7 I guess, since Nxb7 loses to a6. White wins.
White is winning. The plan is 1. Bf5 followed by 2. Bc8 and 3. Bxb7. If 3 … Nxc7 then the a pawn queens.
Looks likwe a pretty simple zugzwang.
1. Bf5!
Black has only two moves, Kg8 and Na4. Both are the same
1. Kg8
2. Bc8 Kf8
(If Black had played Na4, s/he would have to play Nc5).
3. Kh7
Black is now in zugzwang.
Dan,
I had dismissed 1.Bc4 simply because there was a more obvious move, but I was curious to see if white could muck around in the position and still get to the winning positions. After a few minutes of looking at your suggestion, I think black might be able to draw:
1. Bc4 Ne4!
I didn’t go far into the analysis of Nd7, but this move should lose to Be6 in much the same way as the solution I just posted since the knight cannot play to b6 in order to guard c8.
2. Be6 Nd6!
3. c4 And the key here is to not panic and play a silly move like
3. …..c5??(to prevent 4.c5)
4. Bd5! and black is in zugzwang. No, black must play
3. …..Ke7! And there are two main variations from here with white’s 4th move- one is a clear draw it appears, while the other might leave white with a decisive edge:
4. c5 Ke6
5. cd6 c5! (Only move)
6. Kg7 c4
7. Kf8 c3
8. g6 c2
9. g7 c1(Q)
10.g8(Q)Kd6
And this should be an easy draw as long as white isn’t careless and allow the forced exchange of queens since, at the moment, black’s king is nearer the two remaining pawns. The 4th move alternatives where white retains the bishop on the c8/h3 diagonal are less clear in a cursory examination:
4. Bg4 Nc4 (Kf8 is below)
5. Kg7 Nd6 (Na5 loses, I think)
6. g6 Ne8
7. Kh8 Nf6
8. Bc8 c5
9. Bb7 c4
10.Ba6 c3
11.Bd3 Kd6
12.Kg7 Nh5
13.Kh6 Nf6
14.a6 Kc7
15.g7 Kb6 (what else?)
16.Kg6 Ng8
17.Kf5! And, now, I think black must give up his pawn to remove the threat of the a-pawn- otherwise, white’s king is going to come take it anyway. However, it isn’t going to matter:
17. …..c2
18.Bc2 Ka6
19.Bb3 Ne7 (Nh6 20.Kg6+-)
20.Kf6 and the pawn queens.
At move 4 in this line, black does better with
4. …..Kf8
5. c5 Nc4 (unsure of Nf7)
6. Bc8
And, now, the “obvious” Na5 looks bad
6. …..Na5?
7. Be6! b5 (Ke7 8.Kg7! Ke6 9.g6+-)
Better looking is
6. …..Ne5
7. Kh7 Kf7
8. Bb7 Ng6! and black has perpetual. At move 8, white might try
8. Bh3 and now black must breakup the knight/king/pawn configuration that lead to the drawn position above. Since white is now threatening g6 himself, best looks to be
8. …..g6
9. Bc8 Nc4
10.Bb7 Na5
11.Ba6! with zugzwang! So, I was wrong- black might not be able to draw after 1. Bc4, though I think this line is still inferior, and the winning moves harder to find than the suggestion I made with my previous comment.
Nice study, though. Learned a few things playing through these lines.
Bf5, Bc8, kh7 and g6 zugswang +-
han
1.Bf5;b6 (forced threatening Bxb7 and promoting)
2.axb6;Na6
3.Bd3;Nb8
4.Bc4;Nd7 or 4…;c5 (worse; see below)
5.b7;Nb8
6.Kh7;Nd7
7.g6;Nb8
8.Bf1;Nd7
9.Bg2;Nb8
10.Bf3 Zugzwang and it is obvious that after loosing a pawn more black cannot stand (the pawn more is a running one)
Let’s see
4…;c5
5.Kh7;Nc6
6.b7;Nb8
7.Bb5 and zugzwang again.
It is the simplest solution and almost all forced.I find curious that nobody put it before.