Endgame pattern

5 comments

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  Anonymous says:

  July 18, 2007 at 6:16 am

  Are both draws?

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  Anonymous says:

  July 18, 2007 at 6:29 am

  Position 1: 1.Kb5 wins uniquely.
  Position 2: draw

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  Anonymous says:

  July 18, 2007 at 11:35 am

  Well 1 has an extra tempo with the pawn on a2 instead of a3. That is an advantage. However, it almost looks like Kb5 wins in both.

  Can some one give some more moves in 2 to show it is only a draw.

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  William L. Hosch says:

  July 18, 2007 at 1:33 pm

  Using a little retrograde analysis, the black king can shuffle between a8 and b8 to defend the a-pawn, while the white king goes to a6 to attack black’s last pawn and to support the push of his own a- and b-pawns. The only trick is realizing that after they reach a5 and b5, pushing b6 draws if the black king is at b8 because black then plays it to a8. Pushing or capturing then draws. So for white to win, the black king must be on a8, then white plays b6. Now if black plays b8, white plays b7, the black king exits at c7, and white captures the a-pawn. On the other hand, if black plays axb6, white plays axb6, black king to b8, white b7 and queens. To force this, white has an extra move in position 1.

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  Anonymous says:

  July 18, 2007 at 8:36 pm

  position 1 is a win, because white needs to be able to choose between a3 or a4 depending on the black position of the king, once it’s forced in the a8-b8 corner.

  So indeed the positions look similar, but there’s more to meet the eye.