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1.Be7! puts black in zugzwang. The pawn endgame after 1.-Nf8? is obviously lost, so the most tenacious is 1.-Kg8 2.Ke6 Kg7. Now white loses a tempo to create another zugzwang, e.g. 3.Ba3 Kg8 4.Bb4 Kg7 5.Ke7. Then the pawn on f6 is lost (5.-Kg8 6.Bf6:). I didn’t analyze further, but it seems that either the other pawn on g5 is also lost (by another zugzwang), or white’s passed f-pawn supported by king and bishop wins a piece.
Conclusion: It’s a win for white.
The best i could find is:
1. Be7 Kg8
2. Ke6 Kg7
3. Bb4 Kg8
4. Ke7 Kg7
5. Bc3
And white wins
I guess that after 1. Be7 White wins.
Black cannot move the knight (after the exchange with the bishop, White wins the endgame because his King reaches the square e6 and then gets the pawn f6).
Black has therefore to move the King away, allowing the White king to reach e6.
1. … Kg8 2. Ke6 Kg7
Now White can lose (or gain!) a tempo with the bishop and reach the same position with move to Black
3. Bd6 Kg8 3. Be5 Kg7 (Black cannot allow the White King to reach f7) 4. Be7
and now the pawn f6 is lost (and the game with it for Black)
For a long time I thought this was a draw though the black position looks really bad. White needs to reorganise his material to win this end game.
One important thing to notice is that black must not allow exchange of knight versus bishop as the pawn end game is simply won by white.
The critical position for black seems to be white’s king on e6 and bishop on e7. They both attack f6 and Nf8+ is not possible due to Bxf8 +-. Black needs his knight on h7 and his king on g7 and would be in zugzwang but with white to move white would be in zugzwang, too (K any allows Kg8; Bd8 keeping an eye on f6 allows Nf8+) [reciprocal zugzwang].
So it looks as if white needed to get this position (w: Ke6, Be7, Pf5g4 b: Kg7, Nh7, Pf6g5) with black to move but as the black king can ‘wait’ on g8/h8 until white attacks via Ke6 white won’t get that and black keeps his fortress. Draw!?
Probably white can win by a line like this:
1. Be7, Kg8 (Kg7? 2. Ke6+-) 2. Ke6, Kg7 3. Bb4! (c5, a3 also work), Kg8 (or Kh8) 4. Bc3 and now Kg7 (or Ne8+) 5. Ke7 (zugzwang) and f6 is going to fall.
Kg8 6. Bxf6 forces exchange of knight versus bishop while Kh8 6. Kf7! loses immeadiately, too.
Another cute line appears if black sacrifices f6 at once by allowing the reciprocal zugzwang position with him to move voluntary. 1. Be7, Kg7 2. Ke6, Kg8 3. Bxf6, Kf8.
Now it could end like
4. Be7+, Kg8 (or Ke8? 5. Bb4, Kd8 6. Kf7 +-) 5. Ke6, Kg7 6. Bd6, Kg8 (Nf6? 7. Be5 +-) 7. f6!, Kh8 8. Kf5, Kg8 9. Kg6, Kh8 10. f7!, Nf8 (Nf6 11. f8Q+, Ng8 12. Qg7#) 11. Be5#
(or similar)
There are for sure several lines that can happen in this KBPP vs KNP end game but they all should win for white as the black knight stays really immobile and white can try to chase the king back and try to win g5.
Hmmm, I calculated all this without board and had to correct my first calculation in this post (as I had an impossible black move in it) so I hope the written lines are correct (or at least legal!).
That’s why I like end games: It is possible to calculate many moves (or to try to calculate…).
Best wishes
Jochen
Black dies slowly this way
1.Be7+-. Black is in zugzwang.
Would not Be7 bring black into zugzwang?
1.Be7 Kg8 (1…Kg7 2.Ke6 +-) 2.Ke6 Kg7 3.Ba3 Kg8 4.Bb4 (zugzwang) Kg7 (4…Kh8 5.Kf7) 5.Be7 +-
Chessforeva Dev, your online app for displaying chess moves on the board is really neat. Very nice!