White to move. How do you assess the position? Is the position equal?
Play this position out against friends or against a computer software. After that, switch side and play the other side.
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
Yes, I agree with you that the position is about equal, as material is even.
Without having analyzed the position in-depth, it looks like White is winning. Black’s pawns are blocked by the White bishop, and if Black attempts to stop help them with his knight, the White’s H pawn will promote. White can just advance, and if Black decides to sacrifice his knight for either pawn, White will win because the sole king cannot blockade even against the H pawn.
Without black’s b-pawn, it would be the same as yesterday’s game Morozevitch-Radjabov. If white can play Kf5 he probably wins.
I would move h5
i think the position is a draw. i don’t want to give 30 moves long “fritz” variations but …
whites pawns are on white fields and need protection through the white king – the bishop is needed to prevent blacks pawns from promotion.
to attack the black pawns with the knight, white’s pawns have to move on black fields… e.g.
1.h6 kf7
2.kf5 ne8
3.g5 …
the pawns are safe now against knight sacs (attacks) and the white king is free to “collect” all black pawns. But black needs not to care about it’s pawns. it simply places the king on the white field h7 and the knight on the white field g6 to build an impregnable fortress, where the knight can move to h8, h4, f8 and f4 and securely return to g6.
interestingly ftitz sees an +3.00 advantage for white – but it is draw… by my suggestion! (maybe there are more inspired solutions around…)
greetings from the “desert” – 36 degrees centigrade in germany – yours, Vohaul
typo correction:
i wrote:
“to attack the black pawns with the knight, white’s pawns have to move on black fields… e.g.”
of course i meant:
“to attack the black pawns with the KING, white’s pawns have to move on black fields… e.g.”
thx for your patience
The h7/g6 fortress idea works IF White has to play h6 at some point when he can’t almost immediately force g5 and g6. Not clear whether he has to commit the h pawn, though. Does White have to capture the Black pawns?? Can White just leave the bishop to blockade the Black pawns (while controlling key black squares on the kingside), keep his King near his own pawns and push g5 at an opportune moment, before committing with h6?
Moro was able to do so against Radjubov, and won. But Radjubov didn’t have the extra b-pawn. Does the extra pawn make a difference? The only possibility I see would be advancing the pawn to b3 and then move the knight to the queenside while White pushes his pawns. Once the knight forces the White bishop to sacrifice itself for a Black pawn, there’s still a Black pawn left to promote. Can Black do that before White pushes his pawns through?
I would guess that White can still win this, but it’s very hard to tell.