White to move. How should white to move.
8/4P3/8/2B1r3/1P2k3/8/3K4/8 w – – 0 1
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I would play 1.b5
Kc3! 1-0
Hmm…I don’t know the theories here but I can only get to a draw.
1. b5 Kd5
2. b6 Kd6
3. Kd3 Re6
4. Kc4 Re2
…etc. I can’t seem to breakaway from this position.
BTW, my endgame technique sucks…can’t even beat the damn computer in most cases. So hopefully, thanks to Susan’s puzzles, I will get better!
I think I finally got it.
1. b5 Kd5
2. Bb4 Re4
3. Kd3 Re5
4. Kc3 Re3+
5. Kb2 Re4
6. Ka3 Re3+
7. Ka4 Re2
8. Ka5 …
and now white is unstoppable. For eg,
8. Ka5 Kc4
9. Bd6 Kd5
10. Ba3 Re6
11. Bb4 Re4
12. Kb6 Re3
13. Ba3 Re6+
14. Kc7 Re3
15. b6 Rc3+
16. Kd7 Rxa3
17. e8=Q
(Did my end-game technique already improve a little? ha ha…)
Difficult. We need to proceed with a plan in mind. Why not run a regular column on instructive end games for advanced beginners/players towards best defense and offense, especially when setting up board and learning from books has become tedious?
Difficult. We need to proceed with a plan in mind. Why not run a regular column on instructive end games for advanced beginners/players towards best defense and offense, especially when setting up board and learning from books has become tedious?
Hard to really imagine any other beginning but to push the b-pawn. Black’s rook cannot leave the e-file other than to play the check from d5, but on that move white will have a surprise (see below). In addition, if white tries a move like Kc3, black replies with Kd5 freezing the b-pawn and cutting the white king off, surely securing a draw. Thus, white must push the b-pawn if there is a win here:
1. b5 Kd5
An only move I would think. A move like 1. …Rd5+ is going to lose to the surprise of 2.Bd4!!, and the black rook won’t be able to return in time to the e-file to hold up the e-pawn if he captures at d4 (his king is in the way), and if the king captures at d4, white just queens the e-pawn (same with 1. …Rxc5). Finally, a move like 1. …Re6 is met by 2.b6 and black’s rook can’t stop both pawns by himself. So the black king must try to cover one of the pawns. Continuing:
2. Bb4
I think 2.Ba3 is about the same here. The idea is pretty simple-cut the black king off from advancing on the b-pawn. Black’s king cannot go to d6, c6, or c5 due to the bishop and c-pawn combo, and e6 is also verboten since it cuts the rook’s coverage of e8. Also, Kd4 will lose to the skewer of Bc3. So, for king moves, black has Kc4, Ke4, and he also has rook moves along the e-file of Re6 and Re4. If black plays Kc4, white pushes b6 and again, the rook can’t stop both pawns in this position since the bishop still guards e7. Same result for Ke4, though, in that case, white will retain a bishop to go with the queen. Continuing:
2. …..Re6 (Re4 below)
3. Kc3 Re3
4. Kc2 Re2
5. Kb3 Re3
6. Ka4 and we should see that the white will go to support the b-pawn’s advance, and black cannot prevent this due the zugzwang his king is in.
At move above, black can try Re4, bit it won’t help in the end:
2. …..Re4
3. Kd3 Rd4
4. Ke3
I spent a while looking at at Kc3 here, but found a bit of surprise, I think. On 4.Kc3, black can check from c4 with the rook, and then play the rook back to c8 and cover both queening squares, and that should draw for black unless I am missing something. So white must go to the f-file and support the e-pawn’s advance instead. Continuing:
4. …..Re4
5. Kf3
So, now black needs to find a way to prevent the white king from reaching the e-pawn. One try might be to deliver a check from behind, but he can’t play Re1 due to the bishop (an argument for 2.Bb4 over 2.Ba3?). Again, if black’s king moves, white just pushes b6, so this basically leaves Re5 and Re6:
5. …..Re6
6. Kf4
Here, white can play Kg4, since after Rg6, 7.Kf5 will allow the white king to infiltrate through f6-e7 to support e8 and win the game if black plays Rg8, otherwise the line below should unfold. However, Kf4 is just as good:
6. …..Rf6 (Re4 7.Kf5 Re5 8.Kf6)
7. Kg5 Re6
8. Kf5 Re2
Black can try Re5: [8. …Re5 9.Kf6 Re4 10.b6! Re6 (or 10. …Rf4 11.Kg5! Re4 12.b7+-) 11.Kf7+-]. Continuing:
9. Kf6 Rf2 (Re4 10.b6 note above)
10.Kg7 Re2 (Rg2 11.Kf8 Rf8 12.Ke8)
11.Kf8 Rf2
12.Ke8 Ra2 (else, Kd7/d8 anyway)
13.Kd8 Ra8
14.Kc7 Ra7
Here, on Rg8/h8, white plays Kd7 and e8, or Kd7-Kd8 (on a rook pin) and then wins the rook with e8Q, then queens the remaining pawn. If black play Re8, white just plays Kd7 and wins even quicker. Continuing:
15.Kb8
Walking the rook down, and white will queen the e-pawn or the b-pawn to win the game.
The freezing of the black king on d5 is key here. Once that is done, the rook is helpless to stop the white king’s advance to support one or other of the two pawns. The only real key here is to not allow a check early on from the c-file since that allows the white rook time to get to c8, and frees his king to come through e6.
This is a pretty endgame study, and I don’t know if I haven’t missed something here, yet.
1.Kc3 and all the way down …
1.Kc3 with the pawn, all the way down
Hi Susan Polgar,
Already others had given the wining move – Kc3 then move king,along with pawn.
Just for a change & interest – Giving another combination.
Example
=======
1.Bd6 Re6
2.b5 Kd5
3.Ba3 Kc4
4.b6 Kb3
5.b7 K*Ba5
6.b8(Q) R*e7
7.Qd6+ Kb3
8.Q*Re7 Kc4
9.Qd6 Kb5
10.Kc3 Ka5
11.Kc4 Ka4
12.Qb4++ Mate.
White wins the game in ease.
By
Venky [ India – Chennai ]
Amusing, this one!
Inspired from
8/4P3/8/2B1r3/1P2k3/8/2K5/8
Pierce, Chess Problems, 1873, #182
You can try to solve it too. The idea is the same, but the key move is different.
Cortex left off the move 1st indicator. 8/4P3/8/2B1r3/1P2k3/8/2K5/8w is the correct FEN.
Before turning to Cortex’s suggested problem, lets finish some business from last night first. I had meant to cover the idea of 1.Bd6 in my comment, but was forced to delete it due to length. Then forgot to put it in a second comment. Venky reminded me of it when I read his comment.
The problem with 1. Bd6 is as follows:
1. Bd6 Re6 (forced of course)
2. Kc3
Venky’s suggestion of b5 fails instantly to Rd6 with check, thus white can’t queen the e-pawn which will fall when the rook returns to e6. Black will win the game after that. Of course, white can return the bishop to c5, but black then plays the drawing move of Kd5 and holds. So, white must get the king off of the d-file with his second move to indirectly protect the bishop. I see nothing more promising than Kc3, but it won’t win either. Continuing:
2. …..Kd5
And note the difference between this position and the position that arises after white’s second move in my first comment- white cannot play b5 here since the black king just captures the bishop and will win the game. So, all white has to even try for a win is to play 3.Bc5:
3. Bc5 Re4
And I will stop here. The black king is well placed now, the white king is cut off. Black has an easy draw from here.
Cortex’s referred problem (with white to move, by the way) differs from the one above in that the white king is on c2 instead of d2. This makes a critical difference in that the solution is changed. In the new problem, if white pushes 1.b5, black captures the bishop with check and wins the game. With that change, then Venky’s idea is the right one:
1. Bd6! Re6 (forced)
2. b5!
Now the bishop is indirectly protected by the queening threat of e8. Continuing:
2. …..Kd5
The most critical of black’s replies, but still losing:
3. Bb4 Re3 (cutting off the king)
4. Kb2 Kc4
As in my previous comments, checks from e2 just allow the white king to reach a3-a4-a5 and support the b-pawn, so I will just show explicitly the ending with one of the king moves:
5. b6
This is surely the only winning move. Continuing:
5. …..Kb4 (Re2 6.Ka3 Re3 7.Ka4+-)
6. b7
Another only move to win. Continuing:
6. …..Re2
7. Kc1 Kc3
8. Kd1!
Another only winning move I think as the mate threats stymie white: [8.Kb1? Re1! 9.Ka2 Re2 10.Ka3 Re1 11.Ka4 Kc4! 12.Ka5 Kc5 and now white can’t play Ka6 because his own pawn at b7 gets him mated on Ra1, so he must retreat with Ka4, but the black king just follows down the c-file- a draw by repetition eventually]. Continuing:
8. …..Re7
9. b8Q
The queen vs rook ending is a forced win for white, of course, but not trivial. At move 8, black makes things easier by playing the check from d2 since after Ke1, white will queen a pawn before black has captured the other one, and will double attack the king and rook while they are far apart.
A very interesting problem combo.
Hi Susan Polgar,
Ref: 8/4P3/8/2B1r3/1P2k3/8/3K4/8
Yeah Yancey,in my 1st post the 2nd move of White is in hast but not that its hard to find correct sequencial solution.
As you say,2nd move Kc3 sounds befitting.
By
Venky [ India – Chennai ]