White to move. Do you know the winning idea for White? No computer please. This is a critical type of endgame.
Chess Daily News from Susan Polgar
Endgame technique
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1.Rd4 Bf1 2.Kg6 Kf8 3.Rf4+ wins.
I won this endgame 2/4 times against Crafty but still was clueless as to the technique. That’s clever: 1.Rd4! makes 2.Kg6 safe, and then Black has to play 2…Kf8 to avoid mate which walks right into a killer fork.
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I think its best to imagine a mating position, then note that you can safely move on the dark squares. If you take those two things in mind, it should be an easy mate.
Or an easy win of the bishop by the way.
You can combine the idea of limiting the number of safe squares for the Bishop with the idea of mating the King.
1. Re1 limits the Bishop to only one safe square.
…Bd7
2. Rg1+
if …Kf8 then Rh1, White wins
if …Kh8 then Kf7, White wins
Thanks for a challenging puzzle.
Andy Hortillosa
2006 All-Army Chess Team
Andy, after 1.Re1 Bd7 2.Rg1+ Kh8 3.Kf7 Black has the save 3…Bd6.
I don’t have my original copy of Fine’s BCE handy, (I think this is No. 461) but 1. Rd4 does leave Black in Zugzwang. Fine also analyzes a long line beginning with 1. Re8+, where White wins by using the techniques shown in No. 466 (Black King in cneter, White Kind in opposition posisition, White tempos by chasing the Bishop).
Likesforests,
How can the Bishop on d7 go to d6. It is a bishop after all. The d7 square is a light square and d6 is dark square. However, Rd4 is the fastest way to win as you pointed out.
I meant to say 3…Bc6. After 1.Re1 Bd7 2.Rg1+ Kh8 3.Kf7 Bc6 it’s a dead draw and White can no longer win.