White to move. How should White proceed? Is this a win, draw, or loss for White?
Dvizov 1965, presented by Andreas
7k/8/8/5KPP/1pp5/8/8/8 w – – 0 1
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move the king towards the pawns .. move each white pawn one step and the black king is in zugzwang.
Kg6 looks winning, if either Black pawn moves White plays
2.Kf7
with g6/g7 to follow, therefore
1.Kg6 Kg8 is forced
2.h6 pawn moves
3.h7+
Trefor5D
I think it’s:
1. Kf6
If either of the pawns move, 2. g6 3. Kf7 followed by mate in 3.
If 1…Kg8 2.h6 c3/b3 3.g6 c2/b2 4.h7+ Kh8 5.g7+ Kxh7 6.Kf7 and white wins
If 1…Kh7 2.g6+ and white wins
Best moves by both sides = Stalemate.
-G6 B3
-Kf6 B2
-Kf7 B1 ;Black promotes the pawn to queen
-G7 now puts the black king in check, it has only one option, Kh7
-G8 ;white pawn is promoted to queen. Black king is in check and must retreat to Kh6
White cannot mate, as the black queen is blocking the only option to mate. The game now continues and both remaining pawns are taken… stalemate
In the above variation white wins with 6.Qg6+ Qg6 7.hg6
But what about 1.Kg6 Kg8 2.h6 c3! and now 3.h7+ Kh8 4.Kh6 c2 5.g6 c1Q+ dosn’t work
Jørgen, in that case 4. Kf7 Kxh7 5. g6 wins.
Thus, the answer to Susan’s question is “this is a win for White,” and some ways to achieve it have already been outlined here.
1. Kf6
If either of the pawns move, 2. g6 3. Kf7 followed by mate in 3.
After 1.Kf6? b3? White’s only way to get back on track is 2.Kf7! (2.g6? Kg8!).
If 1…Kg8 2.h6 c3/b3 3.g6 c2/b2 4.h7+ Kh8 5.g7+ Kxh7 6.Kf7 and white wins
1.Kf6? Kg8
2.h6 b3!
3.g6 b2
4.h7+ Kh8
5.g7+ Kxh7
6.Kf7 b1=Q (or even 6…Kh6)
… and Black draws.
1. Kg6 $1 Kg8 (1… b3 2. Kf7 b2 3. g6 b1=Q 4. g7+ Kh7 5. g8=Q+ Kh6 6. Qg6+
Qxg6+ 7. hxg6 c3 8. g7 c2 9. g8=Q c1=Q 10. Qg6#) 2. h6 c3 (2… Kh8 3. Kf7 Kh7
4. g6+ Kxh6 5. g7 Kg5 6. g8=Q+ Kf4 7. Qe8 $18) 3. h7+ Kh8 4. Kf7 Kxh7 (4… c2
5. g6 c1=Q 6. g7+ Kxh7 7. g8=Q+ Kh6 8. Qg6#) 5. g6+ Kh6 6. g7 Kg5 7. g8=Q+ Kf4
8. Kf6 Ke3 9. Qc4 Kd2 10. Qxb4 Kd3 11. Ke5 c2 12. Qe1 Kc4 $18 *
1. Kf6 and black must play
1… Kg8 because if black
pushes a pawn (eg 1… b3)
the white king plays
2. Kf7 and white wins thus
1. Kf6 b3
2. kf7 b2
3. g6 b1=Q
4. g7+ kh7
5. g8=Q+ kh6
6. Qg6+ Qxg6+
7. g6 c3
8. g7 c2
9. g8=Q c1=Q
10. Qg6++
So play proceeds
1. Kf6 Kg8
2. g6 b3
3. h6 b2
4. h7+ Kh8
5. Kf7 b1=Q
6. g7+ Kxh7
7. g8=Q+ Kh6
8. Qf8+ Kg5
9. Qe7+
and soon white queen
forks the king and
remaining black pawn
and after capturing
it the game is a
draw.