White to move. How should White proceed?
2k5/8/1PpK1p1p/8/1Pp1PP2/8/8/8 w – – 0 1
Fontana 1944, presented by Andreas
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e4-e5!
Beautiful! Queen obstruction and Queen Sac!!
1. e5 fxe5
2. f5 c3
3. f6 c2
4. f7 c1=Q
5. f8=Q+ Kb7
6. Qa8+!!! Kxa8
7. Kc7 Qe3
8. b7+ Ka7
9. b8=Q+ Ka6
10. Qb7#
Note that even if black refuses the queen sac on move 6, he gets mated one move earlier on move 9!
6. Qa8+!!! Kxb6
7. Qb8+ Ka6
8. Kc7 Qc5
9. Qb7#
Even if Black varies in move 1 he gets mated 1 move earlier!
1. e5 f5
2. e6 c3
3. e7 c2
4. e8=Q+ Kb7
5. Qa8+!!! Kxa8
6. Kc7 c1=Q
7. b7+ Ka7
8. b8=Q+ Ka6
9. Qb7#
Harry
Nice analysis Harry!
The forest of pawns suggests both sides queening and pawns offering hiding place.
1.e5 fxe5
2.f5
(2.fxe5 allows check by black Q 7….Qf4+ later)
2…. c3
3.f6 c2
4.f7 c1=Q
5.f8=Q+ Kb7
6.Qa8+ Kxa8
6…. Kxb6 7.Qb8+ Ka6 8.Ka7 Qe3 9.Qb7#
7.Kc7 Qg5
8.b7+ Ka7
9.b8=Q+ Ka6
10.Qb6#
There seems to be a single theme very rare for such problems.In addition in a puzzle every piece or P has a role to play.In this case “h” pawn does not play any role.Without it also same solution holds good.Have I missed something?
I don’t have but a minute for this this morning, but white can queen a pawn at either e8 or f8 in 4 moves while black can do it in 3 moves. So, white has to start with e5, and just looking at this, black must exchange at e5. The real question to me is does white do best to retake at e5, or pass the pawn and queen at f8. Right now, I can’t see it that deeply to rate the moves.
An interesting puzzle. Has some time this afternoon to look at it in some detail. As I suspected on the first glance, white has time to queen a pawn the half move after black can queen his by playing 1.e5 immediately. Also, as I suspected, black must exchange the f-pawn for the e-pawn since to do otherwise leaves white with a free passed pawn after the new queens are exchanged at c6. I think the critical line contains a very pretty drawing motif:
1. e5 fe5
2. fe5 c3
3. e6 c2
4. e7 c1Q
5. e8Q Kb7
6. Qe7 Kb6 (Ka6? 7.Qa7 Kb5 8.Qa5)
7. Qc7 Ka6! (Kb5 8.Qa5 Kc4 9.Qc5)
8. Qc6
A key point- can white win with other moves here? I don’t think so, but haven’t looked at this long enough to be 100% sure. It seems to me that just to keep from losing, white must eventually either clear the c-pawn out of the way, or just enforce a draw by repetition. In any case, the only potential win for white would involve taking at c6 and then pushing the b-pawn taking advantage of the tempii gained with the pawn checks. However, that doesn’t seem to work either in the end:
8. ……Qc6
9. Kc6 Ka7!! (only move)
Oh so tempting in this kind of position to push that h-pawn, but I actually have encountered this kind of ending over the board on both sides more than once over the years in online play, and now know better. If black is careless and pushes h5 here, white checks with b5, and then plays Kc7 in reply to Ka7 taking control of b8 and will gain another tempo with b6+ to win the game. However, by playing 9. …Ka7, black forces white to play Kc7 to prevent Kb8. The other option, of course, for white is to simply to capture the h-pawn for the draw. Continuing:
10.Kc7 Ka6!! (only move)
And white must accept the draw.
Run e4, Run
Wow! I totally missed that mating line. Beautiful!!!
I suspected right. I missed something.
When I started solving I played 1.e5 fxe5 2.f5 just for the heck of it as it is not fashionable to capture P unnecessarily in a puzzle.I was also worried about environmental factor in the P forest.When I solved it successfully I realized that black P at e5 was instrumental for my success.Yancey was not that fortunate.
When Harry talked about alternative 1… f5 I was taken aback.Anyway it was spineless (stupid or silly would be too harsh word.Sorry,Harry.)Black lost a tempo and queened one move later.Alarm bell started in my heart when I realized black could play 1… c3 straight away and where would be my P cover.So the line runs,
1.e5 c3
2.exf6
why I took this P will be clear later when I need an extra passed P
2….c2
3.f7 c1=Q
4.f8=Q+ Kb7
(Now 5.Qa8+ fails Kxa8 6.Kc7 Qxf4+)
5.Qe7+ Kxb6
6.Qc7+ Ka6
7.Qxc6+ Qxc6+
8.Kxc6 Ka7
I stole this from Yancey.Unlike Yancey I have passed P on f file.
9.b5 Kb8
10.f5 h5
11.f6 h4
12.f7 h3
13.f8=Q+ and wins.My observation in my first posting that black P at h6 is irrelevant proved false.It could have been on h5 also.have i missed some lines again?