White to move. Is this a win or draw for White?
6k1/8/Pp2r3/7K/8/8/8/7R w – – 0 1
Prokop, 1925
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My first instinct would be to put the rook behind the pawn, but black covers a8 with Re8:
1. Ra1 Re8 (forced, I think)
2. a7 Ra8 (forced again)
To make progress, white must attack the black rook I would think, and I see only one move to start this:
3. Kg6
Here, black has two options- move his king along the back rank in order to keep the white king out of b7, or push his pawn to b2 and drive the white rook off the a-file. Continuing:
3. …..Kf8
4. Kf6 Ke8
5. Ke6 Kd8
6. Kd6 Kc8
7. Kc6 Kd8 (b5 8.Rh1 Kd8 9.Rh8+-)
8. Kb7 Ra7 (Rc8 9.Rd1!)
9. Ra7 b5
10.Ra5 and the pawn will fall.
Let’s take a look at the second option black had at his third move from the top:
1. Ra1 Re8
2. a7 Ra8
3. Kg6 b5
Ok, the question is on white- does he move the king towards b7, or does he make use of the present king opposition to get his rook the seventh rank? For example, white could play a move like Rc1 or Rd1 and black could not take at a7 due to Rc8 or Rd8#. This give white time to protect the pawn from the side. It will take white 5 moves to get to b7, and the black pawn will reach b2 in 3 moves, so I favor the plan of bringing the rook to the seventh rank, but lets just continue with the king march plan first:
4. Kf6 b4
5. Ke6 b3
6. Kd6 b2
And white will be forced to exchange the pawns. In this line, I think white’s last chance to win was his 5th move while his king is still covering g7, and while the black b-pawn is still three moves from queening:
5. Rg1 Kf8 (Kh7 and Kh8 below)
6. Rg7
The threat is Rb7 and Rb8+. What can black do to stop this? Cont.:
6. …..Rc8 (Rd8, b3 below)
7. Rc7
Worth a try. Cont.:
7. …..Rd8 (Rc7 8.a8(Q))
8. Ke6 Re8 (b3 9.Rb7 Re8 10.Kf6+-)
9. Kd6 Rd8 (b3 10.Rb7 b2 11.Rb2)
10.Kc6 Ra8 (what else)
11.Kb7 b3
12.Ka8 b2
13.Rb7 At move 6 in this line, black does no better with
6. …..Rd8
7. Rb7 Rd6
8. Ke5 and to prevent an immediate mate, the black rook must give itself up at a8, or allow Rb8+ and a8(Q). Also, at move 6, black loses with
6. …..b3
7. Rb7 Ke8 (b2 8.Rb8 Rb8 9.a8(R)#)
8. Rb8 Kd7
9. Ra8 and black just doesn’t have enough tempo to advance his pawn.
At move 5 in this line, black had two other alts.- Kh8, Kh7.
5. …..Kh8
6. Rg7 Rf8 (b3 7.Rb7 as above)
7. Kg6 Rc8 (b3 8.Rh7 Kg8 9.Rb7+-)
8. Rb7 Rg8 (Rc6 9.Kf7+-)
9. Kf6 Rf8
10.Ke6 etc. until the white king reaches b6 and black is out of checks. And
5. …..Kh7
6. Rg7 Kh6 (Kh8 is above)
7. Rb7
And white is threatening to take the b-pawn, reprotect the a-pawn, and bring the king in for the kill. Cont.:
7. …..Kh5 (b3 8.Rb3; Rf8 below)
8. Rb5 Kg4 (Kh6 or Kh4 9.Rb4+-)
9. Rb4 Kf3
10.Ra4 and it is over, the white king marches to b7 and wins the rook. At move seven immediately above, black does no better with
7. …..Rf8
8. Ke7 Rg8 (Ra8 below)
9. Kd6 Rg6 (b3 10.Rb3+-)
10.Kc5 Ra6 (what else?)
11.Kb4 Kg6
12.Kb5 Ra1
13.Rb6 Kf7
14.Ra6 Rb1
15.Kc6 Rc1
16.Kb7 Rb1
17.Rb6 Ra1
18.a8(Q)Ra8
19.Ka8 and white wins. At move 8 immediately above, black loses quicker.
8. …..Ra8
9. Kd6 b2 (else, like above)
10.Rb6 K anywhere
11.Kb7 and black is lost.
This line is not the shortest, but it demonstrates the validity of the plan to use the tempo provided by the mate threat at move 4 to bring the white rook to the 7th rank. In my next comment, I will try to consolidate all of this into a more lucid comment with fewer loose threads.
I just want to clean up my last comment a bit. The plan I see is
1. Ra1 Re8
2. a7 Ra8
3. Kg6 b5
4. Rc1 Kf8 (Ra7 5.Rc8#)
5. Rc7 Ke8
6. Rb7 Kd8 (no other plan)
7. Rb8 Kc7 (Rb8 8.ab8(Q)+-)
8. Ra8 Kb7
9. Rb8 Ka7
10.Rb5 and it is over.
One idea for defending at black is to combine pawn move with king moves in order to bring the black king closer, but I don’t see how this helps:
3. …..Kf8
4. Kf6 Ke8
5. Ke6 b5 (Kd8 is lost as before)
6. Rh1 and there is no defense to Rh8.
It must be a win for White, or you wouldn’t be asking (and he would not have composed the problem). I don’t see it though.
1.a7 Re8
2.Re1 Ra8
3.Re7 followed by Re7-b7-b8 1-0
or
1.a7 Re5+
2.Kg6 Ra5
3.Rc1 Kf8
4.Rc8+ followed by a8(Q) 1-0
Yikes! I am wrong? Boy, if I am, this one is a good one! Ok, I will take a second look at it.
rc1+-
Hi Susan Polgar,
As usual brilliant minds of this blog has given the best moves for White to win.
Here,one “Anonymous” poster has given very cute moves thats vibrant,kudos to him.His moves are [ a7 Re8,Re1 Ra8,Re7 …White’s Rook progressing towards b8 for an exchange of rook,thereby capitalizing the pawn to queen ]
By
Venky[Chennai – India]
This is a nice one , although fairly simple,
1.a7 Re8 the checks can only improve White’s king position
2.Re1! to get the rook on the seventh rank
2….Rc8 3.Re7! and Rb7-b8 to follow with promotion of the a7-pawn