White to move. Can White win this?
1K6/1P1k4/8/8/8/r7/8/2R5 w – – 0 1
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h6 Kg8
Kb1 zugie
Hard to see a point to any beginning that isn’t a check from d1- the goal, obviously, being to get the white king access to c8:
1. Rd1
And, now what for black. It might seem that the natural move is to keep the king as near as possible to the b-pawn, but I get the feeling this is a mistake:
1. …..Kc6
And, now, white obtains the first goal, and without having to worry about a check from c3:
2. Kc8
And, now, what can black do? Re3, Rf3, Rg3, or Rh3 are no threat since white just queens the pawn and blocks any check on the 8th rank with his own rook at d8. As far as I can tell, the only move that keeps white from being up an entire queen is Rb3, giving up the rook for the new queen, which is a loss for black. So, black cannot play 1. ….Kc6. This leaves king moves to the e-file. From the top:
1. Rd1 Ke8 (Ke7 and Ke6 are below)
Now, 2.Kc8 or Kc7 seems pointless as black just checks from c3 with his rook, and if the king tries to walk the rook down, the rook returns to the b-file to threaten the pawn which must be protected by the king, for the moment. So, white must play a rook move. Moving the rook off the d-file seems to make no progress to me as the black king can just return to d7 hemming in the white king once more. The obvious move in this line is to play Rd6 to take advantage of the fact that the black king has left this key square unattacked by his king:
2. Rd6
And, now, black is in a clear pickle. White is threatening both Kc7 and Ka7 (if the black rook leaves the a-file), and blocking any check from the c or a file on move 3 with either Rc6 or Ra6 and gaining the time to queen the pawn. This position is a clear loss for black, so he must not allow white to play 2.Rd6. So, at move 1, black must play either Ke7 or Ke6 to keep d6 under observation. Let’s look at Ke7 and Ke6 in order, and see if we can find a winning solution for white:
1. …..Ke7
Again, I can’t see taking the rook off the d-file, so if d6 is unavailable, my instinct is to try Rd5 as next best alternative:
2. Rd5
Now, what for black? There are a lot of options here, none of which stand out as obviously bad or good for black to me. Right now, my first thought is to walk the white king out to the sixth rank on the a or the c-file and use the rook as a shield to the final check from the black rook. If black tries a rook move, I don’t see how black can prevent this subsequent plan:
2. …..Ra2 (Ra6 3.Kc7 Ra7 4.Kb6)
3. Kc7 Rc2 (what else?)
4. Kb6 and it is over, there is no way to save rook and prevent a queen at the same time. Clearly, at move 2 in this line, black must play Ke6 attacking the white rook:
2. …..Ke6
Now, my instinct is to play the rook to the c-file to shield the king if he makes it to c8 or c7:
3. Rc5
Now, black can bring his king to d6 to attack the rook, but I think white can just ignore this attack:
3. …..Kd6
4. Kc8 Kc5 (alternatives below)
5. b8(Q) and white has the won endgame, though tedious, of queen vs rook. At move 4 in this line, I think black does best to keep the white king out of c7 and c8:
4. …..Kd7
And, I have admit defeat in this line- 3. Rc5 seems a dead, irrelevant end. As I mentioned twice before, I can’t see taking the rook off the d-file, so, at move 3, can I play Rd4? Let’s see:
3. Rd4
I still think the plan of bringing out the white king to c7, b6, c5 and blocking the final check with the rook at c4 can work if black just plays a rook move at move 3:
3. …..Ra2 (what other rook move?)
4. Kc7 Rc2
5. Kb6 Rb2
6. Ka6 Rb1 (Ra2 7.Kb5 Rb2 8.Rb4+-)
7. Ra4
No other way to make progress that I can see. White, of course, is threatening Ka7 followed by b8(Q). I don’t see how black can prevent this with the rook alone, and I am pretty sure that Kd6 or Kd7 is also going to fail:
7. …..Kd7 (Kd6 is same)
8. Ka7 Kc7 (what else?)
9. Rc4 and the pawn will queen.
There are numerous loose ends in this analysis, but I will continue in my next comment due to length.
1. Rd1+ Kc6
2. Kc8
Now white can queen its pawn, and all black can do is lose its rook for that queen. After that its just a king and rook vs King endgame which White can win…
So White wins…
This is the classic “Lucena Position”, and white wins.
h6 is very interesting, but i think that a simple check using the old rules will do it more simply.
/Pelle
In my previous comment, I had analyzed the following line up to move 3:
1. Rd1 Ke7 (Ke8 lost to Rd6)
2. Rd5 Ke6
3. Rd4
I think I had shown that waiting rook moves like Ra1 and Ra2 lose at move 3 for black as the white king comes out via c7 and b6 and reaches a6 at which time black is forced to give up the checks with the rook due to the threat of Kb5 followed by Rb4. However, white then plays Ra4 shielding his king on the a-file allowing Ka7 and b8(Q) winning the game. I think the critical position is the one reached after white’s third move. Can black hold by playing another attacking move on white’s rook?
3. …..Ke5
Now, having pulled the black king this far out, I think I want to play Rd7 now:
4. Rd7
Here, white is threatening Kc8 with a rook shield with Rc7. Black can try Ke6, Rc3, or another waiting rook move:
4. …..Ke6
5. Kc8 Rc3
6. Rc7 and I don’t see how black can save this. At move 4, black has Rb3 or Rc3:
4. …..Rc3
5. Rc7 Rg3 (Rb3 6.Kc8+-)
6. Kc8 Rg8
7. Kd7 Rg7 (Rb8 8.Kc6 and 9.Rc8+-)
8. Kc6 Rg6 (Rg8 9.Rc8)
9. Kb5 and it is over- there are no checks and Rg8 loses to Rc8.
So, think this position is a win for white starting with Rd1+.
I think it’s surprising how many people don’t know this famous Lucena position. It’s must know endgame knowledge, even at the lower levels.
i admit not having studied endgames, but i think, white has to break the blockade by playing
1. Rd1+
now the king can hide from the rook checks either behind the rook or the opponent’s king. if
1. … Kc6
2. Kc8 converts the pawn. if
1. … Ke7/8
white can move the rook to the fifth rank, walk the king to b6 and interpose the rook. if
1. … Ke6
2. Kc8 Rc3+
3. Kd8 Rb3
4. Rd7 Rb1 (for example)
5. Kc8 Rc1+
6. Rc7 and converts.
greets, jan
its the lucena position that every player should know
by the way stop saying h6 lol
h6 I cant understand really … And this is not the classical Lucena (black king there stands on the eights rank). After Rd1+ Kc6 White do not win by building a bridge. However it is only a subvariant of the Lucena, because in this case White wins by Kc8. If Black plays not Kc6, the normal Lucena is working again.
Susan, a request for your web site. You should put a link that would regroup all your “problems to solve” on a particular web page so that it is easier to locate them this way. Say, chronologically, by month for instance if it is something easy to do or just put them on this web page as they come.
Thanks to consider this idea.
I particular like to visit your web site for these problems to solve that you put on your blog.
If this is “classic Lucena” then show us the moves! Some may not be familiar with it.
My analisis:
Rc7+, Kd8 (otherwise Kc8 wins)
Rc4!, Kd7 (other variants are solved similar to the following)
Rd4+, Ke6
Kc7
and now the black rook check will be stopped eventually by Kb5-Rc5, after which the c7-pawn queens.