White to move. Do you see any familiar pattern for White to win?
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The problem is that the Black King in these kind of endgames can always to to h8 in the corner to stalemate. How to drive him out of the corner?
If White King goes to f8 and the Knight goes to f7 that would be mate. I believe that pattern could be used to drive the king out of the corner beforehand.
1. Ke6! Ke8
2. Nf5 Kf8
3. Kd7 Kg8
4. Ke7 Kh8
5. Nh6! gxh6
6. Kf7 h5
7. g7+ Kh7
8. g8Q+ Kh6
9. Qg6#
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The white king needs to reach f7 without stalemate. It can reach f7 from e7 or e8. Put the white king there. Black king can only shuffle between h8 and h7, and it’s stalemate if the white king sits on f7….unless the black pawn is free to move. The only way to have it free to move is to force it to first capture the knight. How to do that? If the black king is on g8, the Nf6+ doesn’t win because the white king doesn’t have access to f7. If the black king is on h8, then Nf6 leaves gxf6 as the only move. Then, Kf7 wins it for white.
There are several paths for both the white king and knight to get to their assigned stations, e.g.
1. Ke6 Ke8
2. Nc6 Kf8
3. Kd7 Kg8
4. Ke8 Kh8
5. Nd8 Kg8
6. Ne6 Kh8
7. Nf4 Kg8
8. Nd5 Kh8
9. Nf6 gxf6
10. Kf7 wins
Or, the knight can go to the h-file:
1. Ke6 Ke8
2. Kd7 Kg8
3. Ke8 Kh8
4. Nh6 gxh6
5. Kf7 wins
Simpler to calculate is the forced line (black has always only one single legal move):
1.Ne6 Kh8 2.Nf8 Kg8 3.Nh7 Kh8 4.Nf6! (this was the pattern) gxf6 5.Kxf6 Kg8 6.g7 Kh7 7.Kf7 Kh6 8.g8=Q etc.
On 1.Ke6? Kh8 makes things much more complicated (as black is not always forced to take the Knight).
Stephane (from France)
Hi,
I don’t know what the pattern name
is, but I too see that the knight
must be sacrificed by a forced
move, and continue to leave black
with the only move of advancing his
pawn while his king is stuck on h8
so white can protect his pawn
without stalemating.
I agree with anonymous 2:03:00 AM.
Anton
1. Ne6, Kg8 is only (otherwise g7 pawn is lost)
Now I play king to e8 or e7. (Black king has only 2 squares to move on (g8 and h8)
Then I play Nf6 or Nh6 when black king is in h8. Only legal move is PxN and then Kf7 wins.
not that difficult …
1.Ke6 … (the “knights opposition” if you have a tempo in reserve)
1…Ke8
2.Nf5 (the tempo becomes handy…)
2…Kf8
3.Kd7 (again the knights opposition – or better known as “outflanking”, isn’t it??)
3…Kg8
4.Ke7 (the knights opposition again, but 4.Ke8 would also work!)
4… Kh8
5.Nh6! gxh6
6.Kf7 +-
exactly as proposed by anonymous 2.03
greetings
Stephane from France,
Ke6 Kg8; is followed by Ke7 to force the black king onto h8-g8. The knight moves to f6 or h6 only when the black king is in the corner. The knight capture is then forced. Game over. E.g.,
1. Ke6 Kg8
2. Ke7 Kh8
3. Nf5 Kg8
4. Ke6 Kh8
5. Nh6 gxh6
6. Kf7
Sorry, but as black K was initialy in f8, my line should read :
1.Ne6 Kg8 (otherwise g7 is lost) 2.Kg5 (now all black moves are forced) Kh8 3.Nf8 Kg8 4.Nh7 Kh8 5.Nf6! (this was the pattern) gxf6 6.Kxf6 Kg8 7.g7 Kh7 8.Kf7 Kh6 9.g8=Q etc.
1.Ke6? Ke8 2.Nf5 Kg8 is less forcing
Stephane (from France)
The correct solution is very simple:
1 Ne6+ Kg8
2 Nxg7 Kxg7
3 Kg5
this is the pattern.
3 … Kh8 or Kf8
4 Kf6 Kg8
5 g7 Kh7
6 Kf7 and the pawn queens
Marcellus Wallace
To Marcellus Wallace :
Your line only draws, after
1 Ne6+ Kg8
2 Nxg7 Kxg7
3 Kg5 Kg8 (not Kf8?? nor Kh8??)
with a very well known draw, eg.
4.Kf6 Kf8 5 g7 Kg8 6.Kg6 pat
4.Kh6 Kh8 5 g7 Kg8 6.Kg6 pat
4.Kx5 Kg7 repeats position.
Stephane (from France)