White to move. Is White lost here? What should White do? 
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White wins by 1.Kg1. If any of Black’s pawns move, White simply slides the King in front of the advancing Pawn, stymieing their further advance. E.g., if 1…f3, then 2.Kf2, and if then 2…h6; 3.Kg3 and the pawns can move further only to their dooms. Either now or after those hapless pawns are lost, Black must give way on the Q-side: if 3…Kc7 (or Kc8) then 4.a7. If 3…Ka7 (or Ka8) then 4.c7. Either way, a White pawn must reincarnate.
I meant 2…h3, of course!
Very instructive!!
The beauty of this position lies on the fact that the white king is able to stop 3 black pawns on the 5th rank while the black king is unable to detain two white pawns on the 6th rank.
White needs to wait for a black pawn to move in order to put its king in front on that recently moving pawn, using this strategy the white king will be able to block all three pawns. The poor black king can’t move to either direction as the farthest white pawn would advance and eventually promote (if 1. … Ka7/a8 2. c7 or if 1. … Kc7/c8 2. a7). So white plays
1. Kg1! and waits for a black pawn to advance.
1. … f3 2. Kf2 h3 3. Kg3
1. … g3 2. Kg2
1. … h3 2. Kh2 f3 3. Kg3
With its pawns blocked the black king will eventually be forced to move and will allow the promotion of one of the white pawns.
very nice said – @stelling, but chess is cruel sometimes and without poetry …
this endgame lecture simply shows the meaning of a single tempo in an endgame …
what about your nice to read explanation if the first one to move is the
BLACK
side?
will the lonely white king still prevent one of these black cowards to promote and win the game for the good, the white side – or will things completly change?
*big smile, sincerly, Vohaul
@Vohaul
I agree, beauty in chess is in the eye of the beholder. 😉
If black were to move then the white king wouldn’t be able to block black pawns.
Of course tempo play its role in this endgame but white need their tempi to do what ? 😉
So, whoever plays wins the endgame. If white plays then they will be able to block black pawns, if black plays then they will be able to prevent a blockage and will promote a pawn (one of black cowards!)
Cheers buddy!
the doomed black cowards for sure will NOT go for f3 or h3 … and of course there won’t be any movement of that ugly black king … hehe
– i assume the black side presumes to put that “killer pawn” from g4 to g3 – to win that neck-to-neck race … ^^
with a smile and with reverence,
(@stiller ‘ur) Vohaul – great blog – great people here!
How does black win if he is to move? As far as I can see Kg1 in the first line is simply a waiting move and changing the puzzle to black moving first should not change the result.
this was a valuable puzzle. I really learned something good and practical from this.
“How does black win if he is to move? As far as I can see Kg1 in the first line is simply a waiting move and changing the puzzle to black moving first should not change the result.”
On the end of the board with the Black King and White pawns, neither side can move without the other side winning. If the Black King moves to either the a- or c- file, the White pawn on the other file advances, and forces promotion. But if a White pawn moves, the Black King captures it and can still capture the other White pawn before it promotes. So . . . frozen, and neither side can safely move on that end of the board.
After a move or two on the other side of the board, both sides again will be faced with a position where moving results in losing. The key is to reach such a position with the other side to move.
Whoever moves first can force such a result. The previous comments show how White can force zugswang if White moves first.
If Black moves first, 1…g3 does the same, that is, shortly forces White into zugswang. It is the same position as above (after White to move first, with 1. Kg1, g3; 2. Kg2), but from that position whoever must move loses. If it’s Black to move, the comments above show how White wins. (The Black King can’t move, but whichever Black pawn moves is captured and Black has to either keep moving pawns and lose them or move the King and allow White to promote.)
If it’s White to move in that position, e.g., with Black moving first with 1…g3, what can White do? If 1…g3; 2. Kg1 (or elsewhere on the first rank) Black can advance either …f3 or …h3, and will force promotion soon. If the White king instead moves to the third rank, the pawn he DOESN’T move in front of advances, and Black will promote by force. E.g., 1…g3; 2. Kf3, h3; 3. K any, h2 and promotes. Or 1…g3; 2. Kh3, f3; 3. K any, f2 and promotes.
Classic illustration of maneuvering to force the other side to move when she doesn’t want to.
A very classical and instructive zugzwang known since Carrera (1617), but this very position comes at the end of a study by the great Latvian player and composer Janis Betins (sometimes spelled Behting).
Full source:
Betins, Rigasche Rundschau, 1911