White to move. Is this a win for White, Black or draw? How should White proceed?
K7/8/2R5/8/8/3p2p1/8/4k3 w – – 0 1
No computer please. How long does it take you to come up with the right solution?
Chess Daily News from Susan Polgar
Rook vs 2 pawns endgame
Black wins
1Rg6 Ke2
2Re6 Kd3
3Rg6 Ke4
4Re6 Kd5 wins
or
2Rd6 g2
3Rxd3 g8=Q and the King is in the corner and the rook to far away to avoid being picked off by the queen. One of those bad Rook v Queen positions
Henryk
Without specifying moves, it seems to me White’s plan should be to check until the black king moves behind one of his own pawns, then proceed to attack the other from the 7th rank… after taking the one pawn he can sack his rook for the last.
Thus, draw?
I didn`t do any calculations, but I think white should win. My logic is the following: White`s first ;ove hould be to put the rook on the b-file. This should cut the king from the support of the pawns. Clearly, the dangerous pawn is the one further from the white king, as he is easily in time to control the promotion square of the nearest one. Then black has three realistic options:
1) attacking the rook with his king.
2) protecting the back of his “good” pawn with a king move to the right.
3) advancing thi pawn to promotion.
Options 1 and 3 givr with no troubl. He just gets his rook behind the farther pan and it`s over. For option 2, it can`t do it anmore, and we should count the tempos. And it so happens that the white king, bcause of black king`s move, has exactly thre time to capture the pawn when it`s promoting. Of course, all the details should be calculated to verify that other options are not being forgotten.
Cheers,
Bruno
Corrections:
“White`s first move should be to put his rook on the second file.”
There are other typos, but this was th real bad one. Excuse me for my not so good English!
Bruno
It is a draw, but only giving checks will loose:
1.Re6+ Kf2
2.Rf6+ Ke3
3.Re6+ Kf4
4.Rf6+ Ke5
5.Rf3 g2 -+
I think Rc1+ is the correct way:
1.Rc1+ Ke2
2.Rg1 d2 (2. .. Kf2, 3.Rd1)
3.Rf2+ Ke1
4.Rg3: d1Q
5.Rg1+ =
or
3. .. Ke3
4.Rg3:+ =
Tobe
Tobe is correct, although his line has a typo in it. As he points out, Anon 4:19’s idea doesn’t work because black doesn’t have to ever move behind one of his own pawns.
Bruno’s plan doesn’t make sense since 1. Rc2?? dxc2 0-1 of course
Correcting the typo (and adding some detail) in Tobe’s drawing line:
1. Rc1+ Ke2
2. Rg1 d2 (2. … Kf2 3. Rd1 white is happy to shuffle back and forth between the two pawns until a repetition or black finally advances the other pawn)
3. Rg2+ Ke1 (3. … Ke3 4. Rxg3+ and draw since it is now trivial to sacrifice the rook for the d pawn)
4. Rxg3 d1=Q
5. Rg1+ =
This plan obviously also works if black defends the g pawn instead:
1. Rc1+ Kf2
2. Rd1 g2 (2. … Ke2 3. Rg1 goes into the lines above)
3. Rd2+ Kf1 (as above moving onto the 3rd rank lets white capture the d pawn with check and draw)
4. Rxd3 g1=Q
5. Rd1+ =
Oooops! Of course my plan doesn`t make any sense. I was seeing the promotion on the other side of the board! And I was wondering why I thought this difficult problem was so “easy”…
You can, of course, ignore EVERYTHING I wrote. i`m so embarassed…
Bruno
Ha…let me just mention that the first anonymous wasn’t me. Someone out there trying to imitate for some weird reason; however i don’t know if to feel flatered or annoyed.
Let me just say that if you are going to use my name at least make the right moves.Neverless I find it quite hilarious.
Anyway,this must be a draw with 1.Rc1+ 2.Rg1 ,etc.
Henryk (the real one–somehow I can’t remembe my name)
Most probably it is Drawn only by accurate play from White. And Rc1+ is most probably the only way.
The buty of this move is if Black goes to e2 then Rg1 and if Black goes to f2 then Rd1. if Black now shifts laterally to protect the attacked Pawn then White just simply attacks the other one left unprotected. And repeats it as many times as Black wishes. Now if Black wants to sac one Pawn and promote the other one well that is only a dream not to be fulfilled as White would now sac its Rook and all we will be left with is two bare Kings! So, Draw!!