White to move. Is this a win or draw? 
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Simple or not?
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White to move. Is this a win or draw?
Vohaul, 1.Ke4 Kd6 2.Kf5 seems like the natural idea, but you also have to analyze the breakthrough 2.-b5 3.cb5 a4 4.ba4 Kd5.
Ke4
a) b5 ? – 2 cb5 +-
b) a4 ? – 2 ba4 +-
c) Kd6 – 2 Kf5 – Kc6 3 a4!!
1) Kd6 4 Kf6 +-
2) Kb7 4 ke6 +-
3) Kd7 =
hmmmm – ok – here are the rather silly and hopeless lines after 2…b5?
1.ke4 kd6
2.kf5 b5?
3.cxb5 …
(3…a4? 4.a4 bxa4 5.kd5 b6 +- loses at once)
3…kd5
4.a4 kd6
5.ke4 +- is hopeless
that’s the reason i didn’t mention it; just as well as
1.ke4 kf6??
2.kd5 +-
or
1.ke4 a4??
2.bxa4 +-
sincerly, Vohaul
@anonym 7.51 – indeed …
3…kd7 =
so, 3.a4 deserves a “?” instead of “!!” unless u decide to reach out for the WC …
i’m jokin’ – of course
🙂 Vohaul
it looks simple but not that easy, from a glimpse y can think its a draw, but then by looking more carefully y see that maybe white has gained the opposition, and so tryiun g to calculate in y head y finally think that the a4 is the solution to gain a tempo and get to the pot, if black turn i didnt analyze it but problbly if played well might draw.
nice quizz, the on i enjoyed the most although i couldnt solve it, still i was going to but i couldnt find it afterwards, was the one u had to calculate mate in 8 moves!
a recent one is the answer moving the Knight to h6 and then Nxf7, whilst hoping to get to h8 whit queen supported by bishop of c3, or break throuh th h7 with bishop;
else move rook on e3 and gain more strenght to build a break .
bye.
Good Analysis Vohaul ! Bu I still think it would be a draw … the best line for black seems to be your 1 A) variation … in that variation, you say
6. ke8 kc7?
instead 6 .. ke5 draws for black. White king goes for b6 and black king goes for b3. It mite proceed like
6 … ke5
7 kd7 kd4
8 kc6 kc3
9 kb6 kb3
10 kc5 ka4
11 kb6 kb4
12 c5 a4
13 c6 a3
14 c7 a2
15 c8=Q a1=Q
I havent analysed further but this would be a draw.
sudhir,
White wins in your line after 10.Kb5, protecting both pawns: 10…Ka3 11.K:a5, or 10…Kc3 11.K:c5. After 10.Kb5 black is in zugzwang and loses.
i tried to put all the analysis to a pgn file (it works fine with chessbase and chess theatre 1.00 but for some strange reasons i don’t understand it fails to work with winboard)
enjoy if u like it, Vohaul
[Event “endgame exercice”]
[Site “susan polgar blog”]
[Date “2006.09.26”]
[Round “?”]
[White “endgame2609”]
[Black “?”]
[Result “*”]
[Annotator “Vohaul”]
[SetUp “1”]
[FEN “8/8/1p2k3/p1p5/2P2K2/PP6/8/8 w – – 0 1”]
1. Ke4 Kd6 (1… a4 2. bxa4 Kd6 3. Kf5 $18) (1… b5 2. cxb5 Kd6 3. Kd3 Kd5 4.
Kc3 $18) 2. Kf5 Kc6 (2… Kd7 3. Kf6 $1 ({not} 3. Ke5 Ke7 $11) 3… Kd6 4. a4
Kd7 5. Kf7 Kd6 6. Ke8 Kc7 (6… Ke5 7. Kd7 Kd4 8. Kc6 Kc3 9. Kxb6 Kxb3 (9…
Kb4 10. Ka6 Kxb3 11. Kb5) 10. Kb5 Kc3 (10… Ka3 11. Kxa5) 11. Kxc5 $18) (6…
Kc6 7. Kd8 Kd6 8. Kc8 Kc6 9. Kb8 Kd6 10. Kb7) 7. Ke7 Kc6 8. Kd8 Kd6 9. Kc8 Kc6
10. Kb8 Kd6 11. Kb7 $18) (2… Kc7 3. Ke6 Kc6 4. a4 Kc7 5. Ke7 Kc6 6. Kd8 Kd6 (
6… Kb7 7. Kd7 Kb8 8. Kc6 Ka7 9. Kc7 Ka6 10. Kb8) 7. Kc8 Kc6 8. Kb8 Kd6 9. Kb7
) (2… b5 3. cxb5 Kd5 (3… a4 $2 4. bxa4 Kd5 5. b6 $18) (3… Kc7 4. a4 $18)
4. a4 Kd6 5. Ke4 $18) 3. Ke5 $1 ({not} 3. Ke6 $2 Kc7 4. Kd5 Kd7 5. a4 $11) 3…
Kd7 4. Kd5 Kc7 5. Ke6 Kc6 6. a4 Kc7 7. Ke7 Kc6 8. Kd8 Kb7 9. Kd7 Kb8 10. Kc6
Ka7 11. Kc7 Ka6 12. Kb8 $18 *
I really hope that the so called professionals would stop their personal comments and stick to the game. Please Susan, repeat on playchess what I have just read on your blog. Short and Robot1 just keep on bashing Topalov . I’m sick of it