This has to be a mistake. I don’t see how White can promote the Pawn since after 1. a4 Ke4 the Black King is easily in the Pawn’s “magic square”. It’s a draw, or else there is something supernatural here.
If the only evidence backing that claim were my feeble analytical skills, your healthy skepticism would be entirely justified 😉 But the tablebases confirm Susan’s judgment — White does win.
1. Kf5 grabs the opposition and forces black’s king to stay on the 3rd rank. Since b3 is protected by the white pawn, the black king must attack it via Kb2, when white responds with a4!
White queens the pawn and then it is KQ vs Kp. an easy win but not in this case. if Black King heads for a1 then there are stalemates and a draw looks likely.
Winning with the KQ against the King and pawn is not so trivial in this case. I am sure white has the win but it is not easy.
Well, the first move has to be a king move and 1.Kf5 seems the most likely to be. 1.Kf6 draws to 1…c5 and 1.a4 Kd3 and black is able to capture white’s pawn.
1.Kf5 Ke3 (forced since 1…c5 is premature and 1…Ke2 2.Ke4 wins for white)
2.Ke5 Kd3 (again 2…c5 is still premature)
3.Kd5 kc3
4.Kc5 and white should win
Anyway, this took me a while and I learned something new about pawns endgames.
At first, it seems simple that white queens his pawn with a check and wins. But since black’s king is within the magic square, blacks king can race up and catch the pawn.
1.Kf5 Ke3 2.Ke5 c6! must be looked at, since even if white can promote to queen sooner than black, it’s the c-pawn for black which guarantees a draw in a queen vs pawn endgame…
… wins. Some K+Q vs. K+BP positions are drawn, but not this one. White’s king and queen are close enough to the pawn, and Black’s king too far from a1. By contrast, if Black’s king were on b1 instead of d3 in the final position after 8.Qd5+, he could indeed draw.
kb7
kb7
Did you actually mean:
1.Kg7
? That actually loses:
1…c5! or 1…Ke4!
This has to be a mistake. I don’t see how White can promote the Pawn since after 1. a4 Ke4 the Black King is easily in the Pawn’s “magic square”. It’s a draw, or else there is something supernatural here.
right, 1.-Ke4 is unpleasent.
So let’s begin with 1.Kf5.
Now we are invers Black’s pawn’s runway.
It’s not a mistake. White has a forced win here.
If the only evidence backing that claim were my feeble analytical skills, your healthy skepticism would be entirely justified 😉 But the tablebases confirm Susan’s judgment — White does win.
1. Kf5 grabs the opposition and forces black’s king to stay on the 3rd rank. Since b3 is protected by the white pawn, the black king must attack it via Kb2, when white responds with a4!
White queens the pawn and then it is KQ vs Kp. an easy win but not in this case. if Black King heads for a1 then there are stalemates and a draw looks likely.
Winning with the KQ against the King and pawn is not so trivial in this case. I am sure white has the win but it is not easy.
1 Kf5 Ke3
2 Ke5 Kd3
3 Kd5 Kc3
4 Kc5 Kb2
5 a4
and white promotes and wins.
if
3 … c5
4 a4 Kc3
5 a5
and wins!
Stu
Well, the first move has to be a king move and 1.Kf5 seems the most likely to be. 1.Kf6 draws to 1…c5 and 1.a4 Kd3 and black is able to capture white’s pawn.
1.Kf5 Ke3 (forced since 1…c5 is premature and 1…Ke2 2.Ke4 wins for white)
2.Ke5 Kd3 (again 2…c5 is still premature)
3.Kd5 kc3
4.Kc5 and white should win
Anyway, this took me a while and I learned something new about pawns endgames.
Someone said they wanted more harder puzzles!
Ooo, it’s hard all right!
Susan..this is really tough.
At first, it seems simple that white queens his pawn with a check and wins. But since black’s king is within the magic square, blacks king can race up and catch the pawn.
Pls post the solution also…thanks..
1.Kf5 Ke3
2.Ke5 c6!
must be looked at, since even if white can promote to queen sooner than black, it’s the c-pawn for black which guarantees a draw in a queen vs pawn endgame…
The Q vs p endgame is *not* a draw in this case.
1.Kf5 Ke3
2.Ke5 c6
3.a4! Kd3
4.a5! c5
5.a6! c4
6.a7! c3
7.a8=Q! c2
8.Qd5+!
… wins. Some K+Q vs. K+BP positions are drawn, but not this one. White’s king and queen are close enough to the pawn, and Black’s king too far from a1. By contrast, if Black’s king were on b1 instead of d3 in the final position after 8.Qd5+, he could indeed draw.
in the variation:
1.Kf5 Ke3
2.Ke5 c6
3.a4! Kd3
4.a5! c5
5.a6! c4
6.a7! c3
7.a8=Q! c2
8.Qd5+!
… wins.
After 8…Kc3 only 9.Dd4+! wins and 9.Dc5+ makes only draw. This is very interesting since both moves look very similar!