White to move. This is an actual position between Gulko and Schneider in round 6. How should he proceed? Can you find the correct plan without computer assistance?
Chess Daily News from Susan Polgar
Another spectacular endgame lesson
I’d say, 1.Kc3 Ke6 2.Kc2 (taking the opposition) looks like a good plan. E.g. 2.-Kd6 3.Kd2 Ke6 4.Ke3 Kd6 5.Ke4 etc, or 4.-Kd5 5.Kd3. Black can move the f-pawn, but white would do some triangular maneuvre and get the opposition again. If 1.-Kd6 2.Kd2 with a similar idea.
ke3.. then go after the kingside pawns should win it..
Schneider played the endgame badly, as expected. After all, when was the last time he studied pawn endgames, really?? White cannot win this position against any engine, Gulko got lucky, cause he played a human.
What’s the lesson? I learned nothing!?
First anon has it right. wK can take the opposition, even though the fP advances f6-f5.
wK goes K-side, bK mops up centre and Q-side, but the Black bP and White hP Queen together.
White wins KQPPKQ ending, but that’s not easy.
1 Kc3 loses! 1 .. Ke4 2 Kc4 f6 3 d5 f5 zugzwang. After the d pawn drops, the black K will outflank white’s and grab the b pawn. After which any class E player could win as black.
Chris Falter: ???
With this sequence white wins easily:
1. Kc3 Ke4
2. Kc4 f6
3. d5 f5
4. d6! anf black king is out of the square!
The problem is that the black king has the e5 square: for example:
1. Kc3 Ke6
2. Kc4 Ke6
3. d5? Ke5! zugzwang, losing the extra pawn.
after 4. d6 Kxd6 5. Kd4 I can’t see a way for the white to win.
1.Ke3
If black goes after the b pawn, white can get to d5 and then c6, allowing the d pawn to queen just before black’s b pawn. Checking the king and then trading queens should allow white to get to the king side pawns just before black gets there.
eg., …Kc4
2.Ke4 Kxb5
3.Ke5 Ka4 (Ka5?? will allow white to capture black’s queen outright)
4.Kc6 b5
5.d5 b4
6.d6 b3
7.d7 b2
8.d8Q b1Q
9.Qa8+ Kb3
10.Qb8+ Ka2
11.Qxb1 Kxb1
Now the white king is one step ahead (c file as opposed to b file), and captures all of black’s pawns in the time it takes black to capture just two of white’s.
I hope that make sense. How does it look?
typo, I meant to write “can get to d5 and then e6” not c6
lol, nevermind; c6 was correct. Bedtime for me, I guess.
I agree, 1.Ke3 Kc4 2.Ke4 Kb5 3.Kd5! Looks like the correct solution. Very nice.
yeah Susan, thanks, give us more endgames!
engine was OFF;
A) make black move the pawn to f5:
1.Kd3-c3 Kd5-e4
2.Kc3-c4 f7-f6
3.Kc4-c3
[3.d4-d5 Ke4-e5µ] – already discussed here
3…Ke4-d5
[3…Ke4-f3 4.d4-d5+-]
4.Kc3-d3 f6-f5
5.Kd3-e3 Kd5-c4
6.Ke3-f4 Kc4xd4
[6…Kc4xb5 7.Kf4-e5 (that is why we need the pawn on f5 rather then on f6 or f7) Kb5-c6 8.Ke5-e6 b6-b5 9.d4-d5+ Kc6-c7 10.Ke6-e7+-]
7.Kf4xf5 Kd4-c5
8.Kf5-g5 Kc5xb5
9.Kg5xh5 Kb5-c5
10.Kh5xg4 b6-b5
11.h2-h4± white should win this queen endgame
in general the idea was found without moving the pieces;
B) (required making the moves on board; initially I couldn’t calculate it):
1.Kd3-e3 Kd5-c4
2.Ke3-e4
(2.Ke3-f4 Kc4xb5 3.Kf4-g5 Kb5-c4 4.Kg5xh5 b6-b5 5.Kh5xg4 b5-b4–+)
2…Kc4xb5
3.Ke4-d5 Kb5-a4
4.Kd5-c6 b6-b5
5.d4-d5 b5-b4
6.d5-d6 b4-b3
7.d6-d7 b3-b2
8.d7-d8Q b2-b1Q
9.Qd8-a8+ Ka4-b3
10.Qa8-b7+ Kb3-c2
11.Qb7xb1+ Kc2xb1
12.Kc6-d7 Kb1–c2
13.Kd7-e7 Kc2-d3
14.Ke7xf7 Kd3-e2
15.Kf7-g6 Ke2xf2
16.Kg6xh5 Kf2-g2
17.Kh5xg4+-
by the way, I checked the yesterday endgame with an engine and found two holes in my analysis. That one was truly remarkable. Looked white was winning easily, but…