White to move. Is this a draw, win for White or win for Black?
bb6/8/P1P5/4P3/8/2K2k2/8/8 w – – 0 1
Chess Daily News from Susan Polgar
A cute puzzle
About Author
White to move. Is this a draw, win for White or win for Black?
bb6/8/P1P5/4P3/8/2K2k2/8/8 w – – 0 1
This is hard. Not very cute. 🙁
It looks as if white can at least draw with 1. Kd4. So the next question is I guess, can white win? 🙂
Not really a “puzzle”.
It’s a chess problem.
My long post disappeared in network problems so this time just a short summary:
Black threats Bxc6 with at least draw. Both bishops easily control one pawn.
At the same time Bxe5+ gives white no time to do anything against Bxc6.
So black should have at least a draw.
I am not quite sure if white can hold this but if probably only with 1.e6 or 1. Kd4.
As ano 11:08 on the first glance I prefer 1. Kd4 but (without board) I feel not good enough to count everything out…
If after 1.Kd4, black replies with: 1. … Bxc6, then it seems that Kc5 clinches the draw for white, I’m just wondering if black has a better reply which forces a loss for white, though it seems unlineky to me, since if black doesn’t play … Bxc6, there would be three pawns to deal with rather than two, and it seems like anything else by black in fact leads to a loss for black.
OK, here’s the rub. I can get a Q vs. B+B:
1. Kd4 Bxc6
2. Kc5 Be4
3. e6 Bf4
4. e7 Bg6
5. Kc6 Be8+
6. Kb7 Bg6
7. a7 Bd6
8. e8 Bxe8
9. a8
But when I cheat and put the resulting position into the tablebases, White wins in 74 moves. However, nothing is captured before 50 moves.
Draw.
1. Kd4 Bxc6
2. Kc5 Be4
3. e6 Bf4
4. e7 Bg6
5. Kc6 Be8+
6. Kb7 Bg6
7. a7 Bd6
8. e8 Bxe8
9. a8
7…Bd6? fumbles away the draw. The straightforward 7…Be3 keeps each White pawn under surveillance.
1. Kd4 Bxc6
2. Kc5 Be4
3. e6 Bf4
4. e7 Bg6
5. Kc6 Be8+
6. Kb7 Bg6
7. a7 Bd6
8. e8 Bxe8
9. a8
7…Bd6? fumbles away the draw. The straightforward 7…Be3 keeps each White pawn under surveillance.
Bah 🙁 Sometimes the garbage I post here astounds even me. The losing move in this line is 6…Bg6. 6…Be3 holds the draw, though.
Yeah!! 7…Be3 =