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      Home  >  Chess Improvement  >  A fantastic endgame

      A fantastic endgame

      Difficult endgame, Puzzle Solving


      White to move. Is this a win, draw, or loss for White? Please no computer lines.

      8/8/1KP5/7p/2p5/8/1k6/8 w – – 0 8

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      21 Comments

      1. Anonymous Reply
        September 6, 2009 at 12:41 pm

        Win!

        1. c7 c3 2. c8=Q c2

        Normally positions like this are draw but this time because of extra h-pawn there is no stalemate after Ka1 Qxc2!

      2. Anonymous Reply
        September 6, 2009 at 12:55 pm

        Draw.

      3. Cali Breezy Reply
        September 6, 2009 at 1:26 pm

        White wins.

      4. Miguel Lacruz Reply
        September 6, 2009 at 1:44 pm

        It must be a win because white can easily draw with
        1. c7, c3
        2. c8=Q, c2
        3. Qh8+, Kb1
        4. Qxh5, …
        and this is not so fantastic 🙂

        8:45 AM CDT

      5. Boris Reply
        September 6, 2009 at 1:44 pm

        Reminds me on the cook in the endgame from August 19.
        After move 9 black can reach:
        W: Kc5, Pd4
        B: Kh1 Pa7, Ph7
        Black to move and draw.

      6. Miguel Lacruz Reply
        September 6, 2009 at 1:58 pm

        This would be a draw without the black pawn in h5 because king’s bishop pawn on the seventh rank leads to a stalemate. However, this endgame is a win for white. Here is a possible line

        1. c7, c3
        2. c8=Q, c2
        3. Qh8+, Kb1
        4. Qh7, h4

        (if the black king keeps on maneouvering then the white king can get close enough to it and mate will follow – there will be no stalemate as long as the black pawn in h5 is present)

        5. Kb5, h3
        6. Kb4, h2
        7. Kb3, h1=Q
        8. Qxc2+,

        followed by mate.

        8:58 AM CDT

      7. Anonymous Reply
        September 6, 2009 at 2:48 pm

        IM Ben Finegold is 40 today? Wow!
        Quite a few great players accross the world turn 40 this year, right Susan?

      8. Thomas Reply
        September 6, 2009 at 2:54 pm

        Posts by Anonymous 7:55AM and Cali Breezy weren’t very helpful ,:) but I think Cali is right:
        The first moves are obvious:
        1.c7 c3 2.c8+Q c2
        Without the black h-pawn the position would be theoretically drawn. At some stage, the game would end with Qb3+ Ka1! Qc2: stalemate. But with another pawn on the board, there is no stalemate. White first has to bring his queen closer to the action, then his king.
        So first there is 3.Qh8+ Kb1 4.Qh7 (pinning the pawn) Kb2 5.Qg7+ Kb1 6.Qg6 Kb2 7.Qf6+ Kb1 8.Qf5 Kb2 9.Qb5+ Ka1 10.Qc4 Kb2 11. Qb4+ Ka1 12. Qc3+ Kb1 13. Qb3+ Kc1.
        Now the king: 14.Kc5. Obviously black can move his king again to threaten promotion of the c-pawn, but with similar queen maneouvres the king is forced to c1 again. So I just give an abbreviated line which would eventually happen in the game (prior to move 52 when black could claim a draw):
        14.-h4 15.Kc4 h3 16. Kc3 h2 17.Qc2: mate (just in time, actually with one tempo left for white).

      9. Alan Green Reply
        September 6, 2009 at 2:59 pm

        1 c7 c3
        2 c8=Q c2
        3 Qh8+ Kb1
        4 Qh7 pinning the pawn to black’s king. if black goes Kc1 to break the pin, white checks on h6. if the pattern continues the h pawn will be captured with check, the white queen will close forcing black to block his own pawn — white king advances, black moves, white forces black back in front of his pawn, white king advances, etc.

        if black lives with the pin and pushes his h pawn 4…h4, white simply closes the gap with his king:

        5 Kb5 h3
        6 Kb4 h2
        7 Kb3 h1 = any piece
        8 Qxc2+ Ka1

        and white plays Qa2 or Qb2#

      10. 心魔 Reply
        September 6, 2009 at 3:01 pm

        Textbook draw. Bishop’s pawn on 7th rank.

      11. Anonymous Reply
        September 6, 2009 at 3:02 pm

        I would say white wins by using the “stair pattern” with the queen:

        1.c7 c3
        2.c8Q c2
        3.Qh8+ Kb1
        4.Qh7 Kb2
        5.Qg7+ Kb1
        6.Qg6 Kb2
        7.Qf6+ Kb1
        8.Qf5 Kb2
        9.Qe5+ Kb1
        10.Qe4 Kb2
        11.Qd4+ Kb1
        12.Qb4+ Ka2
        13.Qc3 Kb1
        14.Qb3+ Kc1

        and now I think white king comes to help queen capture the pawn, h-pawn is lost and so is black king.

      12. Mijail Ketal Reply
        September 6, 2009 at 3:14 pm

        Gerardo Ulises Perez Garcia
        Ganan las blancas, promueven el peòn, con un tempo de ventaja,dan jaque a la siguiente y aproximan el Rey Blanco,sin riesgo de ahogar al Rey negro, por la presencia del peòn en la columna h…White wins, they promote the pawn with a tempo, check the next move, to approach the white King, without the risk of stalemating the black King, because the pawn in the h column

      13. Anonymous Reply
        September 6, 2009 at 3:24 pm

        Witout the pawn on h5 it would be drawn, cause white could only reach a stalemate. but the pawn avoids the stalemate and white can win.

        Urso

      14. Anonymous Reply
        September 6, 2009 at 3:44 pm

        Blak wins.

      15. Anonymous Reply
        September 6, 2009 at 3:49 pm

        C7 is the move but it turns out to be just a draw after wht queens.If blk keep the pawn on c2 and the king on b1,b2 then it all a draw. The wht queen will not be able to take them.

      16. Yancey Ward Reply
        September 6, 2009 at 3:59 pm

        Win or draw- I don’t think it is possible for black to force a win in this position (the h-pawn is taken whenever white wants to take it).

        Well, lets look at what seems the obvious first moves:

        1. c7 c3
        2. c8(Q)c2
        3. Qh8

        Now, black has a choice as to where the king goes:

        3. …..Kb1 (Ka2 or Kb3 loses)
        4. Qh7

        If black tries unpinning the pawn by moving the king, white can march the queen along the a1/h8 and b2/h7 diagonals, through a series of checks and pins, until it pins the c-pawn to the b1 king from d3 (Qd3 is move 12 for white). At this point, black must either move the king to b2/c1, or play h4 (Ka1 is no good since stalemate is not an issue). With Kc1, white has time to move his king forward, so I think black’s correct move is one of the other two options:

        Option 1;

        12. …..Kb2
        13. Qb5 Ka1
        14. Qa4 Kb2
        15. Qb4 Ka2
        16. Qd2 Kb1, and I am damned if I see a way for white to make any progress here. I vote draw.

      17. thekillereater Reply
        September 6, 2009 at 4:33 pm

        white wins with perpetual checks towards row 5

      18. Vijay Reply
        September 6, 2009 at 4:41 pm

        am i missing something? this is a clear black win for me with the a pawn queening.

      19. jcheyne Reply
        September 6, 2009 at 5:33 pm

        White wins, but only because of Black’s pawn on h5. Without it, or with it any closer to promotion, Black holds a draw.

        First, win the pawn race
        1. c7 c3
        2. c8(Q) c2

        Second, walk the queen to the pawn by pinning it.
        3. Qh8+ Kb1
        4. Qh7 Kb2
        5. Qg7+ Kb1
        6. Qg6 Kb2
        7. Qf6+ Kb1
        8. Qf5 h4

        Third, walk the king to the pawn whenever the h-pawn advances, or when the Black king blocks promotion. Because of the stalemate possibility, White should avoid capturing the h-pawn.
        9. Kc5 Kb2
        10. Qe5+ Kb1
        11. Qe4 Kb2
        12. Qb4+ Ka2
        13. Qc3 Kb1
        14. Qb3+ Kc1
        15. Kd4 Kd1
        16. Qd3+ Ke1
        17. Qxc2 Kf1
        18. Kh2

        Nothing’s left.

      20. Boris Reply
        September 6, 2009 at 10:22 pm

        With the h5-Pawn on h7 it is a draw.

      21. Gegga Reply
        September 6, 2009 at 10:37 pm

        Yes, Vijay – you are missing something. There is no a-pawn …

        This is a win for white, as several have already said.

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