White to move. How do you assess this position? How should White proceed?
8/5RKp/8/p6p/P7/8/5p2/5k2 w – – 0 1
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Can white draw this?
I think white will eventually sacrafice her rook to prevent black’s pawn from queening.
I think Kg8 is the ONLY move to draw. White must be able to check with a protected rook on f7, g7, and h7. If black tries to advance the pawns, white picks them off. If he gets the second one on h3 and then gets attacked by the king on g2, he retreats the R to h7. When black queens, then black checks forever on g & h. If BK goes to f, a skewer will pick up the Q for the R. Then white can pick up the a pawn, but black can pin the white king on the a-file for the draw.
Easy puzzle, actually. It took me under a minute to determine the solution.
Stu
I forgot to add … if black tries to get the King out the other side on e2 and queen and win, then white plays Rh1 and will get the queen. The rest as above.
Stu
The question never stated that white would win, it asked for an assesment. I would have to say that the 2 pawns on the h-file makes it easier for white to deal with. However, the liberation of white’s pawn on the a file is also key. What makes this position difficult and I agree with all of you is the black’s e2 pawn. I agree 100% with chessdiva that white rook is going to have to be sacrificed but not after giving Black’s king numerous checks. It’s important to seperate Black’s king from that pawn, so perpetual check is an option as well.
On another topic. Let me introduce myself, I am WCM Claudia Munoz’s father and coach. I see she visits this site often during the day to have her say. I thank you all for being part of her and allowing her as well to be the 10-year kid that she is. I want to thank Susan for the press she gives her often on this site as well as the picture of “SUGAR”, which is Claudia’s newfound pet.
Chessdiva, I saw your site and I applaud your efforts. I read the statistics you mentioned about the amount of girls in USCF. We live in Acuna, Coahuila Mexico, just right across the border with the USA at del rio, texas. Claudia’s beginnings were here in Mexico where she won EVRYTHING but often she was the ONLY girl in adult tournaments and it is customary at times for men to drop out of the tournament after a loss with her. Here she is a total “spectacle” because of the society around us. But that makes us all stronger.
A. Munoz
“El Profesor”
womancandidatemaster.blogspot.com
White is lost.
Moving the King to the 8th rank is useless.
1.Kg8 h4
2.Rxh7 h3
3.Rxh3 Kg2
If White does not take on h3, Black moves his King out to the e-file. As White checks along the files, the Black King goes to a1 — no more checks, and one of the pawns promotes.
“Moving the King to the 8th rank is useless.
1.Kg8 h4
2.Rxh7 h3
3.Rxh3 Kg2″
4.Rh7 f1Q
5.Rg7+ Kh-
6.Rh7+ Kg-
7.Rg7+ Kh-
=
Of course Kg8 is useless, but Anonymous I explained us already he didn’t understand the easy position because he only had 1 minute.
It looks to me like Stu is correct. Kg8 draws for white and all other moves lose.
Just queening a pawn is not good enough to win. When the f pawn queens the black king is trapped for perpetual checks on the g and h files. If the black king goes onto the f file after the pawn queens, the queen is lost to Rf7+.
1.Kxh7 is in my opinion drawing for White.
…and what about the pawns on a-column? These shouldn’t be spare…
Why not Kf8 instead of Kg8?
(Furthur opposition ?)
1.Kf8 draws
if 1…h4 then
2.Rxh7 h3
3.Ke7 h2
4.Rxh2 Kg1
5.Rxf2 Kxf2
6.Kd6 Ke3
Draw, if 3…Kg2 then
4.Rg7+ Kh2
5.Rf7 draw
or:
4.Rg7+ Kf1
5.Rh7 draw
or:
4.Rg7+ Kf3
5.Rf7+ draw
if 1…Ke2 then
2.Re7+ Kd3
3.Rf7
and take the pawn if he moves away, check if he defends the pawn
Your analysis is incorrect:
>> 1.Kf8 draws
>> if 1…h4 then
>> 2.Rxh7 h3
>> 3.Ke7 h2
3…h2 is a blunder.
3…Ke1 is correct. If the rook checks, just keep moving the King until he gets to a1. If the White Rook goes back to the f-file to attack the pawn, THEN …h2, and one of the pawns will promote.