White to move and draw.
Source: ChessToday.net
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Classic endgame
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White to move and draw.
Source: ChessToday.net
Bd4, h3?
Nf4
The highly counterintuitive 1 Nf4! Ke5 (1…Kf5?! 2 Bd4 is an easy draw for White) 2 Bc1!! seems to draw.
2…a1=Q 3 Bb2 Qb2 4 Nd3 Kd4 5 Nb2 h3 6 Kh4 Bg2 7 Kg3 and White draws.
-Justin Daniel
A nice puzzle. Because it is a knight puzzle, I lack the instinctual vision to see the motif, but it became clear as I worked through the obvious 1st moves. Lets try what doesn’t work, first, because it demonstrates something important about the arrangement of the h-pawn and the black bishop- something every chess player needs know about endgames of bishops of opposite color and endgames of king vs bishop with a/h-pawns.
1. Bd4 Kd5
2. Bb2 h3
3. Kh4 Bg2 (h2 4.Kh3 wins h-pawn)
4. Kg3 Kc4
5. Ba1 Kb3
6. Be5 Kc2
7. Ba1 Kb1
8. Be5 a1(Q)
9. Ba1 Ka1
10.Kf2 Kb2
11.Kg1 Kc2
12.Kh2 Kd2
13.Kg1 Ke2
14.Kh2 Kf1 (Kf2?? is stalemate)
15.Kg3 Kg1 and the pawn queens. If black had the same bishop with an a-pawn at a2 (bishop at b1), this is a draw since white gets into the corner and black cannot force him out without stalemating him. If you have a rook’s pawn with an extra bishop, that bishop is best to be the bishop of the color of the queening square, or you had better be able to beat the king to the corner while advancing your pawn (not easy to do with the wrong bishop).
I will cover the right lines in my next comment.
Kg6
just have to get the king to h8 and the H pawn goes nowhere.(Wrong color bishop) Sack the bishop for the other pawn
The bishop definitely needs to get on the long diagonal otherwise it’s curtains. If the black king gets on e4. The question is whether the knight is needed to stop the other pawn.
Lets say Be4 Kxd5 Ba1 h3 Kh4 Bg2 Kg3. Can the white king just go between g3 and h2, I don’t think so.
Ke4 Kh2 Kf4 Kg1 Kg3 Bb2 h2#
Or if white tries to attack the king the king can also march to the other side of the board
Thus it seems the knight needs to go somewhere with check, without check we just have a1=q and no tricky forks
Ne7+ Ke4 looks like curtains.
So Nf4+ must be the first move
Nf4+ Ke5 now Nd3+ Ke4 is bad but white needs to either check or go to a square that allows the knight to fork the king and a1. Ne2 if a1=q Be4+ Ne2 Ke4 Nc3+ Kxe3 Nxa2 h2 Kh3 Bg2 and now white can bring the knight back to save the game.
In my previous comment, I showed that white could not cover the a1 square with his first move. Also, he cannot take h4 because black will simply queen at a1. This leaves only knight moves that check the king. The possibilities are Nc7 and Nf4. I will take these in order:
1. Nc7
Here, black can choose to attack the knight with Kd6 or Kd7, or cover the d4 square with Ke5 (Kd6 does this as well). Moves like Ke7 or Kf6/f7/f5 can be dismissed as white then covers a1 with the bishop and retains his knight to deal with the h-pawn. Lets take the various possible king moves in order:
Variation with 1. ….Kd6:
1. Nc7 Kd6
2. Bd4? h3!
3. Kg4 Bg2!
4. Kg3
This is forced, otherwise the h-pawn queens. Continuing:
4. …..Kc7
5. Be5 Kc6 and we have the same essential position I analyzed in my previous comment- black forces the exchange at a1 and wins with the h-pawn. White cannot bring the king to the a-pawn as his bishop cannot hold up both pawns in the meantime. In this line, white erred at move 2. He should have played:
2. Bf4 Kc6 (Kd7 is same result)
3. Be5! h3 (nothing else is better)
4. Kg4 Bg2
5. Kg3 and the difference here is that white retains the knight as he is protected by the bishop at e5. Black can win the knight with a1(Q), but white retains the bishop to deal with the remaining black pawn. Black cannot play 1. ….Kd6.
Variation with 1. ……Ke5
1. Nc7 Ke5
2. Nb5 h3 (a1Q?? 3.Bd4 Qd4 4.Nd4=)
3. Kg4
Nothing else has a chance to hold except the equivalent Kh4. Continuing:
3. …..Bg2
4. Bd4 Kd5
And, now, white is in zugzwang as any knight move loses the bishop, and any bishop move other than Be5 allows h2. White must play
5. Kg3 Kc4 (with double attack)
6. Na3
Nothing else works either. Continuing:
6. …..Kd4
7. Nc2 Kc3
8. Na1 Kb2 and the a-pawn will queen and win for black.
Variation with 1. ….Kd7:
Though he doesn’t need another line, Kd7 wins, too:
1. Nc7 Kd7
2. Bd4 h3
3. Kg4 Bg2
4. Kg3 Kc7, and we have already seen the hopelessness of this position for white.
In my next comment I will cover
1.Nf4.
The correct first move for white must be 1.Nf4 by process of elimination. It is fascinating why this works:
1. Nf4 Ke5 (Kf5 below)
And, here, white has two moves that both hold the draw, I think.
2. Bc1 Ke4 (a1Q 3.Bb2 Qb2 4.Nd3=)
3. Bb2 Kf4
4. Kh4 draws since that pesky h-pawn is now gone. At move 2 in this line, black does no better with
2. …..Kd4
3. Bb2 and even the knight escapes. Or
2. …..Kf5
3. Bb2 and this is no different than above- white will win the h-pawn.
Also, in this line, white can draw with
2. Ne2 Ke4 (h3 3.Bd4 Ke4 4.Kg4=)
3. Nc3 Ke3
4. Na2 h3
5. Kg4 Bg2
6. Kg3 and this is dead drawn with the white piece still on the board. And at move 2 here, black does no better with
2. …..a1(Q)
3. Bd4 Qd4
4. Nd4 Kd4
5. Kh4=.
At move 1 in the main line, Kf5 does no better than a draw:
1. Nf4 Kf5
2. Bd4 and black simply doesn’t have time to take the knight and preserve the h-pawn.
1.Bd4 Kxd5 2.Ba1 h3 3.Kh4 h2 4.Kh3!= (there was a very similar theme in a game Karpov-Kasparov with 47.Ng2!!!)
The White bishop has to stop the a-pawn, and either the White king or knight must capture the h-pawn.
White loses if she tries to stop the a-pawn on the first move:
1. Bd4 Kxd5
2. B moves h3
and White will not be able to stop both pawns.
Black will move her bishop to g2, protecting the h-pawn, while the Black king will go to b1, then
play a1=Q. Then there is an elementary win of bishop, pawn, and king versus lone king.
The direct try to stop the h-pawn on the first move loses of course:
1. Kxh4 Kxd5 (stronger than a1=Q)
and the Black king keeps the White bishop from stopping the a-pawn.
So the direct approaches don’t work for White.
The correct line is:
1. Nf4+
Now the Black king has to go to e5, since to play anywhere else, the White bishop goes to d4, stopping the a-pawn.
For instance:
1…. Kf5?
2. Bd4 Kxf4
3. Kxh4 draw.
Black puts up stiffer resistance with:
1…. Ke5
Now the bishop can’t stop the a-pawn from queening, but there is saving double attack on the Black
king and queen followed by a knight fork on the same 2 pieces:
2. Bc1 a1=Q (now or never)
3. Bb2+ Qxb2
4. Nd3+ Kf5
5. Nxb2 h3
6. Kh4 Bg2
7. Kg3 draw
or
6…. h2
7. Kg3 any legal move
(Can’t the Black bishop just disappear here, so that Black can play 7…. h1=Q? Just kidding.)
8. Kxh2 draw
Black does have a defensive resource on move 2 however,
either 2…. Bf3+ or 2…. Be4. 2…. Bf3+ is not really a separate case, since the bishop just postpones going to e4 by one move. 2…. Bf3+ is a “grudge check”.
So we’ll just look at 2…. Be4. The point of Be4 is, of course, to stop the 4…. Nd3+ that White had played in the variation above.
1. Nf4+ Ke5
2. Bc1 Be4 (preventing the knight fork, but now, Black cannot queen the a-pawn)
3. Nd3+ (Play that anyway. I’ll show you how to gain a tempo! I’m going to gobble your h-pawn, and you can’t stop me.)
3….. Bxd3
4. Bb2+ (And another tempo!)
4…. Kf4
5. Kxh4 draw
Lucymarie
1. Nf4+ Ke5
2. Ne2 a1D
3. Bd4+ Dxd4
4. Nxd4 Kxd4
5. Kxh4 draw
An even more fun solution, though Nf4+ Ke5 Bc1! is sufficient, goes like this:
Ne4+ Ke5 Ne2! when the obvious Bf3+ is refuted by Kxh4 Bxe2 Bh6! Kf6 Bd2! a1=Q Bc3+ Qxc3 stalemate.
Hi, Timothee.
In the line that you gave, Black doesn’t play 3…. h2, she plays
3….. Bg2 instead, and then the
game is a loss for White. 1. Bd4
loses for White.
Another idea for Black would be 1. Nf4+ Ke5 2.Bc1! a1Q 3.Bb2+ Kxf4!? 4.Bxa1 h3 and now White needs to find 5.Kg6! (“box” as they say) in order to draw, since the pawn hangs after 5…h2 6.Kf6 and 7.Be5(+). In this line, 5.Kh4? Bg2 loses.
Very nice, Mark. I missed that try by Black.
Lucymarie
You all seem to be missing the point of this pretty study! After 1.Nf4+ Ke5 the move is 2.Ne2! then 2…Bf3+ 3.Kxh4 Bxe2 4.Bh6 Kf6 5.Bd2 a1(Q) 6.Bc3+ Qxc3 stalemate!
The 2.Ne2 defense is just another variation, it isn’t really the “point.” The Bc1 line is also sufficient to draw.