White to move. How should White proceed?
8/p2np2p/2PPk2p/1P6/8/1N4K1/8/8 w – – 0 1
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White to move. How should White proceed?
8/p2np2p/2PPk2p/1P6/8/1N4K1/8/8 w – – 0 1
Nc5.
very good position
1. Nc5+ Nxc5(if 1.. Kxd6 then cd7)
2. b6 ab6 (2. c7 not possible because of Ne4+ and black easily controls the c8 square)
3. d7 Nxd7
4. c7 wins coz b6 square is covered his own pawn.
full notation :
Nc5 Nxc5
c7 Kd7
dxe7 #
1-0
1. Nc5+ NxN
2. c7 Kd7
3. dxe7
1.Nc5+ Nxc5 2.b6 axb6 3.d7 Nxd7 4.c7 looks good
1.Nc5+
[1.dxe7 Kxe7 2.c7 Nb6]
1…Nxc5 2.b6
[2.c7 Kd7 3.dxe7 Ne4+ 4.Kf4 Nf6 -+]
2…axb6 3.d7 Nxd7 4.c7 +-
– SS
Get the knight or the king to the wrong square: 1. Nc5+ 1-0
this looks simple, provided of course no overlooks:
1. Nc5+ Nxc5
2. d7 Ne4+
3. Kf4 and a new queen next move.
greets, jan
1. Nc5+
a)
1. … Nxc5
2. c7 Kd7
3. dxe7
and one of the pawns is queening.
b)
1. … Kxd6
2. Nxd7
and with knigt up, white will win, eventually.
Both white pawns are safe, black king can’t move behind c-pawn, and all black pawns can be stopped.
The erroneous attempt was:
1. c7? Nb6!
I think about the next line.
1.Nc5+ NxN.
2.d7 and if Nb7 to stop d pawn then cxN, and if Ne4+ then Kf4 and black can´t stop d pawn.
Took a little while to figure this one out. I love this type of puzzle.
1.Nc5! Nxc5
2.b6! axb6
3.d7 Nxd7
4.c7 and promotes
or 1 Kxd6
2.cxd7 Kc7
and before any black pawns get far enough, White King can advance to e6, threatening Kxe7 and d8, and if black plays Kd8, Nb7+ finishes it.
1.Nc5+ Nxc5 2.c7 Kd7 3.dxe7 and Black can’t avoid the two promotions and if he remains in the same position then 4.e8/Q+ KxQ 5.c8/Q or 4.c8/Q+! with the very same idea
1. b6 Nxb6 2. d7
1. b6 axb6 2. c7
1. b6 Kxd6 2. cxd7 Kxd7 3. bxa7
1b6 and win
1.Nc5+ Nxc5
2.c7 Kd7
3.dxe7 +-
1.c7 Nb6 2.Nc5…?? Get pawn promoted while black knight goes after white knight? I’m a beginner!
why would
1. b6, Nxb6 2.d7 win? 2… Nxd7 would at least draw…
1 nc5 Kd6 (1..nc5 loses to c7 followed by de7)
2 cd! (Nd7 looks like a draw after a6)
.. kc7
3 kf4 h5
4 ke5 h4
5 ke6 h3
6 nb7 kb7
7 d8=q and wins.
I will cover the wrong move first. The “obvious” piece win will only draw, I think, and I don’t really need a chess board to realize this.
1. cd7 Kd7
2. de7
What else here for white? Anything else only runs the risk of losing. Continuing:
2. …..Ke7
3. Kf4
Here, sending the king for the h-pawns will only draw, too, since the knight cannot protect the b-pawn by himself due to the fact that black can always play a6 if necessary in order to move the white pawn onto a square on which it can be captured by the king. Continuing:
3. …..Kd6
Of course, black must keep the king on the queen side- he doesn’t have enough time to use his king to advance the h-pawns successfully since white’s knight can delay things just enough to give white’s king time to win the a-pawn and queen the b-pawn. Continuing:
4. Ke4 h5
Of course, the right plan is to force the white men away from each other. Continuing:
5. Kd4
Any knight move, and black plays Kc5 winning the b-pawn eventually. Continuing:
5. …..h4
6. Nd2
Again, this is drawn (at best) if the white king is the one that goes for the pawn. Continuing:
6. …..h3
7. Nf3 h6
8. Nh2 Kc7
I don’t think black has anything better here, but I have not looked deeply at this position, either. I think the black king must stay on the queen side, however, or risk losing the game. Continuing:
9. Kc5 Kb7
10.Nf3 a6
The key move in a lot of the lines. Here, white has only b6 and ba6. If white passes the pawn with b6, black just pushes the a-pawn until the white king is forced away from his last pawn, and if white takes at a6, then Ka6 is a draw. Here, as white, I would just concede the draw now with ba6 since b6 could only draw at best.
In my previous comment, I showed why cd7 will only draw. The other “obvious” move to eliminate is 1.c7. This is a move I might play myself over the board with a tight time constraint, but with time to consider it, I can see it also cannot win:
1. c7 Nb6
This is the only move to prevent c8(Q). It does black no good to try to get into a knight + pawn vs queen endgame with Nc5 as white can just either play 2.Nc5 and the white knight still keeps black’s king from reaching d7, or, in any case, 2.c8(Q) is with check winning the black knight regardless. Continuing:
2. de7
Any other move here will likely lose. Continuing:
2. …..Ke7 (nothing better, IMO)
3. Kg4
I think white can do no better other than to win the h-pawns, or force the black king to support them. Indeed, this position has draw written all over it. No need to consider it more deeply if the goal is to produce a win by white.
In my previous comment, I showed that c7 also draws at best for white. One of the issues is that white’s d-pawn is under attack by both the black king and the black e-pawn, and white has no way to protect it, so the I would definitely want to consider the lines that starts with the exchange at e7, even though I am pretty sure this is also a draw:
1. de7 Ke7 (nothing better)
2. c7
Here, cd7 is identical to the line that starts with 1.cd7 I covered in my first comment. Continuing:
2. …..Nb6
And, now, this position is identical to the line I covered in my second comment- a draw.
what i said is totally wrong because of Ne4 check! and Nd6
1.Nc5+ Nxc5 2.b6!
2…axb6 3.d7! Nxd7 4.c7! +-
if 2…a6 or a5 3.b7! Na6 4.c7! +-
or if Ne4/Nxd6 or Kxd6 then bxa7 etc….
I would hope that I could see that 1. Nc5+ would win even in a blitz game, but I have to admit, it took me about 5 minutes of thinking to be even 95% sure that it does:
1. Nc5! Nc5 (Kd6 is below)
Now, white has four different pawn moves he can play- b6, c7, d7, and de7. Three of them lose. For example:
2. c7 Ne4!
3. Kg4 Nd6 and black wins the two remaining white pawns and the game after playing 4. ….Kd7 and 5. ….Nb5. Or
2. d7 Nd7 (only move I see)
3. cd7
Or, if 3.c7 black wins with Nb6. Or
2. de7 Ke7
3. Kh4 Kd6 and black will play Na4-Nc3-Nb5-Kc6 and queen his a-pawn and win the game.
The only winning move for white at move 2 is
2. b6! ab6 (alternatives below)
3. d7!
Here, 3.c7 loses as before to Ne4+. Continuing:
3. …..Nd7(Kd6 similar)
4. c7
And the pawn cannot be stopped. Of course, white will have a queen and king vs a knight, four pawns,and a king. That the pawns are all unconnected and/or doubled, I don’t think black could hold a draw.
Or
2. …..a5 (a6 similar)
3. d7
White can win with other moves here, but this looks most convincing to me. Continuing:
3. …..Nd7 (what else?)
4. b7
This is the only move, but it is clear advantage to white:
4. …..Ne5 (Nb8 5.c7 should win)
5. c7!
No reason to let black win c6 pawn:
5. …..Nc6
6. b8(Q) with an easy win. Or
2. …..Kd6
3. ba7 Kc6
4. a8(Q) should win fairly easily. Or
2. …..ed7
3. ba7 and white will queen and likely win the knight by advancing the c-pawn as well. Or
2. …..Ne4
3. Kf4 Nd6 (alternatives below)
4. ba7 and white will queen and likely win the knight by advancing the c-pawn, too. Lastly, in this ultimate line, black can do no better at move 3 with
3. …..Kd6
4. ba7 Ng5
5. a8(Q) with a clear win. Or
3. …..ab6
4. d7 Nf6 (what else better?)
5. d8(Q) with a clear win.
Nc5+ probably would do it
Nc5+!!
Nc5+!! Nxc5
dxe7! Kxe7
c7!
1-0
No computer is needed here. A simple analysis works.
1 b6 doesn’t work. Black plays Nb6, 2 d7 Nxd7
1 cxd7 Kxd7, 2 dxe7 Kxe7 doesn’t work either. Black can march over to b6 and trade pawns
The winning line is to displace Black’s Knight and then take a key square away from it.
1 Nc5+! Nxc5
If 1 … Kxd6, 2 cxd7 Kc7, 3 Kf4 h5, 4 Ke5! h4, 5 Ke6, and White promotes before Black can.
2 b6!!
Nothing else works for White. If 2 d7 Nxd7 wins. On 2 c7 Ne4+ (or the simple 2… Kd7) followed by Nxe6. Or 2 dxe7 Kxe7, 3 Kg4 Ne6, followed by Nd4, Nxb5, and the King’s capture of White’s last pawn.
With this move, White cuts off access to b6 for Black. This is important, as will be seen.
2 … axb6
Black can’t ignore the threat of bxa7, The only other way to stop that fails: 2… a6, 2 d7 Nxd7, 3 b7 Kd6 (3… Nb8, 4 c7), 4 cxd7 Kd7, 5 b8=Q+ Kxb8, 6 d8=Q+ wins.
3 d7! Nxd7
Forced, as there’s no other way to stop the d-pawn from promoting.
4 c7!
Now the reason for 2 b6 is seen. Black’s Knight can’t get to b6 to stop the pawn.
The resulting ending isn’t trivial, but White can outmaneuver Black and eventually win.
Kc5
I think that 1) b6! works. Because after 1)… Nxb6 2) d7 Nxd7 you don´t have to take back the Knight on d7. You can push the unstoppable c-pawn to 3) c7! +-
dxe7!
dxe7!
1. Nc5+ Nc5
2. b6 and wins
any move by white other than
2. b6 white will lose…
say:
2. c7 Kd7
3. de7 Ne4+
4. Kf4 Nd6 0-1
or:
2. d7 Nd7
3. c7 Nb6 0-1