White to move. Is this a win or draw for White?
k7/8/3R4/8/8/1b6/3K4/8 w – – 0 1
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White to move. Is this a win or draw for White?
k7/8/3R4/8/8/1b6/3K4/8 w – – 0 1
Very simple. Kc3 and white wins immediately.
It’s an easy win. The trick is that black’s bishop has only one single square to go (without being forked or captured) after:
1 Kc3 Bf7
but now R-d8-d7 forces the fork of King and Bishop.
A trivial win. Kc3 and the Bishop has nowhere to hide from the rook and its checks
R vs. B endgame = draw
Normally rook vs bishop is drawn more often than not. The winning method is to trap the king in the corner of the bishop’s color, then a waiting move by the rook forces the king to step away and the bishop is captured.
In this position the king and bishop are distant and the bishop is in a bad spot and lost in only 3 moves.
1Ke3
If Ba2, a4, or g8 then the rook forks the king and bishop. If Bc2 or c4 the king captures. If Bd1, d5 or e6 then the rook captures, so…
1. — Bf7
2. Rd8+ K any
3. Rd7+ wins the Bishop
A win. After white Kc3 moved, bishop has no place to go but rank 7th and lost after rook checks.
draw my arse…the trick is to keep the king on the last rank and Zug the B.Easy Peasy.
Mike M
Rb6 and Black will eventually force his way..in.
Rb6 white will win..no matter what Black tries.
It is a win for White – the black king is in the wrong corner (the one that is the same color that the bishop is on).
Wins with 1.Kc3! Bf7 2.Rd8+ Kb7 3.Rd7+ and a quick kill. Other ways wins with the same idea. Rb6 is ??.
1.Kc3!wins
if 1…Bf7 2.Rd8+…Kb7 3.Rd7+ wins the Bishop.Other first moves by black either lose the bishop immediately or by the appropriate check.
That Bishop is dead after Kc3.
1. Kc3 Bf7
2. Rd8! Kb2
3. Rd7! …
…
1-0
1. Kc3 and white wins the bishop, e.g. Bf7, 2. Rd8+ and 3.Rd7+
Very interesting. After 1. Kc3 the black bishop has nowhere to go. At worst White will pick it up in a few moves. So:
1. Kc3 Bf7
2. Rd8 K any
3. Rd7 K any
4. Rf7
After Kc3, wherever black knight moves it can be captured in 2 moves. So white wins.
Too easy.
1. Kc3 wins the Bishop wthin at most three more moves.
If the Bishop doesn’t move, or if it moves to c2, d1, c4, d5, or e6, it can be captured immediately.
If it moves to a2 or a4, 2. Ra6+ wins it.
If it moves to g8, 2. Rd8+ wins it.
If it moves to f7, 2. Rd8+ Ka7/b7; 3. Rd7+ wins it.
Too easy.
kc3…where does the bishop go?…o yea NOWHERE BABY!!!
The black king is in a bad corner and the bishop if attacked has only 4 squares available… The plan is the to take the bishop and win in the standard way.
Thus
1. Kc3! Ba2 (or 1…Ba4)
2. Ra6+ …
3. RxB
On the other hand
1… Bg8
2. Rd8+ …
3. Rxd8
and
1… Bf7
2. Rd8+ Ka7 (or Kb7)
3. Rd7+ …
4. Rxf7
1. Rb6 doesn’t work since the Bishop has now f8 as a resort and the black King can safely leave the corner and coordinate with the Bishop.
This is a cool puzzle, why did all these other people get it so wrong? Maybe they are all that evil Vidmar guy or something.
Just play Kc3 and pick up the bishop and your prize check in all variations.
White wins with 1. Kc3. Where will the bishop go? To be needlessly thorough:
1. … Kmove 2. Kxb3
1. … Ba2 2. Ra6+
1. … Ba4 2. Ra6+
1. … Bc2 2. Kxc2
1. … Bc4 2. Kxc4
1. … Bd1 2. Rxd1
1. … Bd5 2. Rxd5
1. … Be6 2. Rxe6
1. … Bf7 2. Rd8+ Kb7 3. Rd7+
1. … Bg8 2. Rd8+
Draw? Zugzwand tricks? Come now…
The exceedingly simple and direct 1. Kc3! wins the bishop and leaves black a rook down. No need for fancy zugzwang tricks.
The bishop is dominated and cannot retreat to any square where it cannot be forked or directly captured, except to f7. But then 2. Rd8+ will win it with a fork next move.
1-0
The white king must begin taking away squares from the white bishop. Look at the starting position- Ba2 and Ba4 loses to Ra6+; Bd5 and Be6 lose the bishop directly to the rook takes; Bf7 loses to the combo Rd8+ followed by Rd7+; and Bg8 loses to Rd8+. This leaves the squares safe for the bishop of b3, c4, and d1. A very simple 1.Kc3 attacks b3 and c4 (while continuing to cover c2) while uncovering the rook attack on d1- the bishop is a Thanksgiving turkey.
1. Kc3 and the bishop has
Kc3 shortly wins the bishop
I really love chess. I really enjoy playing chess. You mind is highly needed for this game just to protect the King and Queen.
Kc3 wins the B
Kc3 wins bishop and game
White can win the bishop.
Kc3 Bf7 otherwise white either captures the bishop or forks the king and bishop
Rd8+ Ka7 or Kb7
Rd7+ wins the bishop.
1.Kc3 attacks the bishop. If B moves to a file or 8th rank, then it is lost to a double attack. c2, c4, d1, d5, e6 are unsafe squares. That leaves
1…Bf7 but this loses to
2.Rd8+ K-
3.Rd7
kc3! win!
Nice problem! 1. Kc3! and after the best try 1…Bf7 2. Rd8+ will win the bishop.
Kc3 wins the Bishop!
As an end comment, let’s see how this position may occur in a quite beautiful chess study.
White : Kf1, Rc1, Bg6, Nh8
Black : Kg5, Bb1, Bb8, Ne4, pg7
Here’s the FEN
1b5N/6p1/6B1/6k1/4n3/8/8/1bR2K2 w – – 0 1
White wins.
One can spot immediately some weaknesses in White and in Black setup.
White has a very weak Bg6, only protected by an eccentric Nh8, directly under fire by the Kg5 and indirectly by the Bb1, the Ne4 now threatening check in g3.
Black has an attacked Bb1, indirectly protected now by a fork by Nd2+, the Ne4 is also pinned. The Kg5 is in vicinity of the border but one can expect a direct mate attack on it.
How can ever White win?
The solution is like this :
1. Kg2
Now, the Bb1 is really attacked, and because he must protect the Ne4,
1… Bd3 is forced
2. Rd1 ask again a question on the light-squared Black bishop, and we have two lines.
2… Bc2 is the secondary line, but an interesting one, because after
3. Rd8 now the dark-squared bishop is threatened and all the moves are losing a piece! Incredible, but let’s see this position
intermediary FEN :
1b1R3N/6p1/6B1/6k1/4n3/8/2b3K1/8 b – – 0 3
Because 3… Bc7 loses quickly to 4.Rc8, and 3… Bg3 to Bxe4, we have only 4 moves :
Ba7, Bd6, Be5 and Bf4, the latter being the more resilient one.
3… Ba7 4.Kf3 (a thematic move!) and the pseudo sac Nd2+ 5.Rxd2 Bxg6 doesn’t save Black because of the deadly 6. Rg2+ and the Bg6 falls.
We get more or less the same idea after
3… Bd6 4.Kf3 Nd2+ 5. Ke2 Bxg6 and this time, it is the double attack after 6.Rxd6 that wins a piece.
3… Be5 4.Kf3 Nd2+ 5.Rxd2 Bxg6 fails too, this time because of the pin 6. Re5 and if Kf6, 7. Nxg6 means game over.
As said before, 3… Bf4 is the trickiest move that black could play, because if 4. Kf3, Nd2+ and Black holds!
However, after
1. Kg2 Bd3 2. Rd1 Bc2 3. Rd8 Bf4 White can exploit the bad position of the Black king with the nasty 4. Rd5+ and Black has the dubious choice of either getting checkmated or losing a piece.
4… Kh6 5.Rh5#
4… Kg4 5.Bh5+ Kh4 6. Ng6#
4… Kf6 5.Rf5+
4… Kh4 5.Kf3.
But this was the hors-d’oeuvre.
Now, the very main line!
1. Kg2 Bd3 2. Rd1 Nf2 3.Kf2 Ba7+ (a very important intermediate check, because the immediate 3… Bxg6 is met by 4. Rg1+) and White has a difficult choice.
4. Kf3 Bxg6 5. Rd7 fails to Bh5+
4. Kg2 Bxg6 5. Rd7 fails to Be4+
4. Kg3 Bxg6 5. Rd7 fails to Bb8+
4. Ke1! is the right choice, allowing no checks at all. After Bxg6 5. Rd7 Bb8 6. Rxg7 pins the Bg6 but there is another hurdle with 6… Kh6 7.Rxg6+ Kh7 hitting the Nh8 that protects the Rg6.
And now?
8. Re6! is the unique move, and after Bg3+ 9. Ke2 Kxh8 we reach at last the mirrored position of this post.
White wins of course with 10. Kf3!
The summarized main line :
1. Kg2 Bd3 2. Rd1 Nf2 3.Kf2 Ba7+ 4. Ke1! Bxg6 5. Rd7 Bb8 6. Rxg7 Kh6 7. Rxg6+ Kh7 8. Re6! Bg3+ 9. Ke2 Kxh8 10. Kf3!
I hope you enjoyed this fantastic journey into chess tactics in the endgame!
Source : Seletsky, Shakhmaty v SSSR, 1931, #536, first prize (a well awarded one!)
Cortex.