Rey Ardid 1944, presented by Andreas
White to move. How would you assess this position? What should White do? (No computer analysis please)
8/5k2/5p2/p7/2P1K1P1/8/8/8 w – – 0 1
Chess Daily News from Susan Polgar
Important endgame calculation
1. Kd4 Ke6
2. Kc5 Ke5
3. Kb5 Kd4
4. g5! fg5
5. c5 wins
sorry, but i dont see it. Why 4.g5? If youre line is winning, than why not 4.c5?
Aron’s suggestion looks good to me. An immediate 4.c5 would not do the job, the inclusion of 4.g5, however, clears the a1-h8 diagonal which enables black to check on h8 and thereafter pick up the white queen at a1. Very nice.
An immediate 4.c5 would not do the job
Actually, yes it would, albeit much slower and more tediously. After 4.c5 a4, White gets a second (and last) bite at the cherry: 5.g5! a3 6.gxf6 a2 7.f7 a1=Q 8.f8=Q is a theoretical win.
This takes nothing away from aron’s 4.g5!, which avoids all the fuss and bother.
To previous anonymous:
If writing that message was silver, silence would have been gold.
Anon @ 12:14 – do not try to be too smart here. This is just move order stuff, so ne news.
This is just move order stuff
Quite the contrary. After 4.g5! White has an easy win; after 4.c5 a4 5.g5 the position is very much more difficult, but still winnable.
kd4 ke6 kc5
For positions with six pieces or less, the better question should be like:
Can you provide instructive commentary, with words, for the relevant variation(s)?
People can, and will simply look up such a position in an online endgame database. So, the best variations alone provide no extra value.
Actually, such analyses SHOULD be cross-checked anyway if database verification is so easily available. Then, the “why this” and “what if” questions can still be discussed and explained.