I saw this position recently on Chess Today. It is White to move. How should White proceed?
Chess Daily News from Susan Polgar
King’s chess tactic
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I saw this position recently on Chess Today. It is White to move. How should White proceed?
1.g5!
that was easy… after g5, h pawn cant be stopped
-HP
Concur. 1.g5 +-.
1.g5! is the flashiest win, but doesn’t 1.Be3 also win, albeit in more tedious fashion?
Note to self: proofread more carefully. Of course that was supposed to be 1.Bf3.
I think should add:
1.g5 fxg 2.fxg KxB 3.g6! (gxh is draw I think). This is quite easily won after this I think.
1.g5 fxg 2.fxg KxB 3.g6! (gxh is draw I think). This is quite easily won after this I think.
This is what makes horse races, because I think exactly the opposite. After:
1.g5 fxg5
2.fxg5 Kxd1
… 3.g6 only draws, but 3.gxh6 wins easily.
yeah, it’s gotta be 3. gxh6 cause if you go 3. g6 the opponent can have his bishop cover the queening square in time.
1.g5 fg 2.fg Kxd1 3.gh Ba4
The horses have completed the 3rd furlong. The leaders are neck-and-neck. Rook’s Pawn is pacing himself behind Rook’s Pawn, while Rook’s Pawn is hoping to overtake him on the other side of the track…
1.g5 fg 2.fg Kxd1 3.gh Ba4
4.Kf5 Bc2+
5.Kf6 a4
6.Kg7 Kc1
7.h7 Bxh7
8.Kxh7 Kb2
9.Kg6 Kxa3
10.h6 Kb3
11.h7 a3
12.h8=Q and wins.
kwregan, you are a funny guy.
1 g5 fxg5 2 fxg5 hxg5 3 h6 Be8
On 4 h7 Bg6+ so
4 Kf5 Bb5 threatens to stop the pawn
5 Bf3 Bd3+ 6 Be4 Bxe4+ 7 Kxe4 g4 8 Kf4
White mops up the pawn before queening his own
5 Bf3 g4 trying to divert the bishop
6 Bxg4 Bd3+ 7 Kf6 Bh7 8 Bf5 Bg8 9 Kg7
Instead of 1 … fxg5 Black can try 1 … Kxd1
2 gxf6 wins for black after 2 … Be8
However 2 gxh6 Ba4 3 f5 blocking the diagonal wins for white
Black could delay the bishop capture
1 g5 fxg5 2 fxg5 Kxd1 3 gxh6 Ba4 4 Kf5 Bc2+ 5 Kf6 Now black goes for the a pawn
5 … Kc2 6 Kg7 Kb3 7 h7 Bxh7 8 Kxh7 Kxa3 9 Kg8 Kb3 10 h6 and white’s pawn queens first and stop black from queening.
If black takes with the h pawn first
1 g5 hxg5 2 fxg5 Kxd1
If 3 gxf6 Bf8 4 h6 Kc2 and I think that black wins
However 3 g6 wins for white
After 1 g5 I think that white wins, but there are plenty of ways for white to mess up afterwards. Nice calculation by Suba !
Bf3 followed by g5 also wins. The idea of Bf3 is to move to e4 eventually, breaking the diagonal b1-h7.