White to move. Is this a win or draw for White?
Chess Daily News from Susan Polgar
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White to move. Is this a win or draw for White?
I’m going with draw. By the way these puzzles are usually phrased, I would expect to find an “only-one-move-will-do-it” win, but I can’t find it.
Put White’s pawn on g5, and then we’ve got something.
no way to winnn
Bb3, Kf7, Kf8, then the bishop goes on f7 to save White’s pawn. Black is continually caught in zugzwang and eventually is caught.
If the g-pawn were to disappear this would be a straightforward draw – White’s bishop is the wrong color for the h8 promotion square.
My initial reaction is that, even with the g-pawn, this is still a draw. Sure, White can stalemate the Black King in the h8 corner and force Black to play … g6 or … g5. But then if White captures the pawn, it’s still stalemate.
it’s a draw..
I played with analyzing some ideas (Be8) but I think that Black draws by just sticking his King like glue to h8 and not moving his pawn unless he has no other moves. There doesn’t seem to be a way for White to stalemate the Black King in such a way that Black can still move his pawn and yet still be able to capture the pawn when it moves without stalemate. If it was possible to cover g8 and h7 BUT NOT g7, then that would win, but that does not appear to be possible.
But Black doesn’t have to go to f8, he can draw with Kh8
Forced draw! Black K to h8, and at the correct time, will play g7-g5. If W plays h5:g6ep then Stalemate.
After Kh8, you can NEVER get that King away from the h8/h7 squares. You also can never win the g7 pawn by force.
This is a draw. There is simply no way to drive the black king out of the corner and it is impossible to force mate.
If it were a dark squared bishop it would be a win for white but it can only be a draw with the h8 sqaure insulated.
It’s a draw. Black can play g5 in many lines and if h6xg5 it will be stalemate.
Or am I missing something?
It’s a win !!
Bb3+ Kh8
Kf7 Kh7
Bc2+
if Kh8 then black in zugzwang in next move and loses pawn.
if Kh6 Bg6 and black king is pushed away from his pawn.
Dead draw. First, if black had no g-pawn, this is a dead draw anyway. The only potential way white can win is to force black to play a move of the g-pawn so that white can convert his h-pawn into a g-pawn, but this still doesn’t work since the white king must be on f7/f8 to take g8 from the black king, have the bishop on the b2/h7 diagonal to take h7 away from the black king, and then, if white takes at g6, the black king is stalemated on h8. As long as black never allows white to play Kh7, he won’t lose.
Seems like a draw, h8 is too comfortable a square for black.
A
Yes black looses the pawn, but playing g5 hxg it is still a draw
Oh… yeah I think it is a draw after all.
White can win the pawn but if Black’s King is on h8 it’s stalemate. Good puzzle.