White to move. How should White proceed? Is this a win, draw or loss or White?
8/2Rp4/2p1Pr2/1k6/3K1p2/8/3P4/8 w – – 0 1
Chess Daily News from Susan Polgar
Tricky endgame
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Here are some “red herrings”, i.e. not helping you toward the answer but maybe deepening the mystery. If 1.exd7 Rd6+ 2.Ke5 Rxd2, White can’t be mercenary by 3.Kxf4 because 3…Kb6! forces White’s Rook away and wins the d-pawn. In fact, then White has to find a very accurate tempo-gaining move to draw—because after 4.Rc8 Rxd7 this is known to be a winning case of R+P vs R for Black since White’s King is “cut off” from the c-file. Even then the draw is difficult.
Instead White can assist the e-pawn by 3.Ke6, and if not for Black’s f-pawn White would be winning Black’s Rook and the game. But the f-pawn gives enough counterplay after 3…f3, and there are other defenses with …c5 or …Kc5 where Black’s pawns advance fast enough that White must give up the Rook in return to stop them, for a draw. There is also 2…Kc5 instead of 2…Rxd2.
Can White do any better? It’s hard to make decisions like this in real games, but sometimes “ya gotta just let it all hang loose!” That’s a green herring…
Well, I’m not entrely sure about this position; however this is what I was able to came up with.
1.PxP Rd6+
2.Ke5 Rxd2
3.Ke6
And now, if:
a) 3……….f3
4.Rb7+ Kc5
5.Rb1 f2 (5…Re2+ 6.Kf7 Rd2 7.Ke7 Re2+ 8.Kd8 f2 9.Rf1 wins for white)
6.Rf1 Re2+
7.Kf7 Rd2
8.Ke7 Re2+
9.Kd8 Kb4 (9…Rd2 10.Kb7 should win)
10.Kc8 b5
11.c8(Q) RxQ
12.KxR Kc3
13.Rxf2 b4 And black should draw,I think.
b) 3……..Kc5
4.Rc8 f3
5.c8(Q) RxQ
6.RxR and white should win.
So, I think black should choose line a) for a draw. Unless I’m misssing something.
Anon 2:04, that starts out looking very interesting, but you’ve got several typos in there which represent illegal moves. Sometimes I can sort out what legal move the poster had in mind, but not this time.
Maybe white can win this endgame. Black counterplay bases on the advance of his f-pawn, sac his rook for the white pawn and bring the king to the pawn. So my idea is to cut off blacks king first with Rb7+, but there are some tactics to calculate.
1.Rb7+ Ka6
2.PxP Rd6+ (…KxR 3.d8Q +-)
3.Kc5 Rd2: (…KxR 4.KxR +-)
4.Rb6+ Ka7 (…Ka5 5.Rb8 Rc2+
6.Kd6 +-)
7.Kc6: Rc2+
8.Kd6 Rd2+ (…KxR 9. d8Q+ +-)
9.Kc7 +-
please check, if i missed something.
Tobe
1.Rb7+ Ka6
2.PxP Rd6+ (…KxR 3.d8Q +-)
3.Kc5 Rd2: (…KxR 4.KxR +-)
4.Rb6+ Ka7 (…Ka5 5.Rb8 Rc2+
6.Kd6 +-)
7.Kc6: Rc2+
Are those last two moves misnumbered?
5.Kxc6 Rxd7!
… draws easily.
The thin winningline seems to be
1. Rb7+! Ka6 2. exd7!! Rd6+
3. Kc5! Rxd2 4. Rb2!! Rd3 5. Rb3!
Rd2 6. Kxc6 and white is winning…
Very thematic
… and after 7.Kc7, Rxd7+ wins for Black, not White.
… now with the correct movenummers 😉
1.Rb7+ Ka6
2.PxP Rd6+ (…KxR 3.d8Q +-)
3.Kc5 Rd2: (…KxR 4.KxR +-)
4.Rb6+ Ka7 (…Ka5 5.Rb8 Rc2+ 6.Kd6 +-)
5.Kc6: Rc2+
6.Kd6 Rd2+ (…KxR 7. d8Q+ +-)
7.Kc7 +-
Tobe
I’m with you, Arjo. White gets his king to d8, stops off to grab the Black pawn, and eventually blocks a check on the d-file with Rd4.
Tobe,
1.Rb7+ Ka6
2.PxP Rd6+ (…KxR 3.d8Q +-)
3.Kc5 Rd2: (…KxR 4.KxR +-)
4.Rb6+ Ka7 (…Ka5 5.Rb8 Rc2+ 6.Kd6 +-)
5.Kc6: Rc2+
Try 5…Rxd7 instead, which draws.
6.Kd6 Rd2+ (…KxR 7. d8Q+ +-)
7.Kc7 +-
“+-“? This loses to 7…Rxd7+.