White to move. Is this a win or draw for White?
8/4R3/6k1/8/p7/Kb4P1/8/8 w – – 0 99
Chess Daily News from Susan Polgar
Win or draw?
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White to move. Is this a win or draw for White?
8/4R3/6k1/8/p7/Kb4P1/8/8 w – – 0 99
I’m guessing that it’s a win for white. I would play Re5 cutting the black king off from the white pawn.
I would then follow up with Ra5 and then move the king over to support the pawn. The rook can check from the a File and simultaneously prevent the black a pawn from advancing.
Tablebase says your guess is a winner. White’s only winning move from the diagram is in fact 1.Re5!
This looks like the final round marathon of Timofeev and Inarkeiv at the just completed Moscow open. Timofeev, white, won and overtook Inarkiev to win the tournament.
It does resemble Timofeev-Inarkiev, but this position never arose in that game.
Yes, Re5 and Ra5 looks right. And the White king can come to f4 and support the White pawn. But after Kf4, g4, and Ra6+, I think White needs to play Kg5 rather than pawn to g5, since the Black bishop can keep the White king out of either the f5 or h5 squares. Once the White king gets to g5, White can force Black’s king either to the back rank or to give up defending the queening square. Either way, White should be able to force a win.
At first glance I thought the position might be drawn. Interesting position!