White to Play

Pete Tamburro on May 21, 2013

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Endgames are tricky things, especially king and pawn endings. There is a winning plan for White here. Map it out. Watch those Black queenside pawns!

Solution:

You were warned that this was tricky! If you tried this line you would be out of luck--1.e6 Kg6 2.f5+ Kg7 3.Kf1 b5 4.Ke2 Kf8 5.Kf3 c4 6.Ke4 Ke7 7.h4 a5 8.Kd4 Kd6 9.e7 [9.h5 Kc6 10.Kc3 a4 11.Kd4 Kd6 12.Kc3 Kc7 13.Kd4 only draws] 9...Kxe7 10.Kc5 a4 11.Kxb5 c3 12.bxc3 a3 and White loses. However, there is a win! White uses the plan of cornering the king as the king can never move forward because the White pawn will queen. 1.f5 fxe5 2.h4 c4 3.Kf1 b5 4.Ke2 b4 5.Kf3 c3 [5...Kxh4 6.f6 c3 7.bxc3 b3 (7...bxc3 8.Ke3) 8.f7 b2 9.f8Q b1Q 10.Qxh6#] 6.Kxg3 cxb2 7.Kh3 b1Q 8.g4#

Send questions and comments to PTamburro@aol.com.