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White to Play

Pete Tamburro on

Published in Chess Puzzles

This one is really simple and really tough. You have to know your endgame theory. Klaus Darga used to enjoy challenging grandmasters with this problem, and, more often than not, the GMs couldn’t figure it out. Can you?


Solution:

If you immediately tried 1.Bg2 Kxg2 2.h4 and said, ”Well, that was easy.” you missed 1.Bg2 Ke3! The Black king then gets to h8, and you have the wrong color bishop to try and force him out. It’s a draw even with the White king moving up. You were getting warmer if you tried 1.Be6 Ke3 2.h4 Ke4 [2...Kf4 3.Kd4]3.h5 Ke5 4.h6 Kf6 5.Bf5 Kf7 6.Bh7 Kf6 7.Kd4 Kg5, but still no win. The only winning line is: 1.Bd7! Ke3 2.h4 Ke4 3.h5 Ke5 [3...Kf4 4.h6] 4.h6 [4.Be8 Kf6 5.h6 just transposes into the same line.] 4...Kf6 5.Be8 Ke7 6.h7 and queens.

 


Send questions and comments to PTamburro@aol.com.

 

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