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White to Play

Pete Tamburro on

Published in Chess Puzzles

In this, week ten (!) of chess summer school, we have our second puzzle as we are going back to king and pawn endings to see if you remember some basic principles. This week is based on a contest run by GM John Nunn in British Chess Magazine in 1999. White’s task here is to draw.


- Solution: Just as with the last puzzle, the “obvious” move loses if you forget basic endgame principles. For example, the obvious 1.Kf5 allows Black to get the opposition with 1... Kd5 2.Kg6 e4 3.fxe4+ [3.f4 Ke6 4.f5+ Ke5 5.Kg5 d5 6.Kg4 d4 7.Kg3 Kxf5 8.Kf2 Kf4 9.Ke2 d3+ 10.Kd1 e3 11.dxe3+ Kxe3 12.Ke1 e6 (waiting move!) 13.Kd1 d2] 3...Kxe4 4.Kf7 e5 5.Ke6 d5 6.Kd6 d4 7.Ke6 d3 8.Kd6 Kf3 9.Kxe5 Ke2 10.Kd4 Kxd2 and White is lost. The proper way was: 1.Kg5 Kc5 2.Kg6 Kd4 3.Kf7 d5 4.Kxe7 e4 5.fxe4 Kxe4 [5...dxe4 6.Ke6 Kd3 7.Ke5] 6.Kd6 d4 7.Kc5 d3 [7...Kd3 8.Kd5] 8.Kc4 Ke5 9.Kxd3 Kd5 10.Kc3 Kc5

 


Send questions and comments to PTamburro@aol.com.

 

 

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