Here’s our first gold problem. Can you map out all your moves against Black’s possible defensive strategies-all from the diagram?

This is quite a king struggle as the Black king desperately tries to prevent the White king from doing an “end run” around him. And, as White you have to know, in the variation, how to stop a knight pawn on its 7th rank from queening. The key is that, sooner or later in the main line, the Black king will realize it can’t go outside the “square” because the c-pawn will run. 1.b3 Ka5 [1...b4 2.c4 Kc5 3.Kb7 Kd4 4.Kb6 Kc3 5.c5 Kxb3 6.c6 Ka2 7.c7 b3 8.c8Q b2 9.Qc4+ Ka1 10.Qa4+ Kb1 11.Kc5 Kc1 12.Qc4+ Kd1 13.Qb3+ Kc1 14.Qc3+ Kb1 15.Kb4 Ka1 16.Kb3 Kb1 17.Qxb2#; 1...Ka6 2.b4 Kb6 3.Kb8 Kc6 4.Ka7 Kc7 5.Ka6 Kc6 6.Ka5] 2.Kb8 b4 [2...Kb6 3.b4 Kc6 4.Ka7 Kd5 5.Kb6 Kc4 6.Kc6] 3.c4 Kb6 4.Kc8 Kc6 5.Kd8 Kd6 6.Ke8 Ke6 7.Kf8 Kf6 8.Kg8 Kg6 9.Kh8 Kf6 [9...Kh6 10.c5] 10.Kh7 Kf7 11.Kh6 Kf6 12.Kh5 Kf5 13.Kh4 Kf4 14.Kh3 Kf5 [14...Kf3 15.c5] 15.Kg3 Kg5 16.Kf3 Kf5 17.Ke3 Ke5 18.Kd3 Kd6 19.Kd4 Kc6 20.c5 Kb5 21.Kd5 and will queen.

Send questions and comments to PTamburro@aol.com.