White to Play
Pete Tamburro
on
Published in Chess Puzzles
If you thought it was solved instantly because 1.h5 queens first, then you would be wrong. Black doesn’t try to queen: 1...Ka6 2.h6 Ka5 3.h7 a6 4.h8=Q Stalemate!! Oops! Tricky position,eh? The solution even had a trick in it on move 20 in the analysis: 1.Kd7 Ka6 (Black can try to queen and will: 1...a5 2.h5 a4 3.h6 axb3 4.h7 b2 5.h8Q b1Q 6.Qc8+ Ka7 7.Qc7+ Ka8 (7...Ka6 8.Qb6#) 8.Qxc6+ Ka7 9.Qc7+ Ka8 10.Kc6 Qg6+ 11.Kb5 Qe8+ 12.c6 Qb8+ 13.Qxb8+ Kxb8 14.Kxb4 Kc7 15.Kc5 Kc8 16.Kd6 Kd8 17.c7+ Kc8 18.c5 Kb7 19.Kd7 Ka7 20.Kc6! (BUT NOT 20.c8=Q Stalemate!) 20...Ka6 21.c8Q+) 2.Kxc6 with an easy win.
Send questions and comments to PTamburro@aol.com.