Weekly endgame study | April 11, 2009 17:19

Weekly Endgame Study (115)

Weekly Endgame StudyEvery Saturday we present you an endgame study selected by IM Yochanan Afek: player, trainer, endgame study composer and writer. A week later the solution is published. Good luck solving!


A. Sochnev
2006

White to play and win

Next week the solution.


Solution last week:

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Yochanan Afek's picture
Author: Yochanan Afek

IM Yochanan Afek is a chess player, trainer, endgame study composer and writer. His complete selection of studies can be found here.

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Comments

bob's picture

g7
but then probably Bd4 Kxd4 e5 Kxe5 Ne7?

Willem's picture

That's right. Now white should rove the knight away.

blob's picture

1. Nf8 e5
2. g7 Ne7
3. Ng6 +-

Willem's picture

@blob
1.Nf8 Bd4+

Martas's picture

bob: tablebase shows it's drawish
blob: same defence here - 1.Nf8 Bd4 2. Kxd4 e5 3.Kxe5 Ne7 - draw

Frits Fritschy's picture

Martas: tablebases spoil the fun here. Prove to me its a draw, without looking up the answers. 1 Nf8 Nd6 2 g7 Bd4+ looks clearer to me, anyway.
So let's after all start with 1 g7 Bd4+ 2 Kxd4 e5+ 3 Kxe5 Ne7 4 Kf6 Ng8+ 5 Kf7 Nh6+. So far, all straightforward. Now my first try is 6 Ke8 b5 7 Nf8 b4 8 Ng6+ Kg5 9 Ne7 b4 10 Nc6 b3 11 Nd8 b2 12 Nf7+, but there is no win after Kf4 13 Nxh6 b1Q 14 g8Q Qb8+. Not easy without a board!

Frits Fritschy's picture

And that's the problem with analyzing without a board: pawns are getting either faster or slower... Checking it, I see black is playing b4 twice in my line. Happens to me in regular games too, lately. The price of passing 50, I guess.

Frits Fritschy's picture

And now I see there is a much easier way to reach f7: 9 Nh8, but it's still a draw after Kf6 10 Kf8 b3 11 Nf7 b2. Anyone taking over? I'm supposed to make some money now...

pedram's picture

a direct way to win: 1-g7 Bd4+2-K.d4 e5+3R.e5 Ne7 4-Kf6 Ng8+5-Kf7 Nh6 6-Kg6 Ng87-Nf68-Ne7+9-Kh7(Kf7? and then ..Nf5) b5(Kg5?) 10-Kh8 +-

Frits Fritschy's picture

Pedram, I found that too, but what after 10 ... b4 11 Nd5 b3 12 Nxe7 b2 13 Nf5+ Kh5 14 g8Q b1Q? For instance: 15 Qh7+ Kg5 16 Qh4+ Kg6 17 Qh6+ Kf7 18 Qh7+ Kf6 and I don't see a way for white to make progress. By the way, you can get the same position with a black pawn on e5, by playing 3 Kd5 Ne7+ 4 Ke6 Ng8 5 Kf7, but I don't see what's the difference.

Frits Fritschy's picture

Amen, I've seen the light!
White should absolutely not take the pawn on move 3, and continue the line 14 Qh7+ Kg5 15 Qh4+ Kg6 16 Qh6+ Kf7 with 17 Qg7+ Ke6 18 Qg6+! and I leave the rest to those willing to rack their brains - there is a quite move at the end.

Frits Fritschy's picture

quite a quiet move, I mean

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