Daily Chess Improvement: Endgame Challenge!
SusanPolgar
White to move. How should white proceed?
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SusanPolgar
White to move. How should white proceed?
To comment, please login or register in seconds by using either your Facebook or Google accounts. We do this to avoid spammers & trolls. Thanks!
Tricky, not tircky. Wow, what a problem!
This is quite tircky! Without looking at the comments, I found:
1 Reply
Argh! Typos in my B solution. B. 6. Kf3 Kd3 7. Kg3 Ke4 8. Kg4
After that, you take opposition.
Ng1
Ng1 Kd2 2. Nf3+ Kd3 3. Ke1 KE3 4. Nd2 Kd3 5.Nf1
Nope. Same problem with numbering. Aargh!!!! Please fix this Webmaster. Thanks in advance.
Then:
(10. ... Kd1 11. Nb4 Kd2 12. Nd5 Kd3 13.Nxf4+ Ke3 14. Nh5)
(10. .. Kxc2 11. Ke2)
(11. .. Ke4 12. Ke2)
This time, I'm trying copying-and-pasting out of a .txt file. Maybe the numbering problem will go away on this site if I copy
from a .txt file. Here's hoping.
We are going to be endgame masters!
If ...f6, gxf g7, Kf7!
Ng1 Kd2, Nf3+ Kd3, Ke1 Ke3, Nd2 Kd3, Nf1! What next?
Having a computer program "fix" my move numbers is a very bad bug.
By the way, I got the move numbers right when I copied and pasted them into my previous comment. The programmer for this website needs to fix this problem. It's a real pain until this gets fixed.
Then:
(10. ... Kd1 11. Nb4 Kd2 12. Nd5 Kd3 13.Nxf4+ Ke3 14. Nh5)
(10. .. Kxc2 11. Ke2)
(11. .. Ke4 12. Ke2)
After
2...... Kd3 poses a much greater challenge than 2..... Ke3
2.... Kd3! poses a much greater problem than 2.... Ke3?
2.... Kd3! poses a much greater problem than 2. Ke3?, Surpriselover.
Kd1 Nb4, Kd2 Nd5 wins the pawn!
Ng1 Kd2, Nf3+ Ke3, Ne1! Kd2, Nc2! ...scratch that first post...was typing my thoughts and hit enter... I am not finished with this line yet
Ng1 Kd2, Nh3 Ke3
After
in the resulting position, if it were Black’s turn to move, then after
….. Kd3
Kf1 Ke3
Ne1 Kd2
Nc2! wins.
The solution most likely entails forcing this position with Black to move.
Yes, that space after the numeral period is the cause. Thanks, Alena.
Test:
And now.....
And......
4............Nf6
5.Bd2
Ah......
renumbering test:
(I started from 5)
same lines without space:
5.Ne6 e8
6.Kg4 c3
7.Kg5 c6
Still can't figure out what happened to my post of last night- the indenting is gone and the move lines are not renumbering now. Very weird.
1.e4 e5
2.Nf3 Nc6
3.Bb5 Bd7
Yada, yada, yada......
4.Nc3 Nf6
test posting:
Ok, I can now scroll through the Improvement section again, but only if I have already opened one of them- you just have to scroll to the bottom of this particular comment section.
Well I can access older posts through "Top stories" but it is cumbersome
Also, I can now no longer access any material below the last few posts, so I can't see anything posted later than about yesterday.
I think what has happened is that in the reformatting it dropped a line for some reason- here is the line I was trying to cut and paste, but with the returns eliminated so that Susan's new site won't reinterpret them as new bullet points: 1.Ng1 Kd2, 2.Nf3 Kd3, 3.Ke1 Ke3, 4.Ne5 Ke4, 5.Nc4 Kd3 6.Nd2
Alena,The commenting field here really needs some work- it is reformatting and renumbering the lines of my comments into bullet point numbering, and I am not even writing the comment directly into the field, either, but cutting them from a text file.
Yancey, I worked through your solution and find a mistake. The mistake is 5. Nd2.
How about
Which prevents an immediate f3 for black by threatening Ne2 forking the king and the pawn if it is on f3. Since black needs to keep the white king off the second rank, the black king must now play to d3 again....
And, now, white can maneuver off the 1st rank with the subtle...
And with d3 no longer available....
The knight is immune- if black takes it, white wins both pawns and the resulting K+P vs K ending is quite easily managed. Black must again return to d3, but now.....
And white now has complete control of e3 and d2, and black can't play f3 which I will show below- I leave the lines 9. ....Kxc2 to the curious.
And black is in a pickle- he either takes the knight which allows the white pawn to run free or he starts to retreat up the board through c4 and d5, but then white will simply play Kf1 and Kg2 to win at g3 and guard the pawn while preserving the knight.
I can tell pretty quickly that sacrificing the knight for either pawn is pointless- the resulting K+P vs K+P endings are both drawn, and really easily, too. This really leaves only one move for white since black also draws quickly with f3 if white plays either 1.Nc3 or 1.Ke1. After 1.Ng1 Kd2, I am not quite sure of the path to follow- have to think about it.