I think so. White plays Be3+ followed by Bg5, taking away the only escape square, then if black plays f6, it's trapped again. White moves the bishop back to e3 and then traps the bishop with his king. Right? Maybe....
EDIT: No, black plays d5....so not this way I guess...
EDIT 2: YES! f6!! If black takes then Kb7 wins...if he doesn't white either promotes, or in the case of g6, same thing as gf.
Originally posted by Bowmann1.f6, is it? Whether Black opts to take, or shifts his g-pawn forward, the only avenue of escape for his bishop is severed.
[fen]8/2b2pp1/K2p4/p4P2/P7/6P1/8/2k3B1[/fen]
White to move.
Can he win the black Bishop?
1...Kb7 and the bishop is stuck.
Editx2: Fixing my confusing notation.
Originally posted by BLReidClever. I should have looked a bit further.
Yes!
1. f6!...gxf6 (or white will play 2. fxg7 and 3. g8Q)
2. Kb6 Bd8
3. Kc8 Be7
4. Kd7 Bf8
5. Be3+! King moves (this takes away the black bishop's only available flight square)
6. Ke8! wins the bishop.
BLReid: and I didn't look hard enough at gxe6. 😉
Perhaps the real lesson here is that there is a tactical resource for white to win this game. If I encoutnered this position OTB, I would probably resign as white, fully satisfied in the knowledge that I would not be able to stop the black passed pawn without sacrificing my own bishop, which would be suicide. How is the aspiring player to know that such tactics are available. Finding the solution is rather easy if you know to look. I often don't, and my rating suffers for it. Any of you titans out there have any input?
thats wut is so great about correspondence chess. if you limit your game count then u can spend as much time as needed on any given position. other than that.. at a relatively low level resigning isnt always practical save obvious positions such as QKvK and such. another large thing to consider when checking for the "best move" is look for different 'motifs'. hopefully someone else can give a link or reading material that could show the different motifs.
p.s. i replied even though u asked for a titan^.^
White can indeed trap the piece, eventually:
1. f6, to block the escape route. 1...gxf6
2. Kb7 Bd8
3. Kc8 Be7
4. Kd7 Bf8
5. Be3+ Kc2
6. Ke8 Bg7
7. Kxf7 Bh8
8. Kg8, and the black Bishop is lost.
If 1...g6 or g5, then
2. Kb7 Bd8
3. Bd4 Kd2
4. Kc8 Kd3
5. Kxd8 Kxd4
6. Ke7 followed by 7. Kxf7, leading to the promotion of White's f-Pawn.
Originally posted by BowmannGood one. My immediate reaction would be to swap bishops but then with a bit of thought both sides would Queen at the same time. Nice, technical solution which is required to take advantage of White's better position.
White can indeed trap the piece, eventually:
1. f6, to block the escape route. 1...gxf6
2. Kb7 Bd8
3. Kc8 Be7
4. Kd7 Bf8
5. Be3+ Kc2
6. Ke8 Bg7
7. Kxf7 Bh8
8. Kg8, and the black Bishop is lost.
If 1...g6 or g5, then
2. Kb7 Bd8
3. Bd4 Kd2
4. Kc8 Kd3
5. Kxd8 Kxd4
6. Ke7 followed by 7. Kxf7, leading to the promotion of White's f-Pawn.