Endgame Question / For Specialists

White To Move

Can he win this?

This is not a test.

I would really just like to know if correct play is a forced draw or not.

as a first thought: the knight cannot stop alone the 3 white pawns, so tha black King has to come to help...and in the mean time white can convert on the Kinsgide...

I would do like this for white: 1 g3 obvious N somewhere, King as much as possible to the center-Kingside(like e4 or f4) of the board, after that push a bit the h pawn(as much as possible without putting it in danger), after that start to push pawns on the queenside, so black has to go with the king, and when the king is going I would go on the king side to take black king pawn and to promote white...

P.S. I am no endgame expert

I would imagine it is a win for white, though it is kind've difficult to predict the outcome. Five me a few minutes and I'll give you a more definitive answer.

Edit: Yes, I think white is winning.

not specialist, and have no board now, but i always learned that N can be great blocker of strong pawn. This time White has 3 strong pawns that no one can block

Originally posted by paulbuchmanfromfics
[fen]5k2/7p/8/8/2n5/8/PPP4P/7K [/fen]

White To Move

Can he win this?

This is not a test.

I would really just like to know if correct play is a forced draw or not.

It seems to me that the position is a draw after the inevitable 1.b3 Kb2; the Knight can hold easily the white pawns tied down and wait for his King to stabilize the situation. Then, the Knight can touch in time the squares h6 and h7 winning the necessary tempo with a check to the white King.

With proper care to correct sequence of moves after b3 black can draw the game in a technical book draw. It is necessary for black King to begin with e7-d6 -c5 to blockade and then remove as many queenside white pawns as is possible. The white must cross queenside to defend the white pawns from black King and N of course. Black has no chance of winning the game as to advance and promote the lone black h pawn means allowing remaining white pawns to advance with white King assistance.A technically difficult but managable draw for black---😉

I played two blitz games with my friend from the diagram.

With white, I won but only by luck. He snagged the h pawn, and I sacked the b pawn to get the queening square for my king. I then would have queened on c8.

With black, I managed to draw it (mostly luck).
I removed one of the queenside pawns with my knight. I then blockaded the remaining two pawns. In the final position, the pawns couldn't advance, my opponent had an h pawn and king on the h file, and I had my king on the f file (stalemating).

I am pretty sure the knight vs three pawns without the h pawns would draw. It was the h pawns that made it confusing.

The simplest of endings have surprising things hidden in them.
Just look at Pal Benko's columns in Chess Life.

* The columns have been made into a couple books as well (Chess Endgame Lessons 1 & 2).

This is definitely a draw - even though black will use his king to assist the knight to stop white's 3 pawns, the knight will have enough time to get back stopping the advancing white h pawn.

I can find no playable lines which lead to a forced win for white,with the most careful play,black can draw the game without too much difficulty-----------🙂

Forgot to mention: black has it's work cut out here!

Without the h-pawns it would be a draw. With them... who knows! I certainly wouldn't like to play the Black side.

Thanks to everyone for all the great answers.

I was always leaning toward a draw, but I was a little afraid of some hidden resource here or there.

If two good endgame players want to try this out with a set piece game, I would be happy to watch. 🙂

It's not necessary though.

Thanks again for looking/answering.

Originally posted by paulbuchmanfromfics
I played two blitz games with my friend from the diagram.

With white, I won but only by luck. He snagged the h pawn, and I sacked the b pawn to get the queening square for my king. I then would have queened on c8.

With black, I managed to draw it (mostly luck).
I removed one of the queenside pawns with my knight. I then blockaded the re ...[text shortened]... .

* The columns have been made into a couple books as well (Chess Endgame Lessons 1 & 2).

Originally posted by elady
Did you try 1.a4!? N:b2 2.a5 Na4 (or Nc4) 3.a6 ...