Selected puzzles

These are excerpts from Chess School 3

chap. 7 Searching for Unusual Solutions

#516 WW (White to play and Win)

Promote to Knight? I don't see what else can turn the tides besides a roundhouse kick to the face

Nah, the knight can be stopped easily...the solution isn't as simple, it's probably some good bishop move

Originally posted by xpointalim
Nah, the knight can be stopped easily...the solution isn't as simple, it's probably some good bishop move

hint: its not a king move 😛

Bd4 and move the king round to take the undefendable black pawn

Originally posted by Caro Kann
Bd4 and move the king round to take the undefendable black pawn

I thought about that as well, but even when the black pawns disappear, the white pawns can't advance. The Black Bishop can temporize on the h8 diagonal. I don't see any way to advance the pawns.

Any bishop move allows Bg7 and what looks to me to be a dead draw. Obviously 1. BxB is out of the question. King moves are futile, and promoting on h8 to anything other than a knight is useless. The knight seems harmless enough after 1. h8(N) Bxg7 there is little future hope for the white pawns to grow up and be Queens. Since I ruled out everything, I'm obviously missing something, like the solution.

What about Bc3?

then somehow let white promote to a peice??

thats the only real way i can see of advoiding the stalemate dilema.

1.Be5 Bg7 2.Bd4 Be5 3.Bc5 Bg7 4.Bxb4 Bh8 5.Bc5 Be5 6.b4 Bh8 7.Bd4 Bf6 8.Kb3 Bd8 9.Kc4 Bf6 10.b5 Bd8 11.Bg7

Originally posted by Caro Kann
1.Be5 Bg7 2.Bd4 Be5 3.Bc5 Bg7 4.Bxb4 Bh8 5.Bc5 Be5 6.b4 Bh8 7.Bd4 Bf6 8.Kb3 Bd8 9.Kc4 Bf6 10.b5 Bd8 11.Bg7

Why does black leave the a1-h8 diagonal in your variation after 1. ...Bg7? Is this forced? It seems to me that black, once on the diagonal, can temporize endlessly. The only white pawn capable of making a threat is the e-pawn, and as long as black maintains the diagonal, the pawn can't advance. If it goes to e5, black's bishop can capture it with impunity.

I dont think it matters because the qhite pawn can never advance

Originally posted by Caro Kann
I dont think it matters because the qhite pawn can never advance

Agreed. That was my original point. I can't see better than a draw.

Originally posted by BLReid
Agreed. That was my original point. I can't see better than a draw.

rest assured there is a win, your moving in the right direction.

Aha.

Lets say white uses his king to take the black pawn on e4. Then white advances his e-pawn and blocks blacks bishop by Bf6. Look at the position



Then move the king around to g6 or g8

and 1-0

Originally posted by aginis
rest assured there is a win, your moving in the right direction.

OK, then assuming all Bishop moves and King moves are futile, and the only viable promotion on h8 is a knight, can we redefine our start poition as: