Go back
Van Perlo's Endgame Tactics 5th edition

Van Perlo's Endgame Tactics 5th edition

Only Chess

Clock
Vote Up
Vote Down

I've been playing through one position(diagram)/day. Now at #33.
In diagram 5 Colle-Grunfeld Carlsbad 1929 the following position is reached White has Kf4,a4,and h4. Black has Ke2,a5,and h5. Sources say Grunfeld resigned here. Book says it's drawn after 1...Kd3 2.Kg5 Ke4 3.Kxh5 Kf5. Book says Grunfeld likely saw that but probably missed 4.Kh6 Kf6 5.h5 Kf7 6.Kh7 now 6...Kf8 falls to 7.Kg6
book says Black draws via 6...Kf6 7.h6 Kf7 (7.Kg8 Kg5). I offer 6.Kg5 wins. I tried contacting newinchess.com without success. Feel free to try it yourself .

Clock
Vote Up
Vote Down

@ketchuplover
Is this the position?



At a glance with white to move it looks like a white win, but your post indicates that it is black's move. White can queen the h-pawn in 7 moves. Black can queen his a-pawn in 9 moves. This means that if both players try to queen their pawns, assuming I've counted right, they'll reach the position below with white to move:



Which is a white win. However, if instead black just does Kd3-e4-f5 then if white trys to take the h-pawn then the books is saying it's a draw because the white king can never get out of the way of its pawn, however it's tricky because the white king can drop tempi relative to the black one by advancing the pawn.

You seem to be saying that the sequence below produces a white win, but the move you offer does not seem to be possible, note that your move 6 is move 5 in this as I've put the first move in by hand to make the moves displayed in the viewer be numbered sanely:



You can generate fens and copy and paste into the widget opened by the Insert Fen link below and generate them using the interface you get to via the drop down menu at the top of the browser window:

Community->Fen Viewer

Clock
1 edit
Vote Up
Vote Down

@deepthought said
@ketchuplover
Is this the position?

[fen]8/8/8/p6p/P4K1P/8/4k3/8 w -- 0 1[/fen]

At a glance with white to move it looks like a white win, but your post indicates that it is black's move. White can queen the h-pawn in 7 moves. Black can queen his a-pawn in 9 moves. This means that if both players try to queen their pawns, assuming I've counted right, they'll rea ...[text shortened]... terface you get to via the drop down menu at the top of the browser window:

Community->Fen Viewer
On last board book move 4 is h5 & Kf7 ... then I say 5.Kg5 is winning

Upon further review it's actually a draw.

Clock

@ketchuplover said
On last board book move 4 is h5 & Kf7 ... then I say 5.Kg5 is winning

Upon further review it's actually a draw.
Right, got you. Yes, that position is drawn. This is in both Dvoretsky's Endgame Manual and Fundamental Chess Endings by Karsten Muller and Frank Lamprecht. Dvoretsky gives a basic position as follows:

Which is a draw. If the passed pawn is on or past the c8-h3 diagonal then it's a draw. If the pawns on the a-file are past the halfway line white always wins, for each square behind the halfway line they are black gains a tempo in the race where the black king must reach the c8 square before white takes the a-pawn and denies the black king access. White gains a tempo for each square behind the c8-h3 diagonal the pawn is. If the white king is in front of its pawn then white gains a tempo.

So in the case under discussion:



If white tries to stay in front of the pawn then this happens, from the position at move 4 in the above:



Black can go wrong with:

Clock
Vote Up
Vote Down

Clock

Reading this thread is a reminder that most pure pawn endings with only rook pawns are draws, just waiting to be lost.

Cookies help us deliver our Services. By using our Services or clicking I agree, you agree to our use of cookies. Learn More.