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White to move and win

White to move and win

Only Chess

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  • 8
  • a
  • 7
  • b
  • 6
  • c
  • 5
  • d
  • 4
  • e
  • 3
  • f
  • 2
  • g
  • 1
  • h

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I'll take a stab...
Kd1, looking to get to c2 and mate black on a2.

1 edit
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Originally posted by HeyDreza
I'll take a stab...
Kd1, looking to get to c2 and mate black on a2.
wrong...

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Originally posted by clandarkfire
[fen]1B3B1B/2B5/p6B/8/8/8/8/1k1K4 w - - 0 99[/fen]
It's a draw. There is no possible mating pattern with no matter how much single-color-squared bishops.

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Originally posted by kbaumen
It's a draw. There is no possible mating pattern with no matter how much single-color-squared bishops.
I'll bet you $1000

1 edit
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Originally posted by clandarkfire
I'll bet you $1000
Now I see, the pawn plays an important role. But I'm not sure there is a way to force the pawn to advance. I still have to think, to find a way to stalemate the king so black is forced to move the pawn.

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Originally posted by clandarkfire
[fen]1B3B1B/2B5/p6B/8/8/8/8/1k1K4 w - - 0 99[/fen]
Kd2 looking to get to b3 with eventual mate at a1

1 edit
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Originally posted by ThinkOfOne
Kd2 looking to get to b3 with eventual mate at a1
Nope...๐Ÿ˜€

with a the king on b3, black can still go to a2, then back and forth between a2 and b1

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Originally posted by clandarkfire
Nope...๐Ÿ˜€

with a the king on b3, black can still go to a2
On adjacent squares?

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Originally posted by ThinkOfOne
On adjacent squares?
what does adjacent mean?

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Originally posted by clandarkfire
what does adjacent mean?
Adjacent is a term meaning two things next to each other (eg. a2 and b2). Hope that helped!
๐Ÿ˜€

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Originally posted by DeepRed
Adjacent is a term meaning two things next to each other (eg. a2 and b2). Hope that helped!
๐Ÿ˜€
OK, so then yes, if white gets to b3, black can simply move back and forth between a2 and b1, even if they are adjacent sqares, right?

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Ok, I'll give you a hint. 1.B c7-e5

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I do not see how there is a forced mate here, so I am jumping on the bandwagon of those with the opinion that it cannot be done.

I can see how White can stalemate Black's king, forcing Black to move his pawn down the board, but once it reaches a3 the Black King can just move back and forth between a1 and a2 until White gets tired of shuffling the bishops around and accepts the draw.

With Black's cooperation, if he ever moves his pawn to a2 that will remove the a2 escape square enabling White to replace a bishop on the a1-h8 diagonal and declare mate, but it isn't forced. It requires a blunder for it to work.

The ending position may look something like the following, though with all the bishops they could be spread around a number of different ways by the time this position is reached:

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  • 7
  • b
  • 6
  • c
  • 5
  • d
  • 4
  • e
  • 3
  • f
  • 2
  • g
  • 1
  • h


At any given time here, Black has two move choices. One maintains the draw (Ka2) while the other loses the game (a2).

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