White to move and ?

Originally posted by Marsan
[fen]8/1k5n/2p4P/P1K5/1P6/8/8/8 w - -[/fen]

Win!

a6+, Kxa6, Kxc6 wins because white wins the race to the kingside and since the knight is blockading a rook pawn, it cannot maintain the defense alone.

A similar line would be
a6+, Kc7, a7, Kb7, a8=Q+, Kxa8, Kxc6, Kb8, Kd6 etc.
In this case the black king will make it to the kingside, but then the b-pawn queens.

Originally posted by zebano
Win!

a6+, Kxa6, Kxc6 wins because white wins the race to the kingside and since the knight is blockading a rook pawn, it cannot maintain the defense alone.

A similar line would be
a6+, Kc7, a7, Kb7, a8=Q+, Kxa8, Kxc6, Kb8, Kd6 etc.
In this case the black king will make it to the kingside, but then the b-pawn queens.

what makes you think the knight can't hold the rook pawn?

its a draw. black has infinite tempos so white can't force a win on either side of the board.

I came to the same conclusion as zebano.

a6+ is the best move, then one way or another the black pawn falls, leaving the 2 kings and the white b pawn. The white king then gives up on the b pawn and runs for the h pawn. The black king can either follow in which case the b pawn queens or takes the b pawn in which case the knight cannot prevent the king from ushering the h pawn to promotion... [edit] this last line is actually not true[/edit]

I actually played this position as white yesterday in an OTB game, but in terrible time trouble i accepted a draw...

Originally posted by Marsan
I came to the same conclusion as zebano.

a6+ is the best move, then one way or another the black pawn falls, leaving the 2 kings and the white b pawn. The white king then gives up on the b pawn and runs for the h pawn. The black king can either follow in which case the b pawn queens or takes the b pawn in which case the knight cannot prevent the king from ...[text shortened]... is position as white yesterday in an OTB game, but in terrible time trouble i accepted a draw...

after a6+ Kxa6 Kxc6 Ka7 nalimov says its a draw

of course the knight can hold the h pawn it just stays on h7-g5-e6-f8 as necessary

Originally posted by aginis
after a6+ Kxa6 Kxc6 Ka7 nalimov says its a draw

Damn you're right, i should have checked this thoroughly before posting, it's very counter-intuitive to me.



I'm not sad about accepting the draw after all!

btw the trick to holding the pawn with the knight is if you can't check and you can't protect h7 then threaten to fork the king and the pawn if it gets pushed for example


1...Ne6! 2.h7 Nf8+ =