Originally posted by BobbyG I don't know if this has ever been posted here, but is one of my favorites:
[fen]8/8/4p3/8/3P4/8/p2K3R/1k6 w - - 0 1[/fen]
White to play and win.
That's a good problem, I will not post a solution since it may spoil it for someone else but when I looked at the position I thought there were at least three ways to win: only one does.
Originally posted by sela what if black replay that way on the second move instead???
1. Rh1+ Kb2 2. Ra1! e4
2...e5 fails to 3.d5! from an earlier post, as far as i can tell... once the black king takes the rook at a1, the white king can trap, and black still has pawn moves so white avoids a stalemate.
note that if black chooses not to take white's rook at a1, then white gets an easy win because black's king can move as he pleases while the white rook protects both pawn promotion squares, and black has no recourse to white's pawn promotion at d8.
nice puzzle!
edit: my analysis isn't sound... but i'm too bad at variations to check it - what happens after 3...e4 4.d6 e3+ ? maybe 5.Kxe3 Kxa1 6.d7 Kb1 7.d8=Q a1=Q is a losing position for black?