White Cannot Win

Construct a position where:

White has a King, Queen and two Pawns.
Black has a bare King.
It is White to move.
White is not stalemated.
White cannot win.

Add a chess clock where white is out of time 😉

W: Kb6, Qa5, a7, b5 - B: Ka8
Interesting puzzle, turned out to be quite easy though.
I'm just wondering if the position is legal. Thinking in retro, Black could have moved a piece to a5 where White queen captured it. Or isn't it that easy?

edit: The statement "White is not stalement." is that correct? Because with only Black king, white cannot be stalemate. Did you mean Black is not stalemate? That would make it more difficult indeed.

Originally posted by crazyblue
W: Kb6, Qa5, a7, b5 - B: Ka8

Nope. White wins after 1. Kc5.


'Because with only Black king, white cannot be stalemate.'

Oh no?

Is black stalemated?

Sorry, didn't see white to move, ignore

crazyblue, you almost had it.


White can't win

Oh, double bummer by me. At least I was close with the first one. 🙂
The other stalemate with Black king only is nice indeed.

Originally posted by BigDoggProblem
crazyblue, you almost had it.

[fen]k7/P7/1KP5/Q7/8/8/8/8 w - - 0 1[/fen]
White can't win

nevermind 😉 hehehe, had too many beers 🙂))
On second thought wouldn't this work?

Originally posted by ilywrin
nevermind 😉 hehehe, had too many beers 🙂))
On second thought wouldn't this work?
[fen]k7/P7/K1P5/8/Q7/8/8/8 w - - 0 1[/fen]

No - 1.Ka5! destroys the stalemate and wins.

ANY BODY GOT IT YET?

Originally posted by Knight Square
ANY BODY GOT IT YET?

I thought we had it already.

Originally posted by BigDoggProblem
[fen]k7/P7/1KP5/Q7/8/8/8/8 w - - 0 1[/fen]
White can't win

Correct.

Of course, the position can be reflected over to the right side of the board.