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K+P Endgame - Essential Knowledge (#01)This is an endgame that is absolutely essential to your basic understanding of ALL K+P endings! Before you go saying, "Oh, that's easy," you should know I have shown this position literally hundreds of times, even masters have had trouble with this one. (The average 1600, who has not really studied chess, generally cannot solve it either.) This one basic problem ... also features many of the basic ideas of K+P endings. It is a masterful demonstration of the {correct} use of the opposition, and clearly demonstrates how to outflank an opponent in this type of ending. It is also a nascent problem in the theory of corresponding squares as well. I have dealt with this particular ending many times before. (One example on this page, problem #2.) But as one of my websites - which dealt with mostly K+P endgames - was connected to the "EXCITE" group ... (which folded in 1998 or 1999); I thought it was certainly time for another look at this intriguing King-and-Pawn ending. (I also wanted to check this with the Nalimov Endgame Tablebases, these are very accurate for this type of ending. This tool did not yet exist ... when I first began building web pages on chess. I also wanted to use Fritz 9 as well.) Click HERE to see an explanation of the symbols that I use when annotating a chess game. Replay the main line of the solution here.
2k5/8/p1P5/P2K4/8/8/8/8 w
Checking the "Mega" database, we find that this position has actually occurred in tournament chess a grand total of seven times. The first
would have to be:
R. Fiebig - S. Tartakower;
Barmen-D / GER; 1905. White to move and win. The first party has a very simple goal here ... to try and re-create this {exact} same situation (position), but with Black to move! (Thus winning the opposition.) *************************************************************************************************** 1.Kc4!!, White gains ... "The distant opposition."
[ The amateur invariably tries:
1...Kb8!; {See
the diagram below.}
1k6/8/p1P5/P7/2K5/8/8/8 w
It's a tricky try ... how does White proceed from here?
[ The continuation of: *******************************************************************************************
The continuation of:
It is White's turn to play in this
position ... what is the first player's best move?
[ The continuation of:
</=
2.Kc5? Kc7; still will win for White,
("+/-")
2...Kc8;
3.Kd5!, {See the
diagram below.}
2k5/8/p1P5/P2K4/8/8/8/8 b
This is also a good illustration of the concept that "everything is reversed in the ending." (I.e., we spend most of the time trying to GAIN tempo, ... especially during the opening phase. Here - the first player actually did all this maneuvering - in order to LOSE a tempo!!!)
[ 3.Ke4!? ]
The rest does not require a ton of explanation. (White now gains the opposition.) [ Fritz shows that: </= 3...Kb8?!; 4.Kd6, "+/-" and White wins. (mate in 7) ]
4.Kc5 Kc8;
5.Kb6 Kb8;
6.Kxa6 Kc7; 7.Kb5 Kc8;
8.Kb6 Kd8;
[ The continuation of:
"="
8...Kb8; 9.c7+ Kc8;
10.a6 Kd7; 11.Kb7, "+/-"
9.c7+ Kc8!?;
10.a6 Kd7; 11.Kb7, "+/-" {See
the diagram below.}
The final position. White has a decisive advantage, the average player will win from this position. BIBLIOGRAPHY / REFERENCES:
Copyright (c) A.J. Goldsby, 2006. All rights reserved.
1 - 0The analysis for this page was prepared with the excellent program, ChessBase 9.0. The HTML was polished with several different tools and programs, (mostly FP) ... the text was checked for spelling with MS Word. The diagrams were created with the program, Chess Captor 2.25. Copyright (c) LM A.J. Goldsby I Copyright (©) A.J. Goldsby, 2013. All rights reserved. This page was created on February 06th, 2006. This page was last edited on: April 19, 2013 09:44 AM . [Home] [Site Map] [My Training Page] [Endgames, Lessons & Challenges II] |