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| Jun-23-04 | | zb2cr: <Woodpusher>, The giant crowd of onlookers around a basic endgames position is because all the other players have finished their games and only this endgame position being played out is left! |
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| Jun-23-04 | | EXIDE: I did not get this one. Not easy to understand that a move backward is the winning move. Excellent choce for a puzzle. |
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| Jun-23-04 | | Geronimo: Thanks y'all. <karlzen> Who's move is it?! |
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| Jun-23-04 | | cousinIT: back in the days when Kasparov knew how to play pawn endings :-) |
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| Jun-23-04 | | kevin86: An excellent problem-I didn't solve it,though I knew that triangulation was in it.Like today's gotd,zugzwang is a big factor here. Basic ending,such as this,may be more a study in philosophy than chess. |
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| Jun-23-04 | | capanegra: Pawn endings are my favourite endings. It is pleasing to watch a true battle between Kings in a cleared board with the only help of their little children. I feel that mathematical rules –opposition, distant opposition, the queening square, triangulation, and so forth- apply much clearer in these cases. For those who like Pawn endings, I truly recommend Teichmann vs Blackburne, 1897 |
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| Jun-23-04 | | midknightblue: See Dvortesky endgame manual for perfect explanation of this stuff, but briefly..
1) Squares of reciprocal zugzwang (aka corresponding squares) for the two kings are e1 / e3 and also f2 / f4. Indirectly, f1 and e4 are also corresponding squares (because of how these two squares neighbor the other corresponding squares). Note that on move 55 the kings are already on f1 and e4. The problem for black is that it is black to move. He wants f1 e4 with white to move for the easy win. The solution...
2) Black simply performs a triangulation maneuver, as demonstrated in the solution |
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| Jun-23-04 | | weev: can someone explain (or give link) about triangulation, thx |
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| Jun-23-04 | | midknightblue: <weev> sure. Going back to the position that the puzzle starts with, after 55 Kf1. Black can perform a triangulation with his king by going Ke4 to f5 to e5. From e5 he can complete the triangle by going back to Ke4 (unless white king goes to Kf2, in which case black king would immediately go to f4, for the easy win). In essence, the triangulation maneuver allows black to "burn a tempo." Thus black is creating a chance to get back to the starting position of kings at f1 and e4, but this time with white to move. White would then be in zugzwang and black gets the win. To visualize the value of the triangulation maneuver from the begining of the puzzle - try asking yourself - is there a simple win if the puzzle said "white to move." After a little time examining the position, you will see the answer is yes (see my above explanation for more on why). Once you realize that, then the triangulation maneuver is used to create an opportunity to return to the starting puzzle position, but this time with white forced to make the first move. |
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| Jun-23-04 | | patzer2: <weev> GM Lev Alburt's end game material is excellent in explaining triangulation. Don't know if his stuff is online, but his books are a good read and offer as good an explanation as I've seen on the subject. |
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| Jun-23-04 | | EyesofBlue: I think midknightblue's observations are right on point. May I add to it? The real trick of the problem is that e5 and f5 both correspond to the g1 square (i.e., when black is on e5 or f5, white must be on g1 or risk losing). So when 56.Kg1 white is able to keep up with black on f5; but black then goes to the other "corresponding square" it has, 56... Ke5. Now ideally white would like to "skip a turn" and stay on the square that corresponds to e5, but this is not possible and this is why white loses. (I apologize... corresponding squares is so much easier to explain graphically then verbally, sorry if I butchered this.). |
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| Jun-23-04 | | Gypsy: <(I apologize... corresponding squares is so much easier to explain graphically then verbally, sorry if I butchered this.).> You did well. |
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| Jun-23-04 | | dac1990: Excellent case of correct opposition usage. |
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Jun-23-04
 | | Ron: Well, Dr. Lasker taught me well. I found the correct move after a few seconds--I vaguely recalled what he wrote about triangulation. |
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| Jun-23-04 | | midknightblue: Darn, I was thinking I gave a great explanation (still think it was pretty good). Anyway, if you followed what I was saying then please review what eyesofblue said because he takes it one step further and does an excellent job. I personally don't call e5 and f5 "corresponding squares" to g1 (but in a way they are -good point EoB). These squares e5,f5 and g1 are very important and I will try to explain why. Both e5 and f5 neighbor two of the corresponding squares that black must be able to access within one move (e4 and f4). Meanwhile the list of the white king's corresponding squares include f1 and f2. He can access these from g1 (or e 1 for that matter). The problem is that once white king goes to e5 or f5, and black king goes to g1 - then the black king can slide over to f5 or e5 respectively. Suddenly the white king has run out of squares to go to - that would still allow acces to either f1 or f2 within one move. |
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| Jun-24-04 | | karlzen: <Geronimo>, sorry mate. It's white to move and win. I can give you a little clue: It's not all about the passed pawns. |
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| Jun-24-04 | | acirce: <karlzen> I think I found it. Nice and unexpected. |
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| Jun-24-04 | | karlzen: <acirce>, yeah it's definitely an odd solution. I'll post the correct answer in a day or so for you to compare. Just want to let Geronimo have a try first. :) |
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| Jun-25-04 | | patzer2: For players new to the game, the purpose of playing 55...Kf5 (or 55...Ke5) is to force a situation known as "opposition." Without getting into a long explanation of opposition, look at the board after White's 55th move, and then imagine a future situation where the Black King is on the e3 square and the White King is on the e1 square. Such a position, with the Black King in direct "opposition" and the White King forced to move is exactly what Black needs to win the game. So, the whole purpose of 55...Kf5 is to "triangulate" and "give up the move" to gain such a winnning position of "opposition." One possible winning sequence is 57. Kf1 Ke4 58. Kf2 Kf4 59. Kg1 Kg3! (winning by gaining the opposition) 60. Kf1 f2 61. Ke2 Kg2  with an easy win for Black. |
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| Jun-25-04 | | karlzen: OK, <Geronimo> and <acirce>, here's the solution to the study I provided above: White to play and win:
Khamitov, 1991:
White: Rb7, Kg8, pawns: b6, d4.
Black: Rg2, Ke7, pawns: g7, d7, b5.
1.Ra7 Rg6 2.Ra6! Rf6 3.b7 Rf8+ 4.Kxg7 Rb8 and it's a draw? No! 5.d5!! Rxb7 (5...d6 6.Rb6 Kd7 7.Rxb5 Kc7 8.Kf7) 6.Rf6! with mate or win of the black rook: 6...Kd8 7.d6 Kc8 8.Rc8+ and the black rook is definitely misplaced. :) |
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| Jun-25-04 | | Geronimo: <karlzen> I was pretty stumped! I looked pretty long at Ra7, so at least my initial impulse was alright. I've studied some opening theory and a lot of tactics - but my endgame play has cost me more games than I care to admit, and I think the best thing to do is to really learn the fundamentals à la some of the suggestions on this thread. Thanks for the puzzle, now I'm going to print this up and look over it again. :) |
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| Jun-25-04 | | Geronimo: By the way, was that from a game or was that a composed study? The composition of the pieces is pretty bizarre. |
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| Jun-25-04 | | karlzen: <Geronimo>, I'm very glad that I could be of some help in your chess development. I strongly suggest that you buy a couple of good endgame books. You don't need very advanced stuff, just some basic strategy and theoretical positions. For study of endgame strategy I recommend the famous book, Endgame Strategy by Shereshevsky. It is quite advanced but can help players from all levels to understand the last phase of the game. When it comes to the fundamentals, there are a lot of different good books to choose from. Just remember, study the best (Karpov, Capablanca, Smyslov, Andersson). I started my "career" with studying one of Capablanca's excellent books, myself. It was a composed study, by the way (by the late Khamitov). |
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| May-28-05 | | Tabula Rasa: 55...Kf5!
A triangulation move.
The term "King triangulation" refers to the King making a "triangular" run around its location in order to arrive again at its starting point , but in a position a move behind its opponent. The purpose of triangulation is to give the move to the opponent and is of significance only in zugzwang positions.
The greatest effect of successful triangulation occurs in king-and-pawn endgames. 57.Kf1 Ke4 58.Kf2 Kf4 59.Kg1 Kg3 60.Kf1 f2 61.Ke2 Kg2 is one possible continuation with a won position for black. |
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| Jul-31-05 | | melianis: I don't know <chessgames.com'> opinion of compositions, but here's something of a composition about the subject: http://n.domaindlx.com/Shakkisivu/t... |
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sac: 19...Qb5