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| Mar-05-13 | | Once: <sfm> Good explanation! If I had a hat I would doff it in deference! |
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| Mar-05-13 | | Oxspawn: "Easy", "as every schoolboy knows", "simple".....
Rewrite as "impossible" or "brain freezes over".
I left my schooldays behind decades ago (and half the population never were schoolboys), but there is something fundamentally monstrous here that goes beyond learning "the trick". It is the terror of simplicity; the hidden trapdoor; the pratfall; the hideous realisation that one thing you must avoid is the one thing you will inevitably do.
Confronted by a steet entertainer with the three card trick. I know it is a trick; I know I will guess wrong, but I guess wrong anyway. Kd7!
I think I had (possibly still have) a book by Harry Golombek from my childhood where he explained about opposition. But bright as I was in many respects, it stumped me then as it stumps me now. Let's do a deal. I will study what <Once> and <sfm> have laid out, going back to a much dreaded lesson without hope or expectation. Your part of the bargain? Go easy with the word 'easy'. |
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| Mar-05-13 | | Bengambit: Once shows a position with a King verse's a King and a Bishop pawn,I remember this from all of my games that l play is that Bishop pawns are automatic Queens and at the start of a game there is two on each side,or if you get a "Jumper" an exchange that causes a Knight pawn or a King pawn to run down the Bishop file,now once that happens you've got a "Runner" and a easy win. |
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| Mar-05-13 | | Once: <Oxspawn> I know what you mean. Endgames can be absolutely terrifying. There's something very zen and scarily minimalist when you get so few pieces on the board, like trying to understand the poetry of William Carlos Williams. Everything depends upon ... One way to think about it is that it's like building a wall, one brick at a time. If you plonk the first brick down wonky then the whole wall will end up crooked. But unlike building a wall, you start from the last brick, not the first. You need to understand the winning positions at the end of the sequence. So I'd recommend starting with a position like this one: 
click for larger viewWhat is the result if it's white to play? Or if it's black to play? One you've got that knowledge locked in, you can look at positions which are a move or two before this one. Knowing whether the first diagram is a win or a draw helps you to decide whether you want to get to it or not. |
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| Mar-05-13 | | mistreaver: Tuesday.Black to play.Easy. 57.?
I think black's correct move should be waiting:
57... Kb8.
Now wherever white king goes black cathces the oposition, say
A)
58 Kc5 Kc7 or
B)
58 Kb5 Kb7 or
C)
58 Kd5 Kb7
59 Kc5 Kc7
and
D)
58 b5 Kb7
59 Kc5 Kc7 is a well known draw.
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2/2 this week |
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| Mar-05-13 | | Shams: <Once> <There's something very zen and scarily minimalist when you get so few pieces on the board, like trying to understand the poetry of William Carlos Williams.> I have taken the squares/ which were on the queenside And which I know you were saving for the endgame
Forgive me, they were so advantageous, and so inviting |
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| Mar-05-13 | | Once: !!!! ;-)
so much depends
upon
giving the
opponent
a move
which
he does not want
to make |
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| Mar-05-13 | | James D Flynn: White is a pawn up and his K has the opposition but his pawn is too far advanced relative to his K to win: 57……Kb8 (now when the White K advances Black will seize the opposition e.g. 58.Kc5 Kc7 or 58.Kb5 Kb7 or 58.Kd5 Kb7 59.Kc5(if Kd6 Kb6 and Black wins the pawn) Kc7 60.b5 Kb7 61.Kb5 Kb8 62.Ka6(or 62.Kc6 Kc8) Ka8 63.b7+ Kb8 64.Kb6 stalemate. |
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| Mar-05-13 | | zb2cr: Knew this one, but no credit--this was memory rather than solving. I used this one as one of my examples to teach the son of a colleague the principles of King and Pawn endgames. |
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| Mar-05-13 | | Alex56171: 57. ... Kb8 to take the opposition and the draw |
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| Mar-05-13 | | njchess: If both sides play correctly, no matter who has the first move, this is a draw because the White king is not two spaces ahead of his pawn (e.g. on b6). Since it is Black's move, 57. ... Kb8 ensures the draw. The only way for this not to be a draw is if Black plays Kb7. 57. ... Kb7?? 58. Kb5 Kb8 59. Kc6 Kc8 60. b5 Kb8 61. Kb6 and Black is lost. |
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| Mar-05-13 | | Oxspawn: javascript:OpenWin('/perl/fen?fen=
click for larger view')
<Once> OK I'll give it a go.
If white to move
Kc6 Kc8
d6 Kd8
d7 K forced to e7
Kc7 and the pawn is home….
If black to move
……………Kc8
Ke6 Kd8
d6 Ke8
d7 Kd8
Then if the King goes to d6 it is stalemate and if not black takes the pawn.
Is this right?
The real answer to your question is another question - "Who is playing white, and who black?" Honestly, if you sat across the board from the ghost of Bobby Fisher who would still be jeering at your opening ("e4 is a move for weakies,") would you still know you were winning? Or even drawing? |
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| Mar-05-13 | | Oxspawn: ... the king
smiles grimly
The pawn
dawdles
And yet one arrives somehow;
the other
lies in cinders
(With apologies) |
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| Mar-05-13 | | Once: Close!
If it's black to play, he only has only two legal moves - 1...Kc8 and 1...Ke8. Both lose to the same little trick. If black tries 1...Kc8 White replies 2. Ke7 
click for larger viewAnd whatever black does, that little white pawn marches straight up the board to become a queen. I love the way that the white king keeps an eye on all of the pawn's squares. I imagine him waving his arm like a butler - "after you, sir". After 1...Ke8, you just do the same thing but on the other side. 2. Kc7 
click for larger view |
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Mar-05-13
 | | paulalbert: Easy if you know how to maneuver for the opposition and keep it. Surprising how many amateur players never learn these things. Since I had no formal instruction when I was young, I learned haphazardly, most from books. I guess this one is an example of " What every Russian schoolboy knows! " |
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Mar-05-13
 | | OhioChessFan: Endgames in chess are a visual representation of logical thought. |
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| Mar-05-13 | | snakebyt: This puzzle stumped me. So, I looked it up. Kb8! This is a famous KPK endgame example. I learned a thing or two. Reading up on KP endgames. Thanks! |
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| Mar-05-13 | | beenthere240: Another handy trick to remember is that if the advancing pawn delivers check to the king, a draw is in the offing. |
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Mar-05-13
 | | LIFE Master AJ: 57...Kb8.
Not a terribly difficult move to find, yet many of m lower-rated students will miss this one. |
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| Mar-05-13 | | LIzzard: Nice puzzle today! I didn't get it, but, thanks to explanations here, learned more than I usually do. Thanks everyone (Once and Sfm in particular) |
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| Mar-05-13 | | The Last Straw: I wonder if white or black missed a win anywhere in the game. |
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Mar-05-13
 | | chrisowen: Stripped away the bones pawn bed,
in face black king chuffing at hind maneovre ignoble defeat any square except b8 in success making a bid for freedom is the white king plus, clink b4 plug rooks off in see be heeding the call it is king in b5 advantage off bin game. oh at chef in b8 ar it gain little for white in seems it hope in good game thod in king carry hammers 57...Kb8 youll shine it through in huffer great endgame skill needed, going back to hind call it doctor in kaputz of cool aid eli see trick yu 52...rh5! allow ground forth in 52...rh8 man i marvel it these in comic guys going to the wire see kings for 53.kxb5 in just the bill of rights for black can now finger true delight in heads 52...rb8+ only maneovre at or tail off h8 in white has the inter low 53.rc7+ or bet rookc5 when cutter in get between defer too 53...Kd6: 
click for larger viewjocular height force the king away in het up the purpose again a oomph free the king in d8: 
click for larger viewi net have cordon it blew away in light bind had having look in low time see king east in diagrams pale in comparison kicking d8 inceed the point in wall it is what in a mare have wind in cease to be jovial one together at creedence in rueing golly it statue in see you since bygone era i l0 stipulated c5 will get rounded c7 ram he in steep earned it honest in harvest i mate after b8 you lent in one for he it her bind off i vain pump head it tomatoe h8 ok in b8 low old drawing method. |
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| Mar-05-13 | | tbentley: Move 53: white to play and win:
click for larger view |
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Mar-05-13
 | | Jimfromprovidence: I am not sure if anyone has mentioned it, but today's puzzle position is a draw no matter whose turn it is to move. This is one of the possible outcomes, with black to play. 
click for larger view |
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| Mar-05-13 | | kevin86: Black's move is very coy-when white's king moves forward,black will seize the opposition. For white to win,he must lead wuth the king AND have the opposition-here Fischer makes it impossible. |
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