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Sometimes White may win by “stalemating” the enemy knight. This motif is very important in knight endings. Black to play draws easily by activating the knight with 1…Ng6+ 2.Kf6 Nh4. However, White to play wins by hemming in the enemy knight by the rim of the chess-board and gradually advancing the pawn. Black’s position...
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Occasionally when the black knight is excluded from play and the king cut off from the pawn, a win is possible even with the pawn in its initial position. We conclude this chapter with two curious positions. White wins whoever has the move since Black cannot prevent the advance of the pawn all the...
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We can easily deduce that the prospects of winning are the slimmer the farther the b-pawn is from the promotion square. However, when the king is far away and the knight passively placed on the rim, the stronger side may win even with the pawn on the third rank. Such an instructive ending occurred...
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The black knight may set up a very resistant barrier against the b/g pawn on the fifth rank. White can win only if the enemy king is far away. The following position from a study by Pogosjanc, 1977, nicely illustrates the theme....
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White to play wins by transferring the knight by a tempo to a more active position. ...
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Sometimes Black loses even with the king in front of a rook’s pawn if his knight is not active enough. The following study by Scheve – Estorch, 1905, brilliantly illustrates this situation. ...
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White to play wins by controlling the key-square d5. ...
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Nor can Black save the game with the king more actively placed on c4 unless there is a possibility of perpetual check. ...
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When White has the move, the way to victory takes much longer! White must manoeuvre a long time in order to lose a tempo thus achieving the same position with Black to play. ...
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