Study Puzzle of the Day 1/11/2020
Heavy artillery vs infantry 🙂 White to move and draw (V. Kovalenko, 2003) (First try to solve the study without moving the pieces!)
Continue ReadingHeavy artillery vs infantry 🙂 White to move and draw (V. Kovalenko, 2003) (First try to solve the study without moving the pieces!)
Continue ReadingOf endings with three connected and one isolated pawn against sole rook, very sensitive are those with connected pawns still far away from promotion squares. When enemy king cannot penetrate in front of connected pawns in time, the side with the pawns has to assess is it justified to activate king and play for […]
Continue ReadingMajor problems arise when the king cannot go in front of connected pawns in time . In that case, win is possible even if pawns are far from promotion squares. A nice example of realization of positional advantage is the ending of the game Kasparov-Ye, Olympiad, Bled 2002.
Continue ReadingWhen king supports his three connected pawns, draw is possible only if enemy king can go in front of them in time. Critical case is the ending of game Vorotnikov-Arbakov, Moscow 1990.
Continue ReadingWhen connected pawn form a chain protecting each other, then isolated pawn plays more important role, especially if it has king’s support. Instructive case occur in the game Zapata-Garcia, Havana 2001.
Continue ReadingWhen pawns are far from the promotion square, then the most often outcome is a draw. If the king stands near his isolated pawn, then rook draws easily by stopping, blocking and capturing connected pawns. Namely, if it is not far advanced, isolated pawn is not a real threat. Next position happened in a […]
Continue ReadingIf in similar positions Black can prevent rook transfer to the first rank with a tempo, then it is possible to win even with a very distant isolated pawn. Beautiful study on the theme was composed by Benak in 1991. We will investigate it with reversed colors! Black to move wins because he can […]
Continue ReadingIf in similar position black king can support the isolated pawn, then two facts are decisive – is the isolated pawn quite close to connected pawns and is the rook able to quickly come to the first rank? If the isolated pawn is at least two files away from other pawns, rook draws easily […]
Continue ReadingIn positions with three connected and one isolated pawn, rook has much better odds to draw because isolated pawn does not pose a real threat. If king can stop three connected pawns, rook can make a draw even against three pawns on seventh rank. Such curious position is seen in Y. Averbakh study from […]
Continue ReadingIn position with doubled pawns on the left or on the right side of the pawn chain, there are some winning chances if another pawn can reach seventh rank. Although The Encyclopedia claims otherwise, in this instructive example Black to move wins!
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