N-308

When the king is far, the knight may ensure its king the necessary time for getting near by controlling the critical squares around the pawn. A study by P. Larsen, 1933, is a case in point. Although the white king is very far from the battle-field on the queenside and the black king can approach the insecure b-pawn by a tempo, White to move still wins. The point of the winning plan consists in a timely creation of a “mine field” around the pawn. Since the knight can efficiently protect the pawn only from the rear, and also has to count with an eventual breakthrough of the a-pawn, we may safely conclude that the knight must immediately set out for the square a1! That is, if the knight were positioned on c1 Black would draw by placing the king on b4 achieving material reduction by a further a4-a3.

 


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