In an analogous position with a protected passed pawn on the sixth rank White wins easily whoever has the move. There are two basic reasons for this:
a) f-pawn’s sacrifice with the subsequent knight exchange gives rise the won pawn ending;
b) as the black knight is too near the rim of the chess-board, it cannot take an active part in the battle for the critical square e7.
In this study by Y. Averbakh, published in 1955, White to play wins:
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