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| Friday, March 27, 2009 |
To sum up the investigation of this Pawn ending: The deciding
factor is the opposition of the Kings on the 6th and 8th ranks.
If the weaker party succeeds in obtaining that opposition with
the Pawn on the 6th rank he draws the game.
If the Pawn is not yet advanced to the 6th rank the opposition of
the Kings is of no avail to the weaker party as the Pawn
advancing would force the opposing King out of opposition again.
Suppose, for instance, White has the King on e6 and the Pawn on
e5 while Black's King stands on e8 with White on the move. White
must get out of opposition by playing K-f6 or K-d6 and Black
keeps the opposition by K-f8 or K-d8. But then White has a move
to spare which forces Black out of opposition and thereby wins
the game. He plays P-e6 and the game ends in the way discussed
above.
The ending King and Pawn against King is one of the most
important for every Chess player to know, not only because a
great number of positions can be reduced to this ending by the
exchange of all the other men left on the board, but also because
it gives the first insight into the peculiar maneuvers of the
King which have to be carried out in connection with gaining or
giving up the opposition, and which, as will be seen later on,
constitute the essence of the most frequent pawn endings.
For the beginner, of course, the opposition maneuvers are rather
difficult to grasp and it is fortunate for him that the vast
majority of pawn endings are of a much simpler form. The winning
maneuver in these endings into which most Chess games resolve
themselves, is easily explained and after understanding it the
beginner can readily see the fundamental principle underlying
every game.
Diagram 16 shows a typical position on which the winning method
should be studied. White is a pawn ahead, but as demonstrated on
the position of Diagram 15 he cannot queen his passed Pawn
because his King is not in front of it. On the other hand, there
cannot possibly be any advantage in advancing the Pawns on the
other side of the board as there Black has the same number of
Pawns as White and consequently there is no reason why one of the
white Pawns should succeed in breaking through.
It is all the same very easy for White to win and the strategy to be employed will be evident from the following consideration: Black's King is
considerably confined in his movements as he has to be constantly
watching White's passed Pawn.
+---------------------------------------+
8 | | | | | | | | |
|---------------------------------------|
7 | | | | | | | | |
|---------------------------------------|
6 | | | | | | |#P | |
|---------------------------------------|
5 | | | #K | | | #P | | |
|---------------------------------------|
4 | | | | | | | | |
|---------------------------------------|
3 | | ^P | | | | ^P | | |
|---------------------------------------|
2 | | | ^K | | | | ^P | |
|---------------------------------------|
1 | | | | | | | | |
+---------------------------------------+
a b c d e f g h
DIAGRAM 16.
White's King, however, is free to go wherever he likes without
any immediate danger. There is consequently nothing to hinder him
attacking and capturing the black Pawns, for if Black's King
tries to stop White's advance, White's passed Pawn marches on and
compels the opposing King to catch him, thereby giving the way
free to his own King.
According to this scheme play could proceed
like this: (1) K-d3, K-d5; (2) K-e3, K-e5; (3) P-b4, P-g5; (4) P-
b5, K-d5; (5) P-b6, K-c6; (6) K-d4, Kxb6; (7) K-e5, P-f4; (8) K-
f5, K-c6; (9) Kxg5, K-d6; (10) Kxf4, K-e6; (11) K-g5, K-f7. Now
White would win even without the Pawn g2 by playing (12) K-f5 and
so on as explained on Diagram 15. |
posted by neptunus @ 5:14 AM
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