First Pawn Endgame

Originally posted by LanndonKane

After Black’s 46th:



White has the luxury of being able to win this position in many ways. Your 47.Kc3 is a decent idea of improving your king’s position, and it wins. :-) But did you consider other ideas? In particular, White has a pawn majority on both sides, both of which can be mobilised without the help of the king. So, 47.h4 to distract the Black king towards the kingside, and then follow up with c4 to break through on the queenside. If Black now plays bxc4, White’s plays a4 and then b5 etc. White can probably promote a pawn without moving his king.

Question… supposing things were more difficult… from the diagram, remove the White pawn from c2, and put the White king on a1. White to move. What’s your thoughts on this position?

Originally posted by Varenka
After Black’s 46th:

Question… supposing things were more difficult… from the diagram, remove the White pawn from c2, and put the White king on a1. White to move. What’s your thoughts on this position?

ok scrap everything i wrote the first time...
if black can play g4 he can hold the draw so whites first move is
1.h4! gh (g4? and now white has a passed h pawn to help out)
2.gh Kf5 3.Kb2 Kg4 4.Kc3 Kxh4 5.Kd4 Kg5 6.Kc5 Kf5 7.Kb6 Ke5 8.Kxb5 +-

Originally posted by aginis
ok scrap everything i wrote the first time...
if black can play g4 he can hold the draw so whites first move is
1.h4! gh (g4? and now white has a passed h pawn to help out)
2.gh Kf5 3.Kb2 Kg4 4.Kc3 Kxh4 5.Kd4 Kg5 6.Kc5 Kf5 7.Kb6 Ke5 8.Kxb5 +-

Your approach to this position has involved quite a bit of calculating variations; and you’ve also shown that with such an approach, it’s possible to miss moves. I think you gave yourself more work than was needed.

I see that White’s h-pawn will become backward if Black is allowed to play g4. If I can avoid this, White can achieve a passed pawn on the kingside anytime he chooses. This will keep Black’s king tied to the kingside, and hence White’s king is free to attack Black’s queenside pawns. So, h3 to prevent g4. Then I just quickly check that if Black plays his king to f3 then with a further h4 from White, White easily wins any race (compare the extra tempos the White king gets in comparison to your h4 line; this means I don’t have to accurately calculate long lines). And that’s it… I’d move h3.