Here's a challenging puzzle for you all.It was set by Andrew Martin IM at the recent coaching session. White is about to queen its c-pawn but has to be careful about that black bishop!
White has the move, how can he force a draw? It's a very tricky solution but very beautiful. If you can find it, leave your answer as a comment here.
5 comments:
Very tough puzzle, perhaps Kc8 first?
This is fairly easy as long as you don't try and queen the pawn first. Kc8 b5 Kd7 Bf5+ Kd6 b4 Ke5 b3 Kx5f b2 c8=Q b1=Q+ Ke6 Qd3 Qb7+ Qe4+ Qxe4+ Kxe4 is a draw by insufficient material because you are left with King vs King.
Can't work it out,
1. Ke6 then Ke4 wins
2. if white king aims for b6 ie Kd6 Bf5 Kc5 Ke4 Kb6 Bc8 wins, as Ka7 at any time will lose to b5
3. c8 loses to Bf5+
all other moves lose to Bf5 followed by b5 etc
so ... I've gone wrong somewhere :(
I'll post the correct answer over the weekend!
This is a nice puzzle for coaching. Kc8 draws, the reason is that white gains a tempo each move because of his threats to queen.
After b5,Kd7 (threat Kc6 and c8=Q; can be played the other way around) Bf5+,Kd6,b4,Ke5 black gains another tempo on the black bishop, so now he either catches the pawn or captures the bishop and queens his own pawn.
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