Stalemate Could Help
Stalemate can be valuable rescue motif in seemingly hopeless ending. Bellow is a sample from the book “Da Te Pitam?” by IM Nikola Karaklajic. Unfortunately, this wonderful endgame collection composed of 52 tests never saw its English edition, but it was translated to French, and Russian teachers massively used Serbian version. The book was real hit in Arab world.
White to move and make a draw. Note that straightforward trade of Rook for the f-pawn will not save the game, because black King will win e4 pawn and then he takes the opposition thanks to the tempo from doubled pawn.
Try to find the right path, I will post the solution in 2-3 days.
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Roberto Stelling said,
Wrote on May 22, 2008 @ 4:18 pm
Loved it! It has a few finesses but I think I got it right.
1. Rd3! Kg2 2. Rd2+ f2 3. Kd3 Kg1 4. Rd1+! (3. Ke3? fails due to 3. … f1=N+!) f1=Q+ 5. Ke3! Kg2 (trying to avoid the stalemate) 6. R:f1 K:f1 7. Kf3 draw.
Congrats for the great work!
Roberto
Nimar Arora said,
Wrote on June 24, 2008 @ 5:33 pm
I’m not sure if 1. Rd3 is the right move. What if Black replies 1..Kf4 and now the e4 pawn is sure to fall.
Goran Urosevic said,
Wrote on June 24, 2008 @ 5:48 pm
Then it looks like White has time to regroup, 1. Rd3 Kf4 2. Rd1 Kxe4 3. Kd2 Kd4 4. Ke1+ Ke3 5. Ra1 and Ra3
1. Rd3 Kf4 2. Rd1 Ke3 3. Re1+ Kf2 4. Kd2 Kg2 5. Ke3 f2 6. Re2
musicinfo said,
Wrote on July 30, 2008 @ 8:50 am
Nice post!
club penguin said,
Wrote on May 23, 2009 @ 2:32 am
If 1. Rd3 is the right move. What if Black replies 1..Kf4 and now the e4 pawn is sure to fall.