Strategy requires thought, tactics require observation.
If you are reading this instead of viewing a chess puzzle or game, then you must enable JavaScript on this website.
[Event "rated untimed match"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "????.??.??"]
[Round "?"]
[White "White player"]
[Black "Black player"]
[Result "*"]
[BlackElo "0"]
[FEN "8/p7/3k3p/2p5/2P3P1/2P5/P7/4K3 w - - 0 1"]
[SetUp "1"]
[TimeControl "0"]
[WhiteElo "0"]
{ Distant Opposition.|This king and pawn endgame lesson demonstrates the
poor quality of doubled pawns.|They are often easy to blockade like here.
If white's c3 pawn were on b3 instead, then white would <a
href="/common/nojs.html"
onclick="LoadStub('E/0016');
event.preventDefault();">win like this</a>.|Now
white can only play for a draw by bringing his king into the game with Kd2,
Ke2, or Kf2. Still, the draw is not trivial for black. He must use distant
opposition to establish at the right moment and maintain direct opposition
against white's attempt to invade. } 1. Ke2 { White moves to invade black's
side of the board, and win. } 1... Ke6 { Black correctly resists the temptation to
move forward to e5. Black keeps an odd number of squares between opposing
kings. } ( { If black gives white the opportunity for direct opposition, then
black loses with: } 1... Ke5 2. Ke3 a5 3. a4 Kf6 4. Kf4 Kg6 { Now if white
goes for black's c-pawn, then black goes for the g-pawn. Unfortunately, that
is not enough, because white's extra pawns will promote and win. } ( 4... Ke6 { Allowing white to seize direct opposition. } 5. Ke4 { Black must step asside
and allow white to invade winning either black's h- or c-pawn. } 5... Kd6 6. Kf5 Ke7 7. Kg6 Ke6 8. Kxh6 Ke5 9. g5 Ke4 10. g6 Kd3 11. g7 Kxc4 12. g8=Q+ { White
wins with a large material advantage. } 12... Kxc3 13. Kg5 c4 14. Kf5 Kd3 15. Qd5+ Kc3 16. Qe4 Kb3 17. Qb1+ Kxa4 18. Ke4 c3 19. Kd3 Ka3 20. Kxc3 a4 21. Qb2# ) 5. Ke5 Kg5 6. Kd5 Kxg4 7. Kxc5 h5 8. Kb6 h4 9. c5 h3 10. c6 h2 11. c7 h1=Q 12. c8=Q+ { White's extra pawns will promote and win. } 12... Kg3 13. c4 Qa1 14. Qc6 Qc1 15. c5 Qe3 16. Qb5 Qf2 17. Kb7 Qf7+ 18. Ka6 Qe6+ 19. c6 Kf3 20. Kb7 Qe7+ 21. c7 Ke3 22. Qc6 Qb4+ 23. Qb6+ Kd2 24. c8=Q Kd3 25. Qh3+ Ke4 26. Qxb4+ axb4 27. a5 b3 28. Qxb3 { White wins with a large material advantage. } ) 2. Kf2 { White offers black the opportunity to go wrong. } 2... Kf6 { Black correctly
maintains distant opposition with an odd number of squares between kings. } 3. a3 { White again temporizes with the hope that black will try to invade. } 3... a6 { Black temporizes also. } ( 3... Ke6 4. a4 a5 5. Ke3 Ke7 { Black wisely keeps
an odd number of squares between kings while not locking himself into direct
opposition on e5. } 6. Ke4 Ke6 7. Kf4 Kf6 8. Ke4 Ke6 9. Kf4 Kf6 { Black holds
the draw despite being a pawn down. } ) 4. a4 a5 5. Ke3 Ke7 { Black wisely
keeps an odd number of squares between kings while not locking himself into
direct opposition on e5. } ( { Black loses by seizing direct opposition here.
Note that black cannot move to react to white's manuevering. } 5... Ke5 6. Kf3 Kf6 7. Kf4 Kg6 { Now if white goes for black's c-pawn, then black goes for
the g-pawn. Unfortunately, that is not enough, because white's extra pawns
will promote and win. } 8. Ke5 Kg5 9. Kd5 Kxg4 10. Kxc5 h5 11. Kb6 h4 12. c5 h3 13. c6 h2 14. c7 h1=Q 15. c8=Q+ { White wins with a large material
advantage. } ) 6. Ke4 Ke6 { Now is the moment for black to seize direct
opposition. Note that on e6 black can move to follow white to maintain direct
opposition and prevent white's invasion. } 7. Kf4 Kf6 8. Ke4 Ke6 9. Kf4 Kf6 { Black holds the draw despite being a pawn down. } *