King Henry VIII was not very fast. Neither was King George III, among others. Power perhaps is fattening or a heavy burden, or both.
In chess, too, kings are slow. Even the lowly pawn can jump two squares, but not the king. Because of this, outside passed pawns often outrun enemy kings and pawns to the promotion square. With this hint in mind please try to find white’s winning moves.
As each side’s pawns face each other on the kingside, black’s king sits at the edge of the confrontation, as white’s king is positioned in the center of the fight. This allows white to strike with pawn to h4.
If black’s king moves to e3, white advances its f4 pawn to f5 (see next diagram).
White’s f5 pawn pressures black’s g6 pawn and threatens to capture the g6 pawn and quickly promote. If the g6 pawn takes the white pawn on f5, white’s h4 pawn promotes easily.
Black best reply to pawn to h4 is to advance its f6 pawn to f5, checking white as the king advances to g5. The white king guards its f4 pawn, so black’s king moves to f3. White’s king takes black’s g6 pawn (see next diagram).
The black king has no hope of catching white’s outside passed h4 pawn. Now it is a pawn race between white’s h4 pawn and black’s f5 pawn. The h4 pawn promotes in time to promote and retreat back to h1, thwarting the advance of black’s “f” pawn (see next diagram).
The lesson this week is that king-pawn endgames often devolve into a race. The fat king usually loses.
Reach Eric Morrow at ericmorrowlaw@gmail.com or (505) 327-7121.
