If you move your king away to the corner, then black either has to leave their queen unprotected, or take yours and accept a stalemate (best move for black).
Quite a tricky one. I got so tunnel visioned on trying to block the pawns, but ultimately realised it was futile.
Their queen is pinned to the king, so they either: move the king away and give you the queen, move the queen towards your queen and give away their queen, or take your queen and force stalemate. There are no other legal options.
Not a professional player, but someone judge my strategy:
White queen takes black queen, black king takes white queen, white king then moves into position to block black pawns from reaching the end of the board. Black king cannot move into check, black pawns cannot move to the side. Stalemate.
If you click onto the Lichess analysis board linked, the second button from the left on the bottom-right panel lets you play the position against the computer. Try it and see if you can actually prevent the pawn promotion that way...
I'm not sure. Black king rushing to 2-row could stop white from reaching C1 by moving to B2. Without occupying C1, white cannot stalemate.
Now what if white plays King to H1. Black queen cannot capture because that's a stalemate, and cannot get out of the way because it's a check. But I'm not sure how the game goes from there.
As far as I can tell, that wouldn't work. White king couldn't make it there in time to prevent a black pawn from making it to the other side of the board and getting promoted, not if the black king also moved toward in to block. Once black king prevents white king from blocking the pawns, it's just a matter of time.
It might be that the key here is to get a head start on blocking those pawns. The first move should be to move white king to the left, putting it in a position better suited to do that.
I think you’re right. Looks counter-intuitive because trading queens puts the black king in the perfect position to capture our pawn, giving black two passed pawns against a lone king. Didn’t calculate it all the way through, so I don’t know whether it’s black or white who’s going to be stalemated.
15 Comments
TechieDamien@lemmy.ml · 8 pts · 49d
If you move your king away to the corner, then black either has to leave their queen unprotected, or take yours and accept a stalemate (best move for black).
Quite a tricky one. I got so tunnel visioned on trying to block the pawns, but ultimately realised it was futile.
bangupjobasusual@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 49d
You mean away from the corner, right? kF1
TechieDamien@lemmy.ml · 1 pts · 48d
No, kh1
bangupjobasusual@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 47d
But Qxf2
Look at Kf1, black has to back the king off. Queen capture is unavoidable
TechieDamien@lemmy.ml · 3 pts · 47d
Yeah, but Qxf2 is stalemate, hence you don't lose
Diplomjodler3@lemmy.world · 0 pts · 49d
But that won't work either. Black will find an opportunity to either swap the queens without a stalemate or get one of their pawns through.
TechieDamien@lemmy.ml · 5 pts · 49d
Their queen is pinned to the king, so they either: move the king away and give you the queen, move the queen towards your queen and give away their queen, or take your queen and force stalemate. There are no other legal options.
Diplomjodler3@lemmy.world · 3 pts · 49d
Oh. Right. Sneaky little bugger.
aeronmelon@lemmy.world · 3 pts · 49d
Not a professional player, but someone judge my strategy:
White queen takes black queen, black king takes white queen, white king then moves into position to block black pawns from reaching the end of the board. Black king cannot move into check, black pawns cannot move to the side. Stalemate.
missingno@fedia.io · 4 pts · 49d
If you click onto the Lichess analysis board linked, the second button from the left on the bottom-right panel lets you play the position against the computer. Try it and see if you can actually prevent the pawn promotion that way...
hayvan@piefed.world · 1 pts · 49d
I'm not sure. Black king rushing to 2-row could stop white from reaching C1 by moving to B2. Without occupying C1, white cannot stalemate.
Now what if white plays King to H1. Black queen cannot capture because that's a stalemate, and cannot get out of the way because it's a check. But I'm not sure how the game goes from there.
missingno@fedia.io · 2 pts · 49d
If Kh1, Black loses if they don't accept the stalemate. It's otherwise zugzwang, any move besides Qxf2 results in losing their queen.
OwOarchist@pawb.social · 1 pts · 49d
As far as I can tell, that wouldn't work. White king couldn't make it there in time to prevent a black pawn from making it to the other side of the board and getting promoted, not if the black king also moved toward in to block. Once black king prevents white king from blocking the pawns, it's just a matter of time.
It might be that the key here is to get a head start on blocking those pawns. The first move should be to move white king to the left, putting it in a position better suited to do that.
7uWqKj@lemmy.world · 0 pts · 49d
I think you’re right. Looks counter-intuitive because trading queens puts the black king in the perfect position to capture our pawn, giving black two passed pawns against a lone king. Didn’t calculate it all the way through, so I don’t know whether it’s black or white who’s going to be stalemated.
vext01@feddit.uk · 0 pts · 49d
Funny that stockfish suggests black makes a stalemate.