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- Recently I was playing this
- interesting position as Black. The
- best that Black can hope for a is a
- draw. What should he do here?
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- Let us first look at what black
- actually did ...
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- Black took the f pawn. Now if white
- were to play ...
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- This would be wrong because the
- black
- king is closer to the white pawn and
- the white king is farther from the
- black pawn.
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- Instead in this position white should
- take ...
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- The h pawn (rook pawn) which is a
- win
- for white. It takes longer
- for black to capture the white pawn
- than it does for white to do
- the same.
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- So going back to this position, what
- should Black do to draw?
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- Capture the base pawn.
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- White must do the same.
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- If it weren't for the two extra pawns
- on the kingside ...
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- ... then white would have an easy win
- because he has the opposition.
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- My analysis shows that it doesn't do
- a lot of good to shove pawns here.
- It just wastes time.
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- Likewise.
QUIZ: What should black
- do?
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- This is the trick! Black is going to
- draw by not taking the pawn!
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- Whoever takes the pawn first allows
- his opponent to gain the opposition.
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- Ditto.
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- White has opposition but does not
- make progress because he can't take
- the pawn. Alternatetively ...
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- Back at this position Black can draw
- by playing ...
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- Ke7! The trick is ...
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- ... if white approaches the pawn ...
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- ... then black can take the
- opposition! This was a
- triangulation by moving to
- f6 in two moves instead of
- just 1