Some to learn, some to test yourself and some just to enjoy
Do you know this one? Or can you work it out? White to play and win
[Event "?"] [Site "?"] [Date "2020.04.17"] [Round "?"] [White "Pawn"] [Black "Breakthrough"] [Result "1-0"] [SetUp "1"] [FEN "8/ppp5/8/PPP5/8/7k/8/7K w - - 0 1"] [PlyCount "3"] 1. *See the position in the final list for the solution. Here's the same idea in a real game. Black to move (click E7 to flip). again, answer at the end
[Event "queening breakthrough"]
[Site "queening breakthrough"]
[Date "1990.??.??"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Pomar"]
[Black "Cuerdas [t50"]
[Result "0-1"]
[SetUp "1"]
[FEN "8/8/3K1k2/5p1p/4p1p1/4P1P1/5PP1/8 b - - 0 1"]
[PlyCount "7"]
{[#] a real-life version of the famous breakthrough} 1... *
In the next game Black resigned. What should he have tried?
[Event "1976"] [Site "?"] [Date "2020.04.17"] [Round "?"] [White "Havasi"] [Black "Reko"] [Result "*"] [SetUp "1"] [FEN "8/6p1/8/p1p1p1kP/1p1pP1P1/1P1P3K/1PP5/8 b - - 0 1"] [PlyCount "25"] *Here's an exciting King endgame with breakthroughs on both sides
[Event "weak pawns: pawn islands"]
[Site "weak pawns: pawn islands"]
[Date "1919.??.??"]
[Round "8"]
[White "Capablanca, Jose Raul"]
[Black "Conde, Adrian (Hastings )"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "C73"]
[PlyCount "91"]
1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. O-O d6 6. Bxc6+ bxc6 7. d4 exd4 8.
Nxd4 Be7 9. Nc3 Bd7 10. Bg5 O-O 11. Qd3 Re8 12. Rfe1 h6 13. Bh4 c5 14. Nf5 Bxf5
15. exf5 Qd7 16. h3 a5 17. Re2 Nh7 18. Bxe7 Rxe7 19. Rxe7 Qxe7 20. Nd5 Qd7 21.
Re1 Re8 22. Rxe8+ Qxe8 23. Qe3 Qd7 {[#]} 24. Qe7 Qxe7 25. Nxe7+ Kf8 26. Nd5 Ke8
(26... c6 27. Nb6 Ke8 (27... d5 28. Nd7+ Ke7 29. Nxc5) 28. Nc4) 27. Nxc7+ Kd7
28. Nd5 Kc6 29. c4 Nf6 (29... Ng5 30. f3) 30. Nxf6 gxf6 31. a4 d5 32. b3 d4 33.
f4 Kd6 34. g4 Ke7 35. Kf2 Kd6 36. Kf3 Ke7 37. Ke4 Kd6 38. h4 Kd7 39. b4 axb4 (
39... cxb4 40. Kxd4 {[%csl Gc4][%cal Gg4g5]}) 40. a5 Kc7 41. g5 fxg5 42. fxg5
hxg5 43. hxg5 b3 44. Kd3 Kd7 45. g6 fxg6 46. fxg6 1-0
And the most famous in chess, from the strongest tournament that had so far been held: Hastings 1895.
Pillsbury was a happy half-point ahead going into the last round, and didn't risk much during the game. But then he realised he could be caught by Chigorin and had to find a way to win the endgame to finish clear first! https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hastings_1895_chess_tournament pg
[Event "Top 10 endgames: "]
[Site "Hastings"]
[Date "1895.??.??"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Pillsbury, Harry"]
[Black "Gunsberg, I."]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "D94"]
[PlyCount "79"]
1. d4 d5 2. c4 c6 3. e3 g6 4. Nc3 Bg7 5. Nf3 Nf6 6. Bd3 O-O 7. Ne5 dxc4 8. Bxc4
Nd5 9. f4 Be6 10. Qb3 b5 11. Bxd5 Bxd5 12. Nxd5 Qxd5 13. Qxd5 cxd5 14. Nd3 Nd7
15. Bd2 Rfc8 16. Ke2 e6 17. Rhc1 Bf8 18. Rxc8 Rxc8 19. Rc1 Rxc1 20. Bxc1 Bd6
21. Bd2 Kf8 22. Bb4 Ke7 23. Bc5 a6 24. b4 f6 25. g4 Bxc5 26. bxc5 Nb8 {[#] But then he realised he could be caught by Chigorin and had to find a way to win the endgame to finish clear first!} 27.
f5 {[%csl Ge6]} g5 28. Nb4 a5 29. c6 Kd6 (29... axb4 30. c7 Kd7 31. cxb8=Q) 30.
fxe6 Nxc6 (30... axb4 31. e7 Kxe7 32. c7) 31. Nxc6 Kxc6 {[#]} 32. e4 dxe4 33.
d5+ Kd6 34. Ke3 b4 35. Kxe4 a4 36. Kd4 h5 (36... b3 37. Kc3 (37. axb3 a3 38.
Kc3 a2 39. Kb2) 37... bxa2 38. Kb2) (36... f5 37. gxf5 h5 38. f6) 37. gxh5 a3
38. Kc4 f5 39. h6 f4 40. h7 1-0
Passed pawns aren't important only in the endgame:
[Event "model ending: passed pawns mus"]
[Site "model ending: passed pawns mu"]
[Date "1960.??.??"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Fischer, Robert"]
[Black "Berliner, Hans"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B03"]
[PlyCount "71"]
1. e4 Nf6 2. e5 Nd5 3. d4 d6 4. c4 Nb6 5. exd6 cxd6 6. Nc3 g6 7. Bd3 Bg7 8.
Nge2 Nc6 9. Be3 O-O 10. O-O e5 11. d5 Ne7 12. b3 Nd7 13. Ne4 Nf5 14. Bg5 f6 15.
Bd2 Nc5 16. Nxc5 dxc5 {[%csl Gd5] [#] White has a passed pawn. Usually this
is an endgame theme, but here we see it throughout a middlegame with Queens.}
17. Bxf5 (17. -- Nd6 {[%csl Gb5,Gc4,Ge4,Gf5]}) 17... Bxf5 18. f4 exf4 19. Nxf4
Qd6 {[#] not the best blockader, and the other potential blockaders are
quickly exchanged.} 20. Nh5 {It's not a very good bishop, but once it is
exchanged White's own dark-squared bishop will have no opposition in its
prosecution of the advance of the d-pawn} Rae8 (20... gxh5 21. Rxf5) 21. Nxg7
Kxg7 {[%csl Gd6]} 22. Bf4 Qd7 23. Qd2 Rf7 24. Bh6+ Kg8 25. Rae1 Rfe7 26. Rxe7
Qxe7 27. h3 Qe4 28. Qf2 Qe7 29. g4 Bd3 30. Rd1 Be4 31. d6 Qe5 32. Bf4 Qc3 33.
d7 Rd8 34. Qe2 Qf3 (34... Qxh3 35. Qxe4 Qxg4+ 36. Kf2 {(threat Qe8+)}) 35. Qxf3
Bxf3 36. Bc7 {[#] simple as that} 1-0
Even the opening!
[Event "opening trap"]
[Site "queening combination"]
[Date "1996.??.??"]
[Round "?"]
[White "opening trap, Queening"]
[Black "nimzowitsch defence"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B00"]
[Annotator "Queening combination"]
[PlyCount "19"]
1. e4 Nc6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 dxe4 4. d5 Ne5 5. Qd4 Ng6 6. Nxe4 e6 $2 7. Bb5+ c6 {
[#]} (7... Bd7 8. dxe6 Bxb5 9. exf7+ Kxf7 10. Ng5+ Ke8) 8. dxc6 Qxd4 9. cxb7+
Kd8 10. bxa8=Q 1-0
All positions with solutions / full games
[Event "?"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "2020.04.17"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Pawn"]
[Black "Breakthrough"]
[Result "1-0"]
[SetUp "1"]
[FEN "8/ppp5/8/PPP5/8/7k/8/7K w - - 0 1"]
[PlyCount "3"]
1. b6 c6 (1... axb6 2. c6 bxc6 3. a6) 2. bxa7 1-0
[Event "queening breakthrough"]
[Site "queening breakthrough"]
[Date "1990.??.??"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Pomar"]
[Black "Cuerdas [t50"]
[Result "0-1"]
[SetUp "1"]
[FEN "8/8/3K1k2/5p1p/4p1p1/4P1P1/5PP1/8 b - - 0 1"]
[PlyCount "7"]
{[#] a real-life version of the famous breakthrough} 1... f4 (1... Kg5 2. Ke5)
(1... Kg6 2. Ke6) (1... Kf7 2. Ke5 Kg6 3. Ke6) (1... h4 2. gxh4 f4 3. exf4 Kf5
4. g3) 2. Kd5 (2. gxf4 h4 3. -- h3 4. --) (2. exf4 h4 3. gxh4 g3 4. fxg3 e3)
2... h4 {[#]} 3. Kxe4 f3 4. gxf3 h3 0-1
[Event "1976"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "2020.04.17"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Havasi"]
[Black "Reko"]
[Result "*"]
[SetUp "1"]
[FEN "8/6p1/8/p1p1p1kP/1p1pP1P1/1P1P3K/1PP5/8 b - - 0 1"]
[PlyCount "25"]
1... c4 $1 (1... a4 $4 2. bxa4 c4 3. b3 (3. dxc4 b3) (3. a5 c3 4. b3)) (1... --
2. Kg3 Kf6 3. Kh4) 2. bxc4 (2. dxc4 a4 3. bxa4 b3 4. cxb3 d3) 2... a4 $1 3. c5
a3 $1 4. bxa3 bxa3 5. c6 a2 6. c7 a1=Q 7. c8=Q Qf1+ 8. Kg3 (8. Kh2 Qf2+ 9. Kh3
Qh4+ 10. Kg2 Qxg4+ 11. Qxg4+ Kxg4 {[%csl Gh5][%cal Gg7g5]}) 8... Qf4+ 9. Kh3
Qf3+ 10. Kh2 Qf2+ 11. Kh1 Qh4+ 12. Kg2 Qxg4+ 13. Qxg4+ Kxg4 *
[Event "weak pawns: pawn islands"]
[Site "weak pawns: pawn islands"]
[Date "1919.??.??"]
[Round "8"]
[White "Capablanca, Jose Raul"]
[Black "Conde, Adrian (Hastings )"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "C73"]
[PlyCount "91"]
1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. O-O d6 6. Bxc6+ bxc6 7. d4 exd4 8.
Nxd4 Be7 9. Nc3 Bd7 10. Bg5 O-O 11. Qd3 Re8 12. Rfe1 h6 13. Bh4 c5 14. Nf5 Bxf5
15. exf5 Qd7 16. h3 a5 17. Re2 Nh7 18. Bxe7 Rxe7 19. Rxe7 Qxe7 20. Nd5 Qd7 21.
Re1 Re8 22. Rxe8+ Qxe8 23. Qe3 Qd7 {[#]} 24. Qe7 Qxe7 25. Nxe7+ Kf8 26. Nd5 Ke8
(26... c6 27. Nb6 Ke8 (27... d5 28. Nd7+ Ke7 29. Nxc5) 28. Nc4) 27. Nxc7+ Kd7
28. Nd5 Kc6 29. c4 Nf6 (29... Ng5 30. f3) 30. Nxf6 gxf6 31. a4 d5 32. b3 d4 33.
f4 Kd6 34. g4 Ke7 35. Kf2 Kd6 36. Kf3 Ke7 37. Ke4 Kd6 38. h4 Kd7 39. b4 axb4 (
39... cxb4 40. Kxd4 {[%csl Gc4][%cal Gg4g5]}) 40. a5 Kc7 41. g5 fxg5 42. fxg5
hxg5 43. hxg5 b3 44. Kd3 Kd7 45. g6 fxg6 46. fxg6 1-0
[Event "Top 10 endgames: "]
[Site "Hastings"]
[Date "1895.??.??"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Pillsbury, Harry"]
[Black "Gunsberg, I."]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "D94"]
[PlyCount "79"]
1. d4 d5 2. c4 c6 3. e3 g6 4. Nc3 Bg7 5. Nf3 Nf6 6. Bd3 O-O 7. Ne5 dxc4 8. Bxc4
Nd5 9. f4 Be6 10. Qb3 b5 11. Bxd5 Bxd5 12. Nxd5 Qxd5 13. Qxd5 cxd5 14. Nd3 Nd7
15. Bd2 Rfc8 16. Ke2 e6 17. Rhc1 Bf8 18. Rxc8 Rxc8 19. Rc1 Rxc1 20. Bxc1 Bd6
21. Bd2 Kf8 22. Bb4 Ke7 23. Bc5 a6 24. b4 f6 25. g4 Bxc5 26. bxc5 Nb8 {[#] But then he realised he could be caught by Chigorin and had to find a way to win the endgame to finish clear first!} 27.
f5 {[%csl Ge6]} g5 28. Nb4 a5 29. c6 Kd6 (29... axb4 30. c7 Kd7 31. cxb8=Q) 30.
fxe6 Nxc6 (30... axb4 31. e7 Kxe7 32. c7) 31. Nxc6 Kxc6 {[#]} 32. e4 dxe4 33.
d5+ Kd6 34. Ke3 b4 35. Kxe4 a4 36. Kd4 h5 (36... b3 37. Kc3 (37. axb3 a3 38.
Kc3 a2 39. Kb2) 37... bxa2 38. Kb2) (36... f5 37. gxf5 h5 38. f6) 37. gxh5 a3
38. Kc4 f5 39. h6 f4 40. h7 1-0
[Event "model ending: passed pawns mus"]
[Site "model ending: passed pawns mu"]
[Date "1960.??.??"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Fischer, Robert"]
[Black "Berliner, Hans"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B03"]
[PlyCount "71"]
1. e4 Nf6 2. e5 Nd5 3. d4 d6 4. c4 Nb6 5. exd6 cxd6 6. Nc3 g6 7. Bd3 Bg7 8.
Nge2 Nc6 9. Be3 O-O 10. O-O e5 11. d5 Ne7 12. b3 Nd7 13. Ne4 Nf5 14. Bg5 f6 15.
Bd2 Nc5 16. Nxc5 dxc5 {[%csl Gd5] [#] White has a passed pawn. Usually this
is an endgame theme, but here we see it throughout a middlegame with Queens.}
17. Bxf5 (17. -- Nd6 {[%csl Gb5,Gc4,Ge4,Gf5]}) 17... Bxf5 18. f4 exf4 19. Nxf4
Qd6 {[#] not the best blockader, and the other potential blockaders are
quickly exchanged.} 20. Nh5 {It's not a very good bishop, but once it is
exchanged White's own dark-squared bishop will have no opposition in its
prosecution of the advance of the d-pawn} Rae8 (20... gxh5 21. Rxf5) 21. Nxg7
Kxg7 {[%csl Gd6]} 22. Bf4 Qd7 23. Qd2 Rf7 24. Bh6+ Kg8 25. Rae1 Rfe7 26. Rxe7
Qxe7 27. h3 Qe4 28. Qf2 Qe7 29. g4 Bd3 30. Rd1 Be4 31. d6 Qe5 32. Bf4 Qc3 33.
d7 Rd8 34. Qe2 Qf3 (34... Qxh3 35. Qxe4 Qxg4+ 36. Kf2 {(threat Qe8+)}) 35. Qxf3
Bxf3 36. Bc7 {[#] simple as that} 1-0
[Event "opening trap"]
[Site "queening combination"]
[Date "1996.??.??"]
[Round "?"]
[White "opening trap, Queening"]
[Black "nimzowitsch defence"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B00"]
[Annotator "Queening combination"]
[PlyCount "19"]
1. e4 Nc6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 dxe4 4. d5 Ne5 5. Qd4 Ng6 6. Nxe4 e6 $2 7. Bb5+ c6 {
[#]} (7... Bd7 8. dxe6 Bxb5 9. exf7+ Kxf7 10. Ng5+ Ke8) 8. dxc6 Qxd4 9. cxb7+
Kd8 10. bxa8=Q 1-0
*
Click [...] for list, D7 to download, H8 for help