Tuesday, December 30, 2008

Chess Endgame Brief: Can white maintain the advantage?

I was black in this position, and it was white to move after I pushed the pawn to F5. My opponent made a mistake in this position with the bishop, and lost the game. How could white have maintained the advantage in this position?

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

I think the winning idea for White is 1. Be4. If Black doesn't take, then the bishop can intrude on b1 and snatch up Black's queenside pawns. If Black does take, the ensuing Queen vs Knight endgame should be won for White.

(Potentially posted twice -- blogger was acting up.)

Anonymous said...

Sorry, I meant 1. Bd5.

Anonymous said...

Yes the Bd5 move seems the one shouting out to me too.

What did White play?

dharmaBum said...

Bd5 appears to be the best move, eventually black's only hope will be the passed pawn on the b-file. Unfortunately, white's bishop can guard the queening square effectively, and by the time black gets the pawn down there, white's h and g pawns are already marching up the board with the king in the critical squares, and even if white sacs the bishop when black promotes (which white'll have to do regardless), the knight can not get up the board fast enough to stop white from promoting.

But this is all haphazard analysis. I most likely missed something. In truth I would've played Bd3, thinking to trap the knight and missing Nc4, and likely lost, even though after looking at that line the position should be drawn with perfect play from both sides.

jrobi said...

Bd5 is a solid move along with Bd3. My opponent played Bf3, from which I brought the knight into a better position perched on C2.