White to move. Can White win?
[FEN "5Q2/kp6/1p6/1P2K3/r7/1P5/8/8 w KQkq - 0 1"]
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Rewan Demontay
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Stefano
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1There is a special tablebase generator for positions with blocked pawns. Forgot which and where, but it should be able to answer it fast (only 4 movable pieces, plus a last pawn move). – Hauke Reddmann Jan 15 '24 at 18:50
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1EDIT: Got it! The proggie is FinalGen by Romero: https://www.chessprogramming.org/FinalGen – Hauke Reddmann Jan 16 '24 at 07:19
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What FinalGen said ? – Stefano Jan 19 '24 at 23:31
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Didn't try. Installing etc. needs computer resources. My computers are from the museum. – Hauke Reddmann Jan 20 '24 at 19:04
3 Answers
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This looks like a draw.
First, the pawn ending (1.Qa8 Ka8 2.ba4 Kb8 3.Kd6 Kc8) is dead drawn: the bK stays on c8/d8/c7 and the wK cannot approach. 1.ba4 is an immediate stalemate, so White has to try and win with Q+2p vs R+2p.
Without the White pawns (and you may remove the bPb7 as well), this is a well-known fortress: Black just plays Rc5-a5-c5 ad aeternam and White cannot break through.
The b-pawns seem to improve White chances by denying the bR two safe squares to alternate between. In that case the standard winning procedure is to zugzwang Black, force their rook to an unsafe square, and either fork it or use its awkward position to enter with the wK.
However, is that particular case, the only way to zugzwang the bR into moving is by stalemating the bK (on a7, with the queen on the last rank). However, in that case the bR doesn't need a safe square anymore: it can sacrifice itself by checking the wK, since capturing it would lead to stalemate.
Therefore, White has no realistic prospects of breaking the blockade and the game is a draw.
Evargalo
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I think it's a draw. I didn't find a winning strategy for white here.
[FEN "5Q2/kp6/1p6/1P2K3/r7/1P6/8/8 w - - 0 1"]
- Qf7 Rg4 2. Kd6 Rg5 3. Kc7 Rc5+ 4. Kd7 Kb8 5. Qf8+ Ka7 6. b4 Rc7+ 7. Kd6 Rd7+ 8. Ke6 Rd2 9. Qf5 Re2+ 10. Kd6 Re1 11. Qc2 Kb8 12. Qc7+ Ka7 13. Qc4 Rh1 14. Qa2+ Kb8 15. Qg8+ Ka7 16. Qg5 Rh8 17. Qe3 Rh1 18. Qa3+ Kb8 19. Qf3 Rh6+ 20. Ke7 Rh7+ 21. Ke6 Ka7
Iman Mohammadi
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Not 100% sure but I would put my queen on D5, to cover both pawns, then I would march my king up and try to pick off black's pawn on B6, if it'S white to move I would start with QD7, then followed by QD5 then work my king to black's pawns. it really depends, if you're playing a computer, a person or a computer via person.
*I think it goes without saying, but try not to get skewered
Paweł
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This is a decent plan, but I think Black holds easily by keeping the rook on the 1st rank and countering Kc7 with Rc1. The bKa7 is hidden from forks and the bR has enough freedom... – Evargalo Jan 18 '24 at 19:55