3 ms·
White cannot force a win. However, if it manages to move the king to D7, and the black bishops leave the B8-H2 diagonal (a huge blunder), then white can move it
by edko 10y ago
White cannot force a win. However, if it manages to move the king to D7, and the black bishops leave the B8-H2 diagonal (a huge blunder), then white can move its pawn to C7, and checkmate in the next move, by crowning the pawn into a queen.
- georgefrick 10y agoIt's actually a shame, they failed to remove the obvious hint for this, which is the green x drawn on the hand drawn version of the puzzle.
- ikeboy 10y agoWhy would it need to move the king? As long as the bishops move, moving the pawn and turning into queen or bishop wins.
- edko 10y agoOnce the pawn moves to C7, black's king can play to B7. If white's king were not defending, black would be able to capture the promoted pawn in the next move.
- ifdefdebug 10y agoBut while a chess engine apparently can't see the draw as long as there is a possible helpmate on the board, it can see the danger of leaving the diagonal so will never play this.
- irixusr 10y agoWhy not? Once you're on D7 the pawn can be captured or kept. If black moves to capture the pawn with a bishop, you move the king into pawn's old spot. You capture the black rook with the other pawn for the win. If there are no more bishops on the diagonal, or if they move their king to the B column, then you get a Queen and finish them off. Am I missing something (I'm a very bad player)?
- Liquid_Fire 10y ago> If black moves to capture the pawn with a bishop, you move the king into pawn's old spot. You capture the black rook with the other pawn for the win. If you capture the black rook, black will capture your pawn with the queen (and proceed to mate you now that their queen can move).