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White to move. Can you avoid a draw and get a win? Not easy.
1.g4 a5 2.a4 Kf6 3.h4 Ke6 4.g5 Kf7 5. Kf5 Kg76.h5 Kf7 7.Ke5 and wins—and not 7.g6+ and draws!
NB: I’ll hold comments with solutions ’till the next day so there won’t be “spoilers” for others.
Yesterday in Norway, BIG things took place. All three classical games resolved in victories. Hence, changes! Hikaru Nakamrua defeated the struggling shadow of Ding Liren with black and Pragg beat Fabiano Caruana. That means that Hikaru passed Fabi in the live classical ratings to become the world #2 with 2802.8. Magnus Carlsen is in 2nd place in the tournament after beating Alireza Firouzja in a rook pawn endgame. Magnus showed an important maneuver called triangulation at the end to gain the the right time and space against the enemy king. From Chessbase:
If you can’t visualize that, the idea is this. Black’s king is up against the wall. White’s king has more space to move. Therefore, white’s king can move in a little triangle and still defend the pawn which restricts black’s king. Then, once black’s king is out of position on e8, white can move Ke4 and then go to g6 get the pawn on h6. There’s nothing black can do. For example, 81…. Ke8 82. Ke4 Kf8 83. Kf5 Kf8 84. Kg6 Kg8. 85. Kxh6 Kf7 86. Kg5 (defends the f pawn). One of them will queen.
Chess is about time and space. In some pawn endings you can take over the opposition and put your opponent in zugzwang by losing a tempo.
Interested in learning? Try THIS.