Chess and Checkers : the Way to Mastership by Edward Lasker
page 52 of 267 (19%)
page 52 of 267 (19%)
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interference with his plans to queen the Pawn except maneuvers of
the black King, which might still lead to the capture or the blockade of the Pawn. A rash advance of the Pawn would again be the wrong thing. The right way of playing is indicated by a simple calculation. The Pawn needs four moves to reach the queening square. But the black King arrives there in the same number of moves, so that he can capture the Pawn the moment he queens. Consequently White will only be able to enforce the safe queening of his Pawn if he can gain control of the queening square with his own King, thus protecting the Pawn at the time of queening. Now, White needs three moves to bring his King up to his Pawn on f4. In the meantime Black will have reached the square d6 and after White's (4) K-f5 Black will block the further advance of White's King by K-e7. However, White can force Black to give the way free. The maneuver by which he does this is one which occurs in a similar form in nearly all Pawn endings and its thorough grasp is therefore essential. Diagram 15 shows the critical position. +---------------------------------------+ 8 | | | | | | | | | |---------------------------------------| 7 | | | | | #K | | | | |---------------------------------------| 6 | | | | | | | | | |---------------------------------------| 5 | | | | | | ^K | | | |
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