Distant opposition — opposition at a distance

White wins White to move · Pawn endgames · Difficulty about Elo 1300

The plan

The opposition does not depend on close contact — it works across half the board, and you can spot it in a second: count the free squares between the kings. If their number is even, the player to move can seize it; if it is odd, the other side already has it. Two counter-tests show the flip: leaving the white king in place and moving only the black one in by one square, White wins with four free squares and only draws with three — one rank further forward he wins with two and is again only drawn with one. How thin the margin is shows in the double test on the starting position: White to move wins, Black to move it is a draw. The choice for White is correspondingly narrow — of six moves only two win, and both take the king one rank FORWARD; the sideways steps on the back rank give up the point just as much as the two pawn moves. Because the double step is the reserve tempo: as long as it sits unspent in his pocket, White can flip the parity and hand the zugzwang back; spent too early, the pawn is just a pawn. Close opposition, the trebuchet, and triangulation — all separate lessons in this collection — are the same idea in different clothing.

Rule of thumb: count the squares between the kings and save the double step; whoever has a spare tempo last wins.

Why this level: Opposition across distance, with the double step as a reserve

The solution, move by move

1. 1. Kd2 Only the king, and only FORWARD: of six moves, measured, two win, namely the two steps to the second rank. The sideways moves on the back rank and both pawn moves are a measured draw — the double step is the reserve tempo and belongs in savings (sidelines).
   Sideline 1. e4 The premature double step — the reserve tempo is spent, and a won position becomes a measured draw. 1… Ke7 Black now only has to walk straight ahead: here ALL five moves hold the half point. From now on the defence is child's play — which shows how expensive the pawn move was. 2. Kd2 Kd6 3. Kd3 Ke5 Black occupies the square in front of the pawn and holds the opposition. White has no tempo left with which to break it — the win is gone.
   Sideline 1. Kd1 Same kingside, same direction — but SIDEWAYS instead of forward. The move looks deceptively like the winning move and is a measured draw: the parity now favours Black. 1… Kd7 Only three of the five moves hold. Black has to mirror the white king — then the number of squares between the kings stays favourable for him. 2. Kd2 Kd6 3. Ke3 Ke5 The ONLY holding move of eight — and Black finds it blindly: face off. White stands in front of his own pawn and so can no longer use it as a tempo. A draw.
2. 1… Kd7
3. 2. Kd3
4. 2… Kd6
5. 3. Ke4 White takes space. He doesn't need the opposition yet — he carries the key to it in his pocket.
6. 3… Ke6
7. 4. e3 THE moment: the saved single step. The kings face each other, and BLACK has to move — the reserve tempo has bought the opposition.
8. 4… Kd6
9. 5. Kf5 The outflanking: Black had to give way, the white king slips past on the side.
10. 5… Ke7
11. 6. Ke5 The ONLY move among seven that still wins — and again not a pawn move. The king takes back close opposition; that is exactly what it was held for over the whole distance.
12. 6… Kd7
13. 7. Kf6
14. 7… Kc6
15. 8. e4
16. 8… Kd7
17. 9. e5
18. 9… Ke8
19. 10. Ke6 The king stands IN FRONT OF the pawn on the sixth rank — and again it is the only holding move of six. From here the win is mechanical.
20. 10… Kd8
21. 11. Kf7
22. 11… Kc7
23. 12. e6
24. 12… Kb6
25. 13. e7
26. 13… Kc5
27. 14. e8=Q The queen stands. The pawn never once hurried — it only ever moved once the king no longer needed it.

More in Pawn endgames

• Blocked pawns — the outflank White wins
• Key squares — the sixth rank always wins White wins
• Triangulation — losing a tempo White wins
• The trebuchet — whoever moves loses White wins
• The Reti manoeuvre — one king, two goals Draw
• The race — promoting with check White wins