C&C Chess Club

The king looks for cover — behind the enemy pawn

White wins White to move · Queen endgames · Difficulty about Elo 2100

Position: 7q/4k3/1P4Q1/4p3/4K3/8/8/8 w - - 0 1
White to move · FEN 7q/4k3/1P4Q1/4p3/4K3/8/8/8 w - - 0 1

The plan

The most important and least-known trick of this material: the attacking king looks for its cover not behind its own pawn, but behind the ENEMY'S. A pawn blocks files and diagonals for both sides, and because the defender has only the queen, this block hits him much harder. If the white king stands directly in front of the black pawn, the black queen can no longer reach it along the whole long diagonal — its own pawn stands in its way. From this follows a rule that goes against every instinct: do NOT capture the enemy pawn. Measured against won positions in which the capture is even possible, it throws away the whole point in almost two out of three cases. Only once the king stands safely and the check series has dried up may the pawn fall — and then it falls with check. What remains is queen and pawn against queen, that is, the position from the stage before.

Rule of thumb: the enemy pawn is the best roof for your own king — whoever captures it tears down his own roof.

Why this level: The enemy pawn as your own shield

The solution, move by move

  1. 1. Kd5 The ONLY winning move out of twenty-three. The king steps next to the black pawn instead of its own. Every queen move ends in a draw (third sideline).
    Sideline 1. Qg5+ Start with check and drive the king ahead of you — the usual plan, and wrong here. 1… Kd7 The black king goes where it should: in front of the white pawn. 2. Qg6 Qf8 And the black queen now has time to occupy the queening file. 3. Qh7+ Ke8 4. Qc7 Qf4+ White stands without cover and has to watch out himself. A draw. The king move had to come first — in this endgame, checks cost you time, not the opponent.
  2. 1… Qa8+ Black starts checking and hopes the white king finds no square in the open.
  3. 2. Qc6 The ONLY move. The queen steps in between and thereby covers several squares on the king's path at once. Simply taking the pawn throws the win away (first sideline).
    Sideline 2. Kxe5 The pawn hangs, so away with it — with the king and without any danger. And that is exactly the mistake. 2… Qa5+ At once the king stands in the open. What protected it a moment ago now lies off the board. 3. Kf4 Kd7 And the black king has time to sit down in front of the white pawn. 4. Qg8 Ke7 5. Qh8 Kd7 The black queen holds the promotion, the king stands in front of it: a draw. In this material, capturing the enemy pawn throws away the whole point in almost two out of three won positions.
  4. 2… Qa5+
  5. 3. Ke4 The ONLY move — and the heart of the lesson. The king places itself directly IN FRONT OF the black pawn. A pawn does not attack the square in front of it, and at the same time it blocks its own queen's long diagonal. One square over, and Black has perpetual check (second sideline).
    Sideline 3. Kc4 One square over. The king heads towards its own pawn instead of in front of the enemy one — which would otherwise be correct. 3… Qa2+ But here it stands on an open diagonal, and the black queen finds it at once. 4. Kc5 Qa5+ 5. Kc4 Qa2+ Perpetual check. The difference between a win and a draw was a single king square — namely exactly the one on which the enemy pawn closes the diagonal.
  6. 3… Qa1 Black puts the queen on the long diagonal — and finds that it achieves nothing there: its own pawn stands right in the middle of it. There is no check left.
  7. 4. Qc5+ Now White takes over. From here the queen checks, and the black king has to run.
  8. 4… Ke6
  9. 5. Qd5+ The queen drives the king square by square away from its pawn. That is exactly the task: first separate the defender from the pawn, then take the pawn.
  10. 5… Kf6
  11. 6. Qd6+
  12. 6… Kf7
  13. 7. Qd7+ Always the same method — check, one step closer, check again. The black queen stands idle in the corner of the board the whole time.
  14. 7… Kf6
  15. 8. Qf5+ The decisive check: the king is driven onto the rank on which the queen reaches it and the pawn at the same time.
  16. 8… Kg7
  17. 9. Qxe5+ Now the pawn falls — with check, so without a reply. What remains is queen and pawn against queen with a pawn on the sixth rank: won, and already shown in detail in this category.

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