White wins

  This is a famous endgame study composed
  by Kazantsev that not leaves indifferent
  to anyone.

  A profound example of the triumph of spirit
  over matter.

  Alexander Kazantsev

 

 

Alexander Kazantsev (1906-2002) apart from an enthusiast of the unknown, pioneer of Soviet UFOlogy and writer of both fiction and non-fiction, was a bright composer of chess endgame studies. In 1975 he was awarded by the Permanent Commission of the FIDE for Chess Compositions (PCCC) the title of FIDE Master of Composition.

 

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Ha! I wasn't even close to solving it! Nice puzzle

Fun stuff.  I got nowhere trying to solve it, but enjoyed the walk-through.

Pawn vs. Q+B... Pawn wins!!

Nice study! It does make you wonder, though, how the game would have arrived at that position, with white to move an unprotected rook next to black's king, who is surrounded by threatened squares. I can only think of 0. Be2-h5 Qg6-g3, or the black king capturing a pawn on a4, neither of which makes much sense. But I guess that's not important in compositions...

good thinking

5. Rb6 mate or am i missing something? :3

edit: ooooh pawns cant cover a rook backwards :) 

The Bishop move is definitely wrong because it gives a chance for the White Rook to distract the opponent's piece.. please take a look!!!

@masiba - White will play 12. h7 and 13. h8=Q.

That would the black opponent cannot easily mated.

I'm not sure at h8=Q when did checkmated the black King, but this is a rare chance to draw a game once more.

The check by Queen in C8 could be done in B7 as well, and:

10-... Qb7   11- Rxb7 Bxb7, the bishop can also cotrol the "b" pawn but not the "h" pawn!