I'm trying to recall a pawns only endgame study, by either Grigoriev or Troitsky.  White must queen his a-pawn but must begin by sacrificing a pawn with f6 to block Black's kings route to b7, and subsequently also sacrifices with d6 and c6 for the same purpose: keeping Black's king away from stopping his a-pawn.

Ring a bell for anybody?  Am including a diagram that is close but not quite.

I remember it now, it's beautiful, I just don't remember if this was a Grigoriev or Troitsky composition

If the goal is specifically to promote the a-pawn, then White must play as stated.  However, White can also win with 1 Kxg2.

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a) outstanding in-depth analysis

b) wrong: 1. Kxg2 Kg5 and Black's connected k-side passers, plus White's weak pawns on d5 and c5, guarantee Black will win

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LOL, sorry, my db is mate in ##, not studies....

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You must be new to the idea of a chess study.

The first move usually isn't a capture or check and is usually hard to find, there are not multiple solutions, and it's a very well thought out position created by a player much better than you :)

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Tom Barrister has a point that 1.Kxg2 also wins.  The existence of a 2nd solution may explain that the position given may not be the actual position in the case study because jemptymethod recreated the position from memory.

After 1.Kxg2 Kg5 2.a4 bxa3 3.bxa3, Black's K needs to stop White's a-pawn.  

The path to the a-file is either thru f6 (by wayof e7, d8, c8 and b7) or thru f5 (by way of f5, e5, d5, c6).  

The path to the a-file by way of f5 is closed by d6 cxd6; c6 dxc6 enabling White to queen the a-pawn

Thus, the only path open for Black's K to the a-file is by way of f6.

That leaves White's K to promote the f-pawn.

So, while Black is occupied with stopping the a-pawn, White wipes out Black's h and g pawns enabling White to promote the f-pawn

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Aww, I really liked this study -- I didn't know it was cooked like that.

I think maybe Black's h-pawn starts on h7.  It will not be as easy for White to get at back on h7, yet Black will still have the mate if White starts 1. a4?? bxa3  2. bxa3 Kg3 followed by h5/h4/h3/h2 mate.

Corrected, Black's h-pawn starts on h7 not h5

It's Troitzky 1913. The position shown in post 11 is correct. http://www.jmrw.com/Chess/Troitzky/base.htm If you go to Etude 1913(7) you can see it

Thanks SirDavid!  What got me interested in this ending again after not reviewing it for 10-15 years is the following game of mine where, albeit a pawn up to begin, I sacrifice a couple of pawns in a Rook ending, to get connected passers on the sixth (skip to move 70).  My knowledge of the Troitsky ending was definitely my inspiration:

http://queenalice.com/game.php?id=824544