Endgames- "The Box"

Now, I know that many of you find studying endgames very boring, but we need to study them. The great GM Jose Capablanca said that one should first learn how to play endgames when they learn chess. He stated that he's never even looked into an opening book, yet he's such a great player! Why is this? Well the same GM said that "openings teach you openings, endgames teach you chess! Yet almost know listens to him. I have decided to listen to the great player, and I will from now on once in a while make an endgame post, whether you like it or not. 

Yesterday my friend showed me a very cool but easy and useful endgame technique in king and pawn endgames known as "The Box". This endgame happens in this sort of position:

White to move. Do you think white is winning? Black? Draw? How do you know? How long did it take you to find the answer?

If you don't know the rule of the box, go ahead and calculate it out. That is a method, but I will show you a much quicker way:

Draw a box like this:

If the box reaches the queening rank, then black is winning. If the box doesn't reach the queening rank, then white is winning. In our position, the box didn't reach the queening rank, so white is winning. (Note that blacks king can't move up the board or else whites pawns promote.) Now I will show you the moves:

Now lets say we move the pawns one square up so that the box reaches the queening rank:

Now black is winning. 

This obviously works for both sides, which I hope you figured but also note that the rule of the box works no matter what the distance from the pawns is, you again use the rule of the box:

Here the pawns are only 2 squares away from each other but since the box doesn't touch the queening square, it is winning for white, the king will be able to gobble the pawns up without them promoting. This goes on with no matter what the distance between the pawns is, you draw the box and see if the box touches the queening rank.

Now that hopefully you have a better grasp of the rule of the box, lets take a look at how to take a position and convert it to a winning box position. 

White to move, create a winning box position:

Remember, do not look at the answer until you think you have the full answer.

OK so now I am assume that you have your answer, I will reveal the answer.

Pat yourself on the back if you found the move 1.h6!

I hope that you read the article and found it interesting and useful! I will be looking forward to make more instructive content in the future. Credits to @Carsonbay for teaching me this concept, and therefore, I conclude this post here.