Can anyone please teach me the technique to win reserve tempo here?

Hello everyone,

I'm very bad at calculating the reserve tempo.  Here it is obvious person who saves the reserve tempo wins. Now I know in these situations you must only move pawns only if you have to, so I usually move my pawns one square at a time to save some reserve moves, but I lose more games like this than I win. Is there any method for me to workout I should move my pawn 2 squares in the first move, or once so I have an extra move remaining.  Simply I'm scared to move my pawn 2 squares in the first move in situations like this fearing i will lose that valuable extra pawn move, however I think that is not correct technique. If anyone can teach me a method to win reserve tempo in this puzzle and in doing so answer my question I will be so greatful. Thank you 

White pawns are moving upwards, white to move and win reserve tempo. 

Edit: Interesting  I just realised that similar puzzle, like this with white to move loses. I mean how can you look at both diagrams and know the outcomes, they look very similar to me, except black has not advanced one of his pawns. 

First of all the most important thing is counting how many pawns each side has on their original squares. The option to move 1 or 2 squares as needed is very useful. We see right away (in your first diagram) white has 3 pawns on their original squares while black has 2, so white should win.

So the most important rule is this: when in doubt, save your pawns on original squares for last.

Secondly I think it's worth mentioning the idea of mirroring the opponent, so lets quickly look at the same position when there are only 2 pawns.

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However in more complex positions this doesn't work. Lets see why

Can we come up with any general pattern for when passed pawns happen? Yes. When the players lead with the same pawn, (f and f or h and h) then this happens. For example, lets see what happens when the two players lead with opposite pawns.

So leading with opposite pawns means no passers (black pushed h so you push f).

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Now we'll quickly look at when you might want to move 2.

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Ok so putting a few of those ideas together, how do we explain white's various ways of winning?

Because after white moves he'll have 2 pawns on their original squares and black will have 3.

Black has more so he wins.

That's awesome. That might be a good rule of thumb to simplify positions like this. Nice thinking.

I've seen some tricky puzzles where there are pawns on both sides doing battling for who will be put into zugzwang. Sometimes the key move there is more like the move 1.g4 (advancing a pawn who has enemy pawns on both adjacent files). So I feel like I should mention that idea again.

But that plus your modified form of copying the opponent might be a really nice shorthand to solving a lot of these (sometimes very difficult) positions.

Pawn Counting.  Study Alekhines games,  He was a master at K+P endings.

This is a great read and helpful for many of us.  Thanks, Llama.

Thanks

Typing it all out helped me organize it in my mind and helped me learn it too, so it's a win-win.

I want to add that I was a little sloppy, using the word symmetry a lot.

The important idea I wasn't explicitly stating was that you want to put your opponent in a position where there are an even number of empty squares between the pawns. You can think of it like putting your opponent in opposition with the king. When it's their turn to move, they're in zugzwang and they lose.

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White to move (below) only 1 move wins

Thanks llama, obviosuly I would never have worked this out if not for your explanation, but as you said I completely understand that pawn structures in situations like this can be very complex  so you have to be very careful in using general patterns like this and sometimes cramping moves may be better. Also this made me think, is there some way for me to learn different ways to cramp pawns, I feel this can be a very useful lesson. There are so many lessons in creating passed pawns but no lesson on how to cramp pawns, I mean if you are winning on one side of board in the end game, and if you know how to cramp other side pawns that would be an automatic win.  Also chess.com should take note on users like llama, ariskotle (even though they are not titled players) here, they help users here which should be appreciated because there is no point having national masters blah blah etc here if they are not willing to share their knowledge. 

Thanks man, that means a lot to me

Very well explained, llama! Seems like you really know your endgames inside out

Tracking!

Her Der, thanks for that puzzle but it is a pawn breakthrough puzzle not reserve tempo puzzle. Do you or anyone can please share more king and pawns reserve tempo puzzles. Even if custom made scenarios are fines. If anyone has similar puzzles to my original one, please share. Thank you. 

ada