Endgame Studies

Salam,

I have come across some interesting endgame study problems over the past few years, and I would love to share a couple of them here.

There are some difficult ones. On average, a problem would take me days, sometimes weeks, to solve. And many times, I find out that my solution is missing a certain variation which harbors an original idea, so be thorough. As one of my favourite masters once said, "Don't do as I do, do as I preach."

Okay, I will start with a simple one. For future reference, let's call it Problem No. 01:

Simple, indeed:

interesting, in fact the move 4.h6! cannot be avoided at all costs, because if 4. ... g6, then white simply plays 5. Ke7 and 6. Rf8#. 

Black can play 1 ... Rf7+ and possibly hold the game.  It's certainly an improvement on 1 ... Rxf8.  1... Rf7+ drives White's King away from the action and prevents the mating net later.

I know that the end position is a win for White if Black doesn't have the pawn.  I haven't looked at the position past this point.  Also, White might be able to play 2 Ke6 instead of taking the Rook.  In either case, it gives Black a better chance than the given line did.

Well done to cobra91. You managed to find the two key ideas in the study (Rh8 taking the h8 square from the Black king, and h6 preventing the defense h6 by Black). 

By the way, interesting move by Tom, Rf7+. Could it be a line missed by the composer, or could there be a cleaner win than the one you provided? I actually don't know, and I admit that I only considered this move superficially, naively convincing myself that the position reached (the exact one you reached with two rooks versus two knights and the g-pawn) merely requires technique. 

Note that: There is a general tendency for composers to lengthen the solution by implementing a series of first ''obvious'' moves leading up to the composer's key idea.. or so I've read. So that could be the explanation.

Okay, here are two more, simpler than the first.
No. 02, White To Play And Draw,
No. 03, White To Play And Win:

Puzzle 02:

Nicely done.
Okay, this one is also from a game. Black to play and win in Problem No. 04;