The nice thing about this study is that besides of it's beauty it has some real practical value as well. I've seen some games where this winning mechanism is actually used.
Endgame Study #11
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nice...thx !!!
No. A bishop would've drawn this easily. Try harder.
@ heinzie
I've seen this somewhere, these are annoying to solve because they don't necessarily help you in real OTB positions, more of a calculation exercise.
@ azure9
That solution seems too straightforward. For example a line for 2...Ke4
That's pretty cool. Very creative.
orangehonda! yes Ke4 is where the candy is at. Supposedly the position stumped three world champions, but you always have to read such marketing statements with a grain of salt. These positions may be uninteresting, I've spent a good deal of time with these lone N vs P positions some years ago and I didn't find them particularly enjoyable... I only tried them because they were given as part of a Dutch chess tutoring guide which I forced myself to work through. But this one is super tricky and well how to say it, mind boggling?! I could have given Black's better move immediately but that would run into another tablebase line posted in five minutes. That's the Internet where newbies are grandmasters :-)
heinze,the answer is Nb4 h5 Nc6 Ke4( diagonal opposition to the Knight.) Na5! Kf4( everything else draws) Nc4! Kf3( guarding the g4 square) Ne5+! Kf4 Nc4! h4 Nd2 h3 Nh2 Kg3 Nf1+ Kg2 Ne3+ Kf2( Kf3 draws.)Ng4+! Kg2 Nxh2 Kxh2 and White manages to draw.
@ heinzie
Wow, stumped 3 WCs huh? Cool. Yeah, I find them uninteresting too, but like you said it would be good if I made myself completely work through at least one of these.
The small bits of knight endgame I know are it's annoying when the king has that diagonal opposition to the knight (two squares away), and also when it's 3 squares away on a rank or file (two clear squares in between). Those are usually the good defensive moves in positions like these.
@ luigimarill
the sequence Nd2 h3 Nh2 needs clarification. Instead of Nc4, Ng6+ draws immediately... although the beginning of your solution with the Na5 move rings a bell. The move 3...Kf4 is very counter intuitive to me.
White to mate in eight or promote his pawn