Exclusive: for chess masters (especially grandmasters!)

I am interested in knowing how long it takes for any of you to solve this puzzle that was given to me by another chess.com user--white to play and WIN!

took about 20 seconds to see that white gets opposition no matter what, rest can be played out on intuition

I concluded Kf2 in about 15 seconds lol and I am no master.  Pretty standard puzzle.

I messed up the puzzle...white king should be on f2.

b3 is a simple win. Black then has 3 legal moves. Ke5 loses a pawn to kg3. Kg5 loses after kg3 kh5 e5 Kg5 e6 kf6 kxg4 kxe6 kf4 kd5 kf5 gaining the opposition and winning both of blacks pawns. g3+ runs into the same problem as kg5, white will just distract the king away with the e pawn, win the g pawn and then gain the opposition winning all of blacks pawns.

Your money was already transferred to the tablebase owner. I'm afraid he has a strong case were you to take him to court.

1. b3? spoils the white chances. After (e.g.) 1. ... g3+ 2. Ke2 g2 3. Kf2 g1Q+ 4. Kxg1 Ke3 5. e5 Kxd3 it's a tablebase draw. Apparently the pawn on b3 is very badly placed since the same ending with the pawn on b2, wins - even if black has succeeded in moving Pb4 to b3 first!

Now I am not sure whether whites correct first move is 1. Ke2, 1. Kf1 or 1. Kg2, but I dó remember this endgame was recently published on one of the fora, probably the endgame-forum. Somebody may care to look it up. I have done my part!

Ke2 is just wrong. Kg2 is whites move.

After g3+ white plays Kg2 not Ke2.

Ran it through stockfish, it gives kf1 at +6.67. But b3 is evaluated exactly the same.

using an engine is cheated and you ain't a master.

1. ... g3+ 2. Kg2 gives the same result as the Ke2-line I gave as an example. Still a draw after the bK captures on d3.

The point is that whatever you play after 1. b3? g3+ is a draw.

Takes only a few minutes to solve.

First thing to note is that if the black king is forced backwards to any square- g5, e5 he loses immediately after Kg2/g3 (We don't know where our king is at first). Second thing to note is that after g3, Kg2 followed by e5 is decisive.

Next we simply have to compare positions. After 1.- Ke3 2.e5 ... e8=q d2, b4 covers the c3 square (it doesn't matter whether we play b3 or not.) However, we have the thematic resource of Qxb4 (eventually) and after d1=Q we have Qa4+ trading off black's queen and creating a new one after b4.

Finally, we must choose between Kg2 and Kf1. I think that this is a relatively trivial decision since after Kg2 g3 is suddenly a possibility (e5 Kxe5 Kxg3 Kf5 draws since black will gain the opposition). Some easy calculation after Kg2 determines it is a draw: 1.Kg2 g3 2. Kf1 Kg4 3. Kg1 Kg5 and white must play b3 to win in this position. However, if he tries to bring his king closer wih Kf1 to win the following Pawns vs Queen ending, we have the deflection g2+ and with the pawn on b3 this position is a draw.

To be honest, it takes longer to type this than to solve it.

A lot of typing chess king but I'm not sure what your answer is. The first move in the position is Kf1 or b3? They seem to be about the same.

As chesskingdreamer just said (#15), 1.Kf1 is White's only winning move. I would be glad to play Black and draw against anyone who thinks White could win with a different first move.

I take no bets against the master of engines and tablebases but I can't see why 1. Kg1 is worse than 1. Kf1. Is it?

If drawing is worse than winning, it's worse. (1...Ke3)

As soon as White plays b3 Black draws with 2...Ke3, since White has lost the queen skewer explained by chesskingdreamer.

2. b3? is always bad because of ... Ke3. White queens but the tablebase result is a draw.