Drawish appearance, however let's try. The first move is sealed: 1. Kd5. Black feel very confident of themselves, 1... Kc8. In fact it would be 100% draw had the two rook pawns vanished. Hmmm, what is the difference in this situation?! Ooops, sorry, this is not true.
Oh yeah here is the way, 2. Kc4. (Now 2... Kc7 would lose after 3. Kc5.) 2... Kd8 3. Kd4! Black King cannot approach c7 since White can always move Kc5 immediately! 3... Kc8 4. Kd5 Kd8 5. Kd6 and White wins.
Any different for the case 2... Kb8 ? Are the a pawns in this puzzle redundant?
The fact that White's pawn reaches the 6th secure him/her a win. If there were a 9th row, Black could also use triangulation (3. ...Kd9) to dispel white's threat.
Thanks Matalino for the hint about Triangulation!
Well, hello members of the puzzle contest! I think I must clearly state that only members of the puzzle contest can post their answer. There were some major misunderstandings last puzzle! Now, here is the answer to Puzzle #1:
Black's move 1...b2?? allows White to draw. Now 2 Rxb2 wins a pawn, and if 2...Rh2+ 3 Kf3 Rxb2 then the position os stalemate. Try to find a winning line for Black! Now the first two questions have been answered, was 1...b2 a good move and why or why not. But what is Black's best move?
The moves in bold are the main line, and the moves in normal type are alternatives. 1...Kg4!. Now White most check from behind or rush over to the Queenside with his king. Rushing over with the king(2 Kd2)fails to 2...b2 3 Kc2(3 Rxb2 Rh2+ 4 Kc1 Rxb2 5 Kxb2 f3 and the f-pawn will queen)3...f3 4 Rf8(4 Kxb2 f2 5 Rf8 Rf3 and the f-pawn will queen)4...Rh2+ 5 Kb1 f2. Threatening 6...Rh1+ 7 Kxb2 f1=Q 8 Rxf1 Rxf1. Now a terrible mistake would be 6 Kxb2?? f1=Q+ winning the rook, so White must play 6 Ka2 b1=Q+ 7 Kxb1 Rh1+ 8 Kc2 f1=Q 9 Rxf1 Rxf1 with a won game for Black. The only other move is 2 Rg8+ Kh4 3 Rh8+ Kg3 4 Rg8+ Kh2. White has run out of checks and Black is threatening 5...b2, so White must play 5 Ra8 or 5 Kd2. 5 Ra8 fails to 5...Kg1 6 Kd2 b2 7 Kc2 f3 8 Rf8 f2 and the f-pawn marches triumphantly to f1. So 5 Kd2 Kh1 6 Ra8 b2 7 Kc2 f3 8 Rf8 Rh2+ 9 Kb1 f2 and 10...Kg1 and 11...f1=Q will follow. 0-1.
Scores:
oinquarki-2 points
videogamefan-9 points
anmol21-0 points
pawn2467134-1 point
EM1NEM-0 points
Standings:
videogamefan-9 points
oinquarki-2 points
pawn2467134-1 point
EM1NEM and anmol21-0 points
Surprisingly, videogamefan was the only one who got the right answer.
Now for the puzzle: