Chess Today

Checkmate With a King and Pawn Versus Lone King

White to play and win!

From this position there are six possible moves for White. Two lead to a win for White, the other four, with correct play by Black, will end in a draw.

The six possible moves in the position are Kd1, Kf1, Kd2, Kf2, e4, or e3.

The experienced chess player will know how to win this position without doing any calculation. He will know from his experience and training that in order to win, the White king must get in front of the pawn. To see why this is so, let us look at some of the non-winning moves.

If there is one move that could be considered the worst of the worst, it would have to be the move 1.e4. This move simply sends the pawn up the board without the support of his king. One more move like this, and the slow moving White king will not arrive in time to protect his pawn. In other words, the pawn will be captured by the Black king and the game will end in a draw.

1...Ke7 The Black king aggressively moves up the e-file to attack the pawn.

2.Ke2 The White king moves to provide support for his pawn. 2...Ke6 3.Ke3 Ke5 Black blocks the White pawn.

In Figure 2, the Black king has just moved to the e5-square, and from there he blocks the White pawn while also stopping the White king from moving any closer to the queening square on e8. The White king has two moves that will continue to provide protection for his pawn (kd3 or kf3). 4.Kd3 Ke6 After White is forced to step-aside, the Black king moves straight back in preparation for his next move, when he will force a well known situation called opposition.

5.Kd4 White moves in on the Black position. 5...Kd6 Black takes the opposition (see Figure 3).

To be precise, Black has direct opposition. Direct opposition is defined as a position in which the kings are on the same rank or file and they are separated by one square. When the term opposition is used, it normally refers to direct opposition.

It is White's turn to play, the Black king guards c5, d5, and e5. The White king, on his own, can not make any progress towered the (queening) e8-square. So White moves his pawn 6.e5+ Ke6 (Figure 4).

The Black king blocks the e-pawn, forcing the White king to e4, starting the sequence all over again.

7.Ke4 Ke7 8.Kf5 Kf7 9.e6+ Ke7 10.Ke5 Ke8 11.Kd6 Kd8 12.e7+ Ke8 13.Ke6 {Stalemate}

White can not win. He must either abandon his pawn or force stalemate. The game is a draw.

To better understand the king and pawn ending, please watch the video at the bottom of the page.

Next we will discuss how to force the win!

	a	b	c	d	e	f	g	h
8									8
7									7
6									6
5									5
4									4
3									3
2									2
1									1
	a	b	c	d	e	f	g	h

King and Pawn

White to play and win!

[#] 1.Kd2 Ke7 2.Ke3 Ke6 3.Ke4 White takes the opposition. 3...Kd6 Black has no choice, he must backup or step aside. 4.Kf5 Kd5 Attempting to go after the pawn. 5.e4+ Kd6 6.Kf6 Kd7 7.e5 Kd8

[7...Ke8 8.Ke6 White takes opposition in order to gain control of the queening square. 8...Kf8 9.Kd7 ]

8.Kf7 White takes control of the queening square. 8...Kd7 9.e6+ Kd8 10.e7+ Kd7 11.e8=Q+ Kd6 12.Qb5 The queen cuts off the escape of the Black king. 12...Kc7 13.Ke7 Kc8 14.Kd6 Kd8 15.Qd7#

[15.Qb8# ]

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