AMAZING CHESS PUZZLE! 

Exactly!! I love puzzles like this. They are realistic and yet full of easy to make mistakes like this one is.

who leaves e pawn untouched until endgame. unless u mean the concept itself then yes

@@syrosyndicate0001 I guess you’re right, but the general idea of just kings and a couple pawns is practical. I suppose it could happen though, I play a lot of London system so I start with d4 instead of e4, maybe in some wild game this could happen

Yeah I agree

​@@syrosyndicate0001 I move it on the first move

well it takes 2 isosceles triangles to form a square sooo...yea

Well, it is actually a rectangle formed of two squares with one column overlap.🧐

@@syndrac6254 don't bring socrates into this

@@michalkloucek473actually a square is just a special case of a rectangle 🧐

@@syndrac6254 isn't it 2 of any of the same triangle

Yes, the opposition is KEY in king and pawn endgames very often. But I disagree that this is a distant opposition thing. It's about being able to DEFEND the central pawn if you advance it as black runs toward the queenside pawns as Nelson explained in the video. It's NOT like that move prevents black from getting the opposition. The extra pawn is what wins this (if white keeps it), NOT the opposition.

what? it literally says on the video that white to play, are you illiterate?

If the king moves up then the pawn can too and the white king . So it will slowly move forward to become queen

Then white will push the E pawn all the way to the 6th rank and then proceed to abandon it to go after black's h pawn and promote the h pawn of his own. He literally explained that in the video

He answered this in the video, if you're not sure post the exact line you are asking about.

The white king will keep moving up and protect the pawn as it moves up. You're played chess before correct?

I had the same idea.

Because black would promote their A pawn while blocking your pawn with their king. And as soon as you try going for the black pawn, the black king can take your remaining pawn and the game becomes unwinnable for white

​@ThatCowGuy they wouldn't be able to block the pawn on the e file. The white king could keep them away and promote the e paen begore the black a file pawn could promote.

true, i dont see the problem with that. no 50 move rule either because it doesn't apply to pawns, nor does it specify that its close to 50 move rule.

You can't keep the black king away (by shouldering), he is too far in front of you. The king will capture your A pawn and then get in front of your pawn to prevent it from queening. Meanwhile you end up having to abandon your pawn to capture the opponent's pawn, or else you lose

Seems like that, but try to play it out, black king is quick enough to get your a pawn and block the other one, no matter how you play. White is 1 tempo too late, that's the tempo he lost when he had to push the king up before a4, because Black would go back and take, because he could box out White, because White played d1.

Starting where black has already captured the a pawn... Kd4. Kb6 Kd5. Kc7 Ke6. Kd8 Kf7 blocks black from taking e8 to prevent queening. If, somewhere along the line, black decides to come down to take the pawn, we bring our king back to a position where the pawn can come up to a safe spot. But, all this is just to protect the pawn. Is there a line black can throw in some pawn moves of their own and race us?

@@matthewgraham2619 By the time the black king takes the A pawn your king should already be on d4, (both kings moving 3 ranks up from where they started) meaning the continuation should be something like: Kd5 Kb7 Kd6 Kc8... If your king moves to d4 *after* black took the A pawn, then white wasted a move or moved the pawn Either way, following the line you mentioned (I'm assuming no pawns moved) then it's just a pawn race and both sides get a queen. Still a draw

Was thinking the Same, because as long as the king is in front of the pawn it can always promote. Issue ist that the black pawn can do the same again resulting in a draw.

​@@andremanicke8534but black pawn wouldn't get across in time

What? I thought this was a forced win

@@gorgit: It is a forced win, but you have to know how to play it JUST right, and clearly black can try different defensive ideas. That's why practical chess endings are much harder (and more realistic) than just knowing theoretical chess endings. (With practical endings, the same fundamentals apply, but extra pawns, for example, might be involved, and you have to calculate their impact on the game, and you have to be PRECISE to play the ending properly with consistency). The ending is the ONLY part of chess I'm fairly strong at -- I like the precision and the lack of pure memorization (like the opening) and the lack of random cheap tactical shots in the middle game. IOW, I like the purity of the endgame, as the KNOWLEDGE will separate the men from the boys, so to speak.

The diagonal part of the triangle is simply the diagonal of the square the king must be in to catch the pawn (re the square rule). It's just a visualization aid, since the square rule applies to ALL such king and pawn races, the square can be large, this can happen at the END of a longer calculation with trades, etc. To me -- every little trick that helps me not mess up the calculation and be more confident I'm looking at it right is appreciated. Oh, even grandmasters mess up some complex king and pawn endgames. There is a whole massive book on them, re the Encyclopedia of Chess Endings, with a bazillion categories. And I've seen strong players (like near-experts, the rating class below master) mess up even VERY SIMPLE king and pawn endings, as they got their rating being great at the MIDDLE game. So don't feel bad if you don't know every endgame, but if you want to improve, being better at the endgame will certainly help over time.

Just use literally any grid and any pieces. It can even be a grid drawn in sand with pebbles for pieces...It's not like this grid has any complex pieces or setup. Heck, you can even use a some kind of calc program, like Excel, to simulate it.

Don't you have an actual chessboard?

Did I ask for a physical chess set? No, i asked for the software!

@@jackmclane1826: Use virtually ANY strong program. There are LOTS of them now.

Wow 110 years and you proved the experts wrong. Just delete your comment. It's cringe. How is the white king going to pass the black king? You know he isn't allowed to get a space away. F#@k this is embarrassing

You equally lose a tempo, so the outcome will be exactly the same.

You are on the wrong side to defend.

That was my exact thought on first watching it. What did you come up with? Seems quite easy to use white king as blocker to stop black king getting back across to e pawn. I don't think black king would ever go across for the blocked white pawn for that exact reason

Then why isn't he winning?

As if conspiracy theorists tend to have an accurate view of how things work, vs. lots of random unproven THEORIES the vast majority of the time. Sans logic. Sans proof.

How does white king pass the black king? Please let me play you at chess. I am sick of losing but know a king can't pass another king a file over.

The triangle isn't that uncommon. I learned that trick in another RU-vid chess video, and was very surprised by it having played literally like 40 years before and not recall seeing that. If the square is big, it really helps visualize it clearly / more quickly for wherever the K and pawn are, IMO.

Nope, the black king can always get back onto the e file and block the remaining white pawn before the white king can cut him off if the white king stays so close to the pawn. If the white king advances ahead of the pawn it can stop the black king from coming back over, but it has to leave the pawn on its starting row to do so and then black just pushes its own pawn to promote to queen immediately after white and draws that way. White has to be able to threaten to move the king up to protect that pawn, but can't actually do so if black doesn't come back without being one move too slow to prevent a draw.

Geez these people suck at chess. It's kf1. After 110 years you probably aren't coming up with an unknown solution.

U lose tempo on the pawns and their king can force u to draw by pushing their unblocked a pawn

You are on the wrong side to defend. You can't get within a space of the other king

Oh wow. You disproved a 110 year old solution. ... or just maybe... you didn't fully think it through and if you Played it out you will see it's a draw as the black king can easily block the white kings advancement since you know how king can't move into a check situation. Since he has to move it means he has to move the pawn...nevermind . Just play it out and see.

Black K can get in the way preventing the promotion. If the Black K ever gets to the C file the White K can't protect

Problem is u lose tempo and blacks king has enough time to get in a normally stalemate position and/or threaten to promote their a pawn. Kd5 Kc7 Ke6 a5 Kf7 a4 e5 a3 e6 a2 e7 a1=Q e7=Q from then on just a bunch of checks until a forced draw by black

You can't push the white king if the black king blocks him

Black K can get in the way preventing the promotion. If the Black K ever gets to the C file the White K can't protect

So i did some calculations and I came to the conclusion that if white tried to push the king when blacks king is on c5 black white loses a tempo on the race for white to promote and black to stop promotion. Kd3 Kb6 e4 Kxa6 Kd4 Kb6 Kd5 Kc7 and at this point it's unwinnable for white because black can threaten to promote while u try to roll out the carpet for the e pawn or simply get in a normally stalemate position and force u to take their a pawn and it's a draw

Uh... king can't go to d3 and check himself. He has to stayva square away from the other king so can't protect the pawn... unless the king goes the f1 and now is the black king that can't go on the e file.

@@laartwork I don't know at what point you're talking about, but I meant at 2:05 when the black king is at c5.

Try it. The black king can block the white kings advancement and the white pawns. I know for a minute you thought you were able to disprove a 110 year solution. But no that's a draw. For the win it's kf1

No, Black K can draw if go left. He can force stalemate. Under analysis the Bl K just takes the other pawn and the Wh K is forced to defend.

Ignoring the facts and evidence like a science denier will NOT work well for you in chess, any better than it makes the earth flat for flat earthers. Nelson SHOWED YOU CLEARLY why it's NOT a win both ways.

You were giving yourself chances then, this is computer solved

As long as you start with kf1. That was the solution

Tested. In this case black has time to get back ahead of E-pawn and stale there while pushing it's own A-pawn in the meantime. Interesting puzzle!

No, because you lose a tempo. The reason you win going to F1 is that you GAIN a tempo. These things matter a LOT in K+P endings.

The only solution for white to win is kf1 . He shows all the wrong moves but once it's kf1 it's over for black no matter what he does.

try to play it out, black king is quick enough to get your a pawn and block the other one, no matter how you play. White is 1 tempo too late, that's the tempo he lost when he had to push the king up before a4, because Black would go back and take, because he could box out White, because White played d1.

The pawn controls the squares you would want to be on for opposition, so the black king can't mirror the white king exactly. If the black king moves down to stay adjacent to the pawn, you move up to establish opposition and safely escort it up the field since the pawn prevents them from moving into opposition from your next destination.

@@SparkSovereign Yeah... the black king can't move left and right. I, uh, I missed that. I'm not good at this! Thanks for the answer, though.

But White has another pawn very close to queening and if Black doesn't take it and just blocks the e pawn, at some point White is going to abandon it and go after the black pawn. Black can try to stop him or he can keep blocking, he can't do both. One of White's pawns will queen

This is a joke right? That only works against an enemy pawn.

@@laartwork: It's funny how on internet discussions, one can't tell if someone is sarcastic or clueless -- given how many clueless comments often come up on SO many topics. Which is why if it's not SUPER obvious, I prefer to use a /s when being sarcastic.

Play it out. It's a draw

He can't do anything to stop you from promoting the pawn if you go to f1. Your pawn has a free run to the top with the king protecting.