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Probably because the white king ran down the board to try and stop the pawns. An active king in the endgame is usually a good thing. A good trick is to look at the numbers on the side of the board so you can see who's perspective it's from.
The simplest is to mate in 3 by playing >!c5!< and then maneuvering the rook to mate. But it is curious that there is another slower way to win. Black also wins by playing Kb6, and after Kb8 sacrifice the rook for the a-pawn and win easily in the resulting pawn ending.
In a game that's what I would have done. Time is low at this point of the game and if I find a win i stop calculating. Prevent stalemate, Sack the rook for the a pawn and queen the g pawn jumped out to me immediately
That’s what I was thinking. Kb6 Kb8 Ra2 a8=Q Rxa8+ Kxa8, then the g pawn marches to promotion and an easy win. Stalemate didn’t even cross my mind here.
You wouldn’t have to sacrifice the rook if you did KB6, RE2 or RF2 also threaten mate on the next move if white promotes, the only way to avoid it is to move the king to C8, the KxA7 leaves the king and blocked pawn against king rook and 3 pawns
I saw c5 to give white legal moves and I saw the above strategy with KB6, but for some reason couldn’t put them together to find mate in 3
1... Kb6 2. Kb8 Re2 3. a8=N+!!
This line grants white a knight while preventing mate. I wouldn't recommend it because, though it's still winning, white has a little bit of counterplay.
What goes to c5? Can’t the lawns only go downwards and the rook is in b column? And king is blocked from c5? What is put into c5? So confused… I’m def a beginner
The important thing is not to stalemate White. After c5, White is no longer in a stalemate since he can move his other pawn. Now Black has time to pass the Rook, Rh2 and Rh8#
There are quite a few posts where I’m getting the board orientation mixed up myself. Is there supposed to be a convention?
Edit: oh, the column labelling in alphabetical or reverse order..
>Is there supposed to be a convention?
Aside from the columns and ranks being labelled, typically the board is presented from the POV of the side you're playing / wins the puzzle.
This one is a little weird because we're not used to the White King making it to the 8th rank.
>Aside from the columns and ranks being labelled, typically the board is presented from the POV of the side you're playing / wins the puzzle.
Historically the convention was always white goes up, and puzzles are white to play.
It's even worse, white can play Kb8 and Kc8, escaping to d7 after Re8+. I also thought of the underpromotion because I kept thinking that black's pawn were marching in the wrong direction, covering d7 lel
I did find that the best first move was ...c5, which forces white to do dc5 (and avoids stalemate). After that I still should have looked further to see the entire solution as it's pretty simple.
Sadly, I didn't see it. Went with the longer route.
1... Kb6
2. Kb8 / Ka6+
3. Ka8 ... because Kc8 would lead to win for black, Ka8 can at least hope for a draw if black stumbles.
3... Rf2 so to prevent stalemate.
4. Kb8 only legal move for white.
4... Rf7
5. Ka8 again white is stubborn / Rxa7
After that, all that's needed is careful play from black.
Please note that I only got 500 elo and I haven't even played chess for some months. So my calculations might be really faulty.
Ahaha, okay now I'm confused. Yes, black king is on c7 but after the pawn move I move it elsewhere.
Still, something tells me I made a mistake somewhere. Sorry for the confusion.
I analyzed the image and this is what I see. Open an appropriate link below and explore the position yourself or with the engine:
> **Black to play**: [chess.com](https://chess.com/analysis?fen=K7/P1K3p1/2p5/3p4/3P4/8/1r6/8+b+-+-+0+1&flip=true&ref_id=23962172) | [lichess.org](https://lichess.org/analysis/K7/P1K3p1/2p5/3p4/3P4/8/1r6/8_b_-_-_0_1)
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You can’t move yourself into check. It’s stalemate. The answer is (pawn) c5 to allow white to move legally and then proceed to checkmate the white king with rook to either e2, f2 or h2 and then mate on the 8th rank.
I don’t know the rules of Chess but that’s the way to move without losing Rook, if it’s considered a stalemate then this game is either a stalemate or White wins lol…
Clearly. You can’t move yourself into a check, both kings can’t touch each other (being within one tile close to each other) and every move has to be played, there is no “skip” or “pass”. Applying that, after Rb6 white does not have any legal moves left, resulting in a stalemate, a draw
No, Can’t you see? We are shown the last move by white, d3 to d4, giving away that white pawns move downwards, and black pawns move upwards. I gave you the answer above, as well as the top-comment did
You can’t check with a king. The way to win without losing the rook:
- Black pawn to c5; White pawn takes c5
- Black took to e2; White pawn to c6
- Black rook to e8 (check)
wow, was having trouble understanding why c5 was necessary, but now I see that it would've resulted in a stalemate if black went straight for the mate in 2 with the rook and didn't give white the capture so white has a valid moves remaining.
This is a pretty cool beginner puzzle with a unique take-away
Even if you didn’t find that idea, there’s always just
Let the king move, play Ra2, if they promote just sacrifice your rook and then push your g pawn and make a queen
if you take a closer look at the image, you’ll notice that white moved downwards. therefore Rb8 would be a blunder as axb8=Q+ exists and white would be winning
c5, dxc5 is forced, Re2, c6 is forced, Re8#.
The trick is that ok your first turn, only two moves don't instantly end the game with stalemate. Rb8+ would force axb8, likely promoting to a queen and give white the advantage, so that move can be discarded. So instead advancing the c pawn to allow white to capture it is the only move that makes sense.
White's pawn can now advance on the next move, which would be the only move available to white. Because of this, you now have a free move to do whatever you want. White's king is already locked down by white's a pawn and black's king, so all you need is a piece to deliver a check, and it'll be mate. Therefore, move the rook to any open file other than the one it's currently on (since delivering check here would lead to being captured by white's a pawn), then have it go down to the 8th rank to deliver checkmate.
Black is crushing here even if mate-blind from this position. I would be perfectly content as black to win by attrition and not worry about mate, if I needed to keep things simple. Don't hang stalemate. Give the white king some space to move. Sacrifice your rook to ruin white's pawn promotion. Now you have a bunch of past pawns and white has no winning chances, and you didn't have to actually calculate anything.
This one I have isn't mate in 3 but it's still fun.
Kb6
Kb8 Rh2
a8(Q) Rh8#
If the white king keeps moving to the left after Rh2 you get the pawn for free after Ka7. I also found that if they promote to knight they stop checkmate by checking your king... but they also have to promote to a knight which atp you just attack their lone pawn and win 3 pawns up. Not as efficient but if you couldn't find mate in 3 that's a good substitute to put you into a winning position.
In a hurry and can’t find the mate but did want to say something. This is absolutely winning for black. Kb6 to avoid stalemate then sack the rook for the a7 pawn. You 100% win the resulting pawn endgame. The only plan I can think of that would allow mate in 3 obviously starts with Kb6, followed by Kb8, then kc6#. I’m not sure what to do after that. Maybe I’m wrong about that line.
If you go kb6, the only available move is for him to move his king to the b file. Move king to a6 and it's a discovered attack on the king with the rook... hmm... but their king could just move right back to a8, putting you in another bind, huh? What if you don't move ka6 on that next move, and instead moved your rook to the a file? If they move back, you take the pawn with the king? I don't know...
Hey, OP! Did your game end in a stalemate? Did you encounter a weird pawn move? Are you trying to move a piece and it's not going? We have just the resource for you! The [Chess Beginners Wiki](https://www.reddit.com/r/chessbeginners/wiki/index/) is the perfect place to check out answers to these questions and more! The moderator team of r/chessbeginners wishes to remind everyone of the community rules. **Posting spam, being a troll, and posting memes are not allowed.** We encourage everyone to report these kinds of posts so they can be dealt with. Thank you! Let's do our utmost to be kind in our replies and comments. Some people here just want to learn chess and have virtually no idea about certain chess concepts. *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/chessbeginners) if you have any questions or concerns.*
1. c5 2. dxc5, Re2 3. c6, Re8#
Why would you need C5? Rook E2, Pawn A6 (or A5), Rook takes Pawn becomes checkmate, no?
Re2 is stalemate because white has no moves, c5 is to give the e4 pawn moves to prevent stalemate
Why would it become a stalemate? Pawn A7 can still move
White's pawns are moving down, not up. the white pawn is on a7 and it's blocked by the king, and pawns can't move backwards
Why is the king on the other side of the board? It makes it more confusing.
Probably because the white king ran down the board to try and stop the pawns. An active king in the endgame is usually a good thing. A good trick is to look at the numbers on the side of the board so you can see who's perspective it's from.
Ya why would the opponent move their pieces?? So confusing
Ikr... They make the board so messy in the middle of the game, chess definitely looks a lot prettier when you don't mess with the board.
At least keep them on your half of the board
Where can it move? Onto the King's back?
google quantum tunneling
Holy Theory
New model just dropped
Hypothetical zombie
the pawn is 1 step away from promotion and its own king blocks its way to promotion. where do you see that it can move here?
The picture shows the board from black's perspective, not white's, so white's king is on A8.
Pawns cant move back
Stop humiliating yourself
The board is seen from Black's perspective. a6 or a5 are not possible.
White pawns are going down the board
The white pawn is moving down the board so Re2 is stalemate
when did pawns start go backwards? c5 is to prevent stalemate
Yeah, it took me a minute to realize its directions
You didn't even need to look at the board letters and numbers, the last move for white was pawn moving down.
the white pawns are going downwards, not upwards, he cant do a6/a5
White pawns start on the 2nd rank, not the 7th
Ah yes, the rook on e2 takes the pawn that moved backwards to a5 or a6 Is this chatgpt vs chatgpt
White’s pawns are moving down the board, so C5 is necessary to prevent stalemate
Alternatively, Rook B8 would be a mate in 1
Axb8=Q+ and white wins
https://preview.redd.it/86xgowwae71b1.jpeg?width=1079&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=148b51f055d7392f74fe0e60f38a679f6a8025b5
Best response lmao
Rb8+ is a super blunder that lets white promote and win the game
The white pawn takes the rook if you play b8
Oh wait, I just realized that it’s White that pushed up, mb
No lololol
Bruh.
??
You either aren’t 2-400 or you used an engine. In all seriousness, that is really smart. I didn’t notice that.
The simplest is to mate in 3 by playing >!c5!< and then maneuvering the rook to mate. But it is curious that there is another slower way to win. Black also wins by playing Kb6, and after Kb8 sacrifice the rook for the a-pawn and win easily in the resulting pawn ending.
I thought of that and never found the mate in 3
it’s takes move rook to open file move pawn and then mate
I meant that I thought of kb6 into rook sacrifice to prevent stalemate. I didn't see c5 led to mate.
ohhh
In a game that's what I would have done. Time is low at this point of the game and if I find a win i stop calculating. Prevent stalemate, Sack the rook for the a pawn and queen the g pawn jumped out to me immediately
That’s what I was thinking. Kb6 Kb8 Ra2 a8=Q Rxa8+ Kxa8, then the g pawn marches to promotion and an easy win. Stalemate didn’t even cross my mind here.
You wouldn’t have to sacrifice the rook if you did KB6, RE2 or RF2 also threaten mate on the next move if white promotes, the only way to avoid it is to move the king to C8, the KxA7 leaves the king and blocked pawn against king rook and 3 pawns I saw c5 to give white legal moves and I saw the above strategy with KB6, but for some reason couldn’t put them together to find mate in 3
1... Kb6 2. Kb8 Re2 3. a8=N+!! This line grants white a knight while preventing mate. I wouldn't recommend it because, though it's still winning, white has a little bit of counterplay.
Damnnnn, good friggin call!
What if black plays 2... Ra2 instead of 2... Re2?
Yeah that's winning for black. We were just looking at a different line, though.
ok
What goes to c5? Can’t the lawns only go downwards and the rook is in b column? And king is blocked from c5? What is put into c5? So confused… I’m def a beginner
Pawns are moving in the other direction
OH!
The important thing is not to stalemate White. After c5, White is no longer in a stalemate since he can move his other pawn. Now Black has time to pass the Rook, Rh2 and Rh8#
Good point
Also very useful to know that even without any pawns on the board except White's a-pawn, Black wins with 1...Kb6 2.Kb8 Ka6+ 3.Ka8 Rh2
Yes!
How’d the king get over there
One square at a time brother.
The anti-blitzkrieg
Pawn to c5..white pawn takes...Rf2...white pawn advances...then rook checks and mate
Why not move the rook to B8?
Pawn takes and becomes a queen. White would easily win after that
Okay, I see. I was looking at the board upside.
There are quite a few posts where I’m getting the board orientation mixed up myself. Is there supposed to be a convention? Edit: oh, the column labelling in alphabetical or reverse order..
>Is there supposed to be a convention? Aside from the columns and ranks being labelled, typically the board is presented from the POV of the side you're playing / wins the puzzle. This one is a little weird because we're not used to the White King making it to the 8th rank.
>Aside from the columns and ranks being labelled, typically the board is presented from the POV of the side you're playing / wins the puzzle. Historically the convention was always white goes up, and puzzles are white to play.
In this particular scenario you can see the white pawn just moved
normally white is at the bottom?
Thank you for asking cuz I was so confused lol
And he sacrifices... THE PAWN!!!!
Holy sacrifice
new response just dropped
Backwards pawns I was thinking G8=Q#
c5 dxc5 Rh2 c6 Rh8#?
How the fuck did you even reach this position? The king is all the way across the board, and yet somehow wasn’t mated on the way.
Man was on a fuckin pilgrimage
Where could the king even go Edit: I’m an idiot, he doesn’t need to move his king, he ain’t in check
Haven’t seen anyone mention this, but why not Kb6, Kb8 Re2, (a7/Kc8) Re8#? Does this let the white king out in a way I’m not seeing?
Never mind. Knight promotion strikes again
It's even worse, white can play Kb8 and Kc8, escaping to d7 after Re8+. I also thought of the underpromotion because I kept thinking that black's pawn were marching in the wrong direction, covering d7 lel
1... c5 2. dxc5 Rh2 3. c6 Rh8#
Isn’t rook b8 checkmate in 1? Or is there something I’m not seeing? Edit: nvm I’m just really really dumb. Sorry!
Kb6, KB8, Re2, Pa8->Q and Re8 mate. You let you opponent make a queen then mate them.
Nevermind, they can promote to knight.
I did find that the best first move was ...c5, which forces white to do dc5 (and avoids stalemate). After that I still should have looked further to see the entire solution as it's pretty simple.
Sadly, I didn't see it. Went with the longer route. 1... Kb6 2. Kb8 / Ka6+ 3. Ka8 ... because Kc8 would lead to win for black, Ka8 can at least hope for a draw if black stumbles. 3... Rf2 so to prevent stalemate. 4. Kb8 only legal move for white. 4... Rf7 5. Ka8 again white is stubborn / Rxa7 After that, all that's needed is careful play from black. Please note that I only got 500 elo and I haven't even played chess for some months. So my calculations might be really faulty.
Rf2 is stalemate since the pawn blocks the a7 square and the black king blocks the other squares
Oh... but the black king is on a6 so it only attacks b6 and b7. White king can still move to b8 despite Rf2. Then again, maybe my mistake. 😅
The black king is on c7?
Ahaha, okay now I'm confused. Yes, black king is on c7 but after the pawn move I move it elsewhere. Still, something tells me I made a mistake somewhere. Sorry for the confusion.
I analyzed the image and this is what I see. Open an appropriate link below and explore the position yourself or with the engine: > **Black to play**: [chess.com](https://chess.com/analysis?fen=K7/P1K3p1/2p5/3p4/3P4/8/1r6/8+b+-+-+0+1&flip=true&ref_id=23962172) | [lichess.org](https://lichess.org/analysis/K7/P1K3p1/2p5/3p4/3P4/8/1r6/8_b_-_-_0_1) --- ^(I'm a bot written by ) [^(u/pkacprzak )](https://www.reddit.com/u/pkacprzak) ^(| get me as ) [^(Chess eBook Reader )](https://ebook.chessvision.ai?utm_source=reddit&utm_medium=bot) ^(|) [^(Chrome Extension )](https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/chessvisionai-for-chrome/johejpedmdkeiffkdaodgoipdjodhlld) ^(|) [^(iOS App )](https://apps.apple.com/us/app/id1574933453) ^(|) [^(Android App )](https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=ai.chessvision.scanner) ^(to scan and analyze positions | Website: ) [^(Chessvision.ai)](https://chessvision.ai)
how do you find extremely complex positions that are lower resolution and fail at this lol
Wtf bot? :(
Bad bot
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Black to play: [chess.com](https://chess.com/analysis?fen=K7/P1k3p1/2p5/3p4/3P4/8/1r6/8+b+-+-+0+1&flip=true) | [lichess.org](https://lichess.org/analysis/K7/P1k3p1/2p5/3p4/3P4/8/1r6/8_b_-_-_0_1?color=black])
Rook B6
With what purpose? Anyway that would be a stalemate either way.
Only White king can move and he moves into an Check position? edit; you don’t lose Black rook either moving to B6.
You can’t move yourself into check. It’s stalemate. The answer is (pawn) c5 to allow white to move legally and then proceed to checkmate the white king with rook to either e2, f2 or h2 and then mate on the 8th rank.
I don’t know the rules of Chess but that’s the way to move without losing Rook, if it’s considered a stalemate then this game is either a stalemate or White wins lol…
Clearly. You can’t move yourself into a check, both kings can’t touch each other (being within one tile close to each other) and every move has to be played, there is no “skip” or “pass”. Applying that, after Rb6 white does not have any legal moves left, resulting in a stalemate, a draw
Then the Check is at G8, unless this is also a stalemate because White king can’t move anywhere without being taken..? Black pawn turns queen
No, Can’t you see? We are shown the last move by white, d3 to d4, giving away that white pawns move downwards, and black pawns move upwards. I gave you the answer above, as well as the top-comment did
Got it, confused by this shit but I guess it’s letting the White pawn take to find the Check. edit; Black rook A2?
Black rook to a2 would be a stalemate as well since white has no legal moves afterwards
You can’t check with a king. The way to win without losing the rook: - Black pawn to c5; White pawn takes c5 - Black took to e2; White pawn to c6 - Black rook to e8 (check)
Good to know you can’t Check with king.
Rb8 and that is already a checkmate.
axb8. The perspective is a little confusing
I didn't find the mate in three, but I'm pretty sure kb6 leads to a winning position.
I didn’t find the mate in 3 but after Kb6 and trading the rook for the a pawn it’s a very simple pawn endgame
Is Rb8 not checkmate? Edit: nevermind, white pawns move down
Move rook to b7
why not just promote the pawn to a rook / queen and checkmate?
Black pawns go up
wtf i didnt even realize how the fuck did they end up in that position lol
Pawn c5 sacrifice then rook to f2 followed by f8. C5 gives opponent legal moves to buy time fot the rook.
wow, was having trouble understanding why c5 was necessary, but now I see that it would've resulted in a stalemate if black went straight for the mate in 2 with the rook and didn't give white the capture so white has a valid moves remaining. This is a pretty cool beginner puzzle with a unique take-away
Even without finding M3, there's literally a passed pawn. Just exchange pawns on c5, sac the rook and push.
I can't find a mate in 3 but I can find a win. Sac the c pawn. Play Rb7. Sac the rook. Collect the white c pawn and then push your pawn to Victory
Yeah he queens first
why not just move the king left, move the rook right to pressure the pawn, and promote your pawns
>!1. d4 c5 2. dxc5 Rh2 3. c6 Rh8#!<
Moving queen to b7 is a check I'm pretty sure sincee your rook is protecting your queen
Even if you didn’t find that idea, there’s always just Let the king move, play Ra2, if they promote just sacrifice your rook and then push your g pawn and make a queen
Playing Ra2 wouldnt let the king move
Move your king first, like kd6
It would still be stalemate. What’s white’s move after …kd6?
Fuck I missed that lmfao
sac the pawn and bring the rook over and down
C5 is a disgusting move hHahaha
c5 dxc5 Rh2 c6 Rh8#
Sac the pawn. White is forced to take it and in the mean time rotate the rook around to deliver checkmate on the 8th rank.
c5 then pawn is forced to take then we move rook to open file and pawn is forced to go forward then ggwpez right?
c5, dxc5, Re2 / Rf2 / Rh2, c6, Re2# / Rf2# / Rh8# pretty simple
Rb8 is checkmate in 1 Right?
if you take a closer look at the image, you’ll notice that white moved downwards. therefore Rb8 would be a blunder as axb8=Q+ exists and white would be winning
could you not just move the rook to b7? neither pawn can move and the white kings 2 options would put it within distance of the black king
Isn’t Rb8 checkmate in 1?
c5, dxc5 is forced, Re2, c6 is forced, Re8#. The trick is that ok your first turn, only two moves don't instantly end the game with stalemate. Rb8+ would force axb8, likely promoting to a queen and give white the advantage, so that move can be discarded. So instead advancing the c pawn to allow white to capture it is the only move that makes sense. White's pawn can now advance on the next move, which would be the only move available to white. Because of this, you now have a free move to do whatever you want. White's king is already locked down by white's a pawn and black's king, so all you need is a piece to deliver a check, and it'll be mate. Therefore, move the rook to any open file other than the one it's currently on (since delivering check here would lead to being captured by white's a pawn), then have it go down to the 8th rank to deliver checkmate.
...........c5 dxc5...Re2 c6.......Re8
Rook b8 seems stupidly obvious checkmate no?
Isn’t rook to b8 mate?
Black is crushing here even if mate-blind from this position. I would be perfectly content as black to win by attrition and not worry about mate, if I needed to keep things simple. Don't hang stalemate. Give the white king some space to move. Sacrifice your rook to ruin white's pawn promotion. Now you have a bunch of past pawns and white has no winning chances, and you didn't have to actually calculate anything.
Rb7 mate in 1?
Isn't g7 to g8 promote to queen or rook a mate in one?
Dude check the coordinates
?
White is on the opposite side💀
But a queen or room would check the white king and the white king can't move so that would be mate in one
Dude white is moving downwards so black should upwards 😭😂
I'm just blind,ok 😭
I am stupid or is Rb8# a M1? Edit: Yes, I am stupid
Move King one space left, then promote the pawn into a queen or rook
This one I have isn't mate in 3 but it's still fun. Kb6 Kb8 Rh2 a8(Q) Rh8# If the white king keeps moving to the left after Rh2 you get the pawn for free after Ka7. I also found that if they promote to knight they stop checkmate by checking your king... but they also have to promote to a knight which atp you just attack their lone pawn and win 3 pawns up. Not as efficient but if you couldn't find mate in 3 that's a good substitute to put you into a winning position.
[удалено]
Nope, pawn takes, promotes to queen and now there is trouble
Why not Ra2? White has to push the a pawn, checkmate after room captures
C5, Dxc5, Rh1, D6, Rh8# Edit: Rh2
c5, dxc5 Re2, c6 Re8#
i see mate in1
C5 right?
Kb6, rb2, rb8
heh... en passant...
In the words of a certain Nigerian college principal, "If you think this is a stalemate, you are dead wrong".
In a hurry and can’t find the mate but did want to say something. This is absolutely winning for black. Kb6 to avoid stalemate then sack the rook for the a7 pawn. You 100% win the resulting pawn endgame. The only plan I can think of that would allow mate in 3 obviously starts with Kb6, followed by Kb8, then kc6#. I’m not sure what to do after that. Maybe I’m wrong about that line.
If you go kb6, the only available move is for him to move his king to the b file. Move king to a6 and it's a discovered attack on the king with the rook... hmm... but their king could just move right back to a8, putting you in another bind, huh? What if you don't move ka6 on that next move, and instead moved your rook to the a file? If they move back, you take the pawn with the king? I don't know...