There is a pub ‘The Pawn Lounge’ in Alexandria near Dumbarton, Scotland
that has a smashing chess mural painted on the outside. Recently I went there.
I just had to have a picture of me leaning against that painted pawn.
And then inside for a nice pint of Caledonian with a King and Knight.
I came across this recently it was composed by John Roycroft, New Statesman 1954.
White to play and win. I am going to give the solution right away.
[FEN "8/5k1P/6n1/3N4/4K3/1B1n4/8/8 w - - 0 1"]
1. Nf4+ {We will do it in two chunks. This first bit is fairly easy.} 1... Kg7 2. Nxg6 Nc5+ {To save the attacked Knight.} 3. Kd5 {The threat of h8=Q+ must be met.} 3... Kxh7 {Both the Bishop and Knight are attacked. Next move is forced.} 4. Bc2 Na6 {End of Chunk one. Now we trap the Black Knight.} 5. Kd6 Nb4 6. Bb1 {The Bishop and King are doing a good job but need the Knight to help.} 6... Kg7 7. Ne5 Kh6 {The Black King and Knight moves could transpose, it makes no difference.} 8. Nd7 {Threatening Nb8 and Kc5 winning the Knight.} 8... Na6 9. Nb6 Kg5 10. Nd5 {If 10....Nb8 Bd3 and Kc7.} 10... Kg4 11. Bd3 Nb8 12. Kc7 {The Knight is finally trapped.}
Now, as usual, we look at a few Red Hot Pawn KBN v KN endgames.
Sefton Wallet - wallspore RHP 2012
[FEN "8/8/8/5P2/5N2/5n2/5k2/5b1K w - - 0 52"]
52. f6 Ne5 53. Kh2 Ng4+ 54. Kh1 {Black now took the f6 pawn and it ended in a draw. It should have gone...} 54... Ba6 {...and Bb7+ with mate to follow cannot be stopped.} 55. Nh3+ Kf1 56. Nf4 Bb7+ 57. Ng2 Bxg2
Banzai - cevans RHP 2016
This game too finished in a draw when there was a win just sitting there.
[FEN "8/8/3n4/7N/7b/5k2/8/5K2 w - - 0 68"]
68. Ng7 Ne4 69. Nf5 {Ne6 was the instructive move White missed. Black now played Nd2+ but...} 69... Bf2 {...this wins, If the White Knight was on e6 Black could play Ng4+ as NxN is stalemate.}
If ever you find yourself defending this ending then this game should give you ideas.
pawink - Kerella RHP 2018
[FEN "8/8/2k5/2N5/1B6/2K3n1/8/8 w - - 0 103"]
103. Ne6 Ne2+ 104. Kd2 Kd5 {A lone Bishop or Knight cannot win against a lone King.} 105. Nc7+ {White has to keep the two pieces.} 105... Kc4 106. Ba3 Nc3 {Threatening Nb1+ winning the a3 Bishop.} 107. Kc2 {Stops that threat....but...} 107... Nb5 {...not that one. One of White's minor pieces is coming off.} 108. Nxb5 Kxb5
This position arises after the moves. 1.e4 c5 2.b4 cxb4 3.a3 d5 4.exd5 Qxd5.
9 RHP players and 8 OTB players have played 5.axb4 here which loses to Qe5+.
Perhaps one of the most infamous OTB (Over The Board) games was:
K. Shirazi (2465) - J. Peters (2500) the USA Ch. 1984. 1-0 in 5 moves.
Theory recommends 5.Nf3 and I was wondering what may happen should Black
reintroduce the threat with 5...Bg4 and came up with this. Come fly with me.
1. e4 c5 2. b4 cxb4 3. a3 d5 4. exd5 Qxd5 5. Nf3 {To stop that Qe5+ and Qxa1 threat.} 5... Bg4 6. Be2 Bxf3 {It looks like 7.gxf3 is forced, but White wants the g2-pawn to mate the Black King.} 7. Bxf3 Qe5+ 8. Qe2 Qxa1 9. Bxb7 Qxb1 10. Qc4 {Getting tricky, White is threatening Qc8 checkmate.} 10... Qxc1+ 11. Ke2 f6 {Resigned to losing the Queen Black makes a flight square.} 12. Qc8+ {White is not interested in the Queen. The object of the game is checkmate.} 12... Kf7 13. Bd5+ {13....e6 14.Qxe6+ mate in a few moves.} 13... Kg6 14. Qe8+ Kh6 15. Bf3 {Threatening Qh5 mate.} 15... g6 16. Qxf8+ Kg5 17. h4+ Kf5 {White now uses the Black e-pawn to cover a flight square.} 18. Qc8+ e6 19. Qc5+ e5 20. Qc8+ Kf4 21. g3 {Mate with the g2 pawn with the Black Queen still on the board.}
OK not entirely sound but you get the idea. Kings first, Queens second.
Qe5+ followed by Qxa1 in the opening is frequent here.
Amazingly 609 Red Hot Pawn games have gone this way.
1. e4 d5 2. exd5 Qxd5 3. b3 {Leaving the following shot on the board.} 3... Qe5+ {From 609 times this has appeared, only in 290 games did Black play 5...Qe5+} *
I picked up a copy of this July 2000 French magazine.
I don’t speak French but the games are all in standard notation.
It had inside this lovely mate in 5 from Alphonse Grunenwald 1945.
It is a real work of art and viewing it will bring pleasure. Solution below.
[FEN "8/8/6p1/B2b4/4p2n/6r1/p1p5/k1K2n2 w - - 0 1"]
1. Bd8 {The threat is 2.Bf6+ Rc3 3.Bxc3 mate.} 1... Rf3 {The Bishop now steps one square at a time back to it's original square.} 2. Bc7 {Aiming at 3.Be5+ mating next move..} 2... Rf5 3. Bb6 {Now the check on d4 is deadly.} 3... Nf3 {That stops that one but the Knight is in the way of the Rook.} 4. Ba5 {Back to a5 and Mate with Bc3 cannot be prevented. A wonderful piece of chess.}
The thread accompanying this blog is
Thread 180740 
Chess Mentor
moonbus