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I am trying to remember a puzzle position, or maybe was it originated from a real game, i dont remember.

After Rook c8, we have a nice zugzwang, which forces black to have as only legal move Rook from a7 to a8, making it en prise for white's rook.

Something like (white to move):

7R/rp6/pk6/p7/P7/8/1K6/8 w - - 0 1

I would like to know where is this puzzle/game from. I'm not sure that this was the exact position, but it was quite similar.

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  • This cries to be the end of a study. The database of Harold van der Heijden is your friend :-)
    – Hauke Reddmann
    Apr 15, 2021 at 14:49
  • 1
    It is the end of a study, but slightly misremembered. Fortunately I read 1234 early enough that I remembered this Zugzwang set-up even with the Ka4 changed to a pawn.
    – Noam D. Elkies
    Apr 15, 2021 at 21:22

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The original position has the White King on a4, no White pawn. It's the end of a composed study by Gorgiev that I find as #753 in Sutherland and Lommer's 1234 Modern End-Game Studies (1938, Dover reprint 1968), pages 126 and 290. The full study is:

[Title "White to move and win (Gorgiev, Pravda 1928: Mention)"]
[FEN "1k6/rp6/p7/p5B1/K7/8/8/7R w - - 0 1"]

1.Rh8+ Kc7 2.Bd8+ Kc6 3.Bb6! Kxb6 4.Rc8! 1-0

The final position is mutual Zugzwang: Black loses (the only legal move is Ra8, and then 5.Rxa8 wins easily) but would draw if it were White's move.

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