Chess Stack Exchange is a question and answer site for serious players and enthusiasts of chess. It only takes a minute to sign up.
Sign up to join this community
In my recent online blitz video, I got the following endgame with the black pieces. With white to move, the game went as follows
[White "hacked"]
[Black "TestViking"]
[FEN "8/3k2p1/1p1P1pP1/p1p5/P1P1PK2/8/8/8 w - - 0 1"]
1.e5 Ke6 2.exf6 Kxf6 3.d7 Ke7 1/2-1/2
...white offered draw and I agreed. Was the position a draw or did one of the sides have a win or winning chances?
Yes, it was drawn all along. 1...Ke6! was the only move for black to draw since he cannot allow white to force ...gxf6, nor allow the white king up to support the d-pawn. After 4.Ke5 Kxd7 5.Kd5 there's no way for either side to make progress as the kings will just be shuffled between d5/e5 and d7/e7. There is one practical chance/trap that might be worth trying before agreeing to a draw; black can play 5...Kc7 and see if white goes for 6.Ke6, in which case black wins with 6...b5!, forcing the creation of a passed pawn and queening first. As long as white spots this and plays 6.Ke5 instead there's nothing more to do, though.
Edit: I realized black cannot play Ke7 at the end as it loses to Kc6. However, Kc7 still draws as before due to white being unable to play Ke6.
