Temposchlucker

 Let's have a look at the following position. Diagram 1. White to move 8/4k3/8/1p2Pp2/p7/P1K1P3/1P6/8 w - - 0 1 Stockfish indicates that two moves are winning: 1.Kd3 1.e4 First I try to get a global overview.. If white focuses on the left sight of the position and black on the right side, both need 8 moves to promote the pawn. This assumes no interaction between left and right. Since both parties promote at the same time, we have to look further. What if we take only the right side into account? Diagram 2. White to move The winning moves ar now: 1.Kd3 1.Kc4 Two remarkable things happened. We have a new winning move (1.Kc4) and a winning move (e4) has vanished. The first is caused by the fact that in the first diagram c4 is taboo for the white king. The second is caused that the black king can walk over to the left side and assist the pawns there. I think it is save to say that isolating pawn groups is complicating matters while having no tangible benefit to justify the attempt. Ok ...

 I'm trying to find which methods are practical. Diagram 1. White to move 8/1k6/2p5/2P5/K7/P7/8/8 w - - 1 2 What is going on? White must conquer the black pawn White cannot go via the left side White must go to the key squares of the black pawn via the right side Black cannot defend the key squares on the right side because white has a spare tempo (a4) Blacks only try is to conquer the white pawn on c5 via the left side Square d4 (red a) is mined (typical for the Trébuchet) White must avoid d4 until black steps on b5 (blue a) The two squares c4 and d5 (marked x) are rigged They are the cause that d4 is mined c4 is only rigged after the black king steps on b5

 Let's have a closer look at what is happening with the conquering of the black pawn. Diagram 1.White to move 8/5k2/3p4/3P1K2/8/8/8/8 w - - 0 1 The battleground revolves around the key squares (red circles). The red arrows indicate the axis of outflanking. On the left side is a mirrored situation. If white decides to walk to the left, black must make sure that he can occupy the left axis of outflanking at the same time that white does. No matter whether he walks over the 7th rank, the 8th rank or a zigzag. When black reaches the c-file, be it on c7 or c8, he can always decide on which square to step on the axis, once white has showed his hand. But there is more going on. Diagram 2. White to move The distant opposition gets another meaning here. The kings are in a distant opposition, relative to the key squares. If you consider the red circles (not drawn here to prevent cluttering), white to move means that the white king steps out of the opposition. But relative to the blue circle...

 So what are the key squares for the Trébuchet? Diagram 1 What do these key squares represent? In a clean situation, the red circles represent the squares where the white king must be in order to win the black pawn in a "guaranteed" manner. In practice, the situation is usually more murky. What the opponent is doing might influence the effectiveness of occupying the key squares. Another term you sometimes find is critical squares . Since I intend to use that idea of a double attack in a more general sense, I prefer the term invasion squares . I think. There are other key squares too: Diagram 2 If the white king conquers the black pawn, then the red circles indicate where the white king must be in order to guarantee the promotion of the white pawn. If the black king conquers the white pawn, then the blue circles indicate the key squares. The white king must prevent the black king from entering the blue squares. Al these circles have to do with opposition. The attacking king tr...

 It turns out that the comment editor of SCID has a lot more possibilities with a few educated guesses. [%draw C,b6,royalBlue3][%draw C,f5,firebrick][%draw B,b5,royalBlue3][%draw A,c5,royalBlue3][%draw A,e6,firebrick][%draw B,f6,firebrick]

The book of Dvoretsky contains many compositions. Compositions are often some kind of freak positions that happen only once in every two lives. That doesn't mean that we need to dismiss them beforehand. The mechanisms that are at play in pawn endings are finite. It is important to study these mechanisms whenever we can. By translating the positions by a few files and/or ranks, we get a clearer picture on how these mechanisms actually work. Have a look at this position: Diagram 1.Black to move 8/1k6/1p6/1K6/P1P5/8/8/8 b - - 0 1 Only one move draws. White to move draws. It is not immediately clear why. Let's translate this position over two files. Diagram 2. Black to move 8/3k4/3p4/3K4/2P1P3/8/8/8 b - - 0 1 Black to move loses. White to move is a draw. Black to move Black must stay in contact with his pawn. So the only feasible moves are 1. ... Ke7 and 1. ... Kc7 The mechanism that white uses is to sac the pawn opposite the black king. Black has to take, and the white king can ta...

A composition from Jan Drtina, 1907. The first step is to identify the key squares. White to move 8/4k3/3p4/3P4/2P5/8/8/5K2 w - - 0 1 From there we can identify the attacking squares  White to move b5 and f5 are the attacking squares, while b7 and f7 are the defensive squares. If white manages to reach b5 or f5 while getting the opposition, he wins. The opposition battle is played along the f-file. Getting the opposition is half of the technique. The other half is outflanking. Opposition without outflanking is useless. In this position, you must realize that white is in the middle of the process of outflanking. That's the downside of compositions. It are freak positions of some sort. The upside is that you can learn a lot from it what is transferable to other positions. It just takes a bit of discipline to dissect matters. Once you see that you are outflanking the black king with the f-file as center line, matters become more clear. 1.Kg2 It makes no sense for black to stay on...