Answers.Body: <p>First thoughts:</p>
  
  <p>We are obviously looking for a win for White. Making a draw is no challenge, you just have to exchange either the rook or your bishop even if you lose all three pawns in the process. 1.d4, 2.Bg6, 3.Bxe8 is a straitforward draw.</p>
  
  <p>If we do nothing dramatic, Black can blockade with ...Kg7 and ...Bd6, when he cannot be worse. So let's go for direct play trying to exploit the pin on the 8th rank: </p>
  
  <p>1.d4 Bd6 (or 1...Bd4 when 2.Bg6 might be the best try but the hand wants to play 2.d6 Rxe6 3.d7 Bf6 (or Bb6) and Black seems to draw thanks to ...Kg7 or ...Rd6+ - looks like a good line in which one can look for pretty ideas...) </p>
  
  <p>2.Bg6 Kg7 (Black can also wait with his bishop, but White will try to bring in his king and maybe create a zugzwang of some sort) </p>
  
  <p>3.Bxe8 (3.Rxe8 Rxe8 4.Bxe8 Kf8 is a dead draw) and with the rooks on the board White may well be able to break the blockade.</p>
  
  <p>Well, there is probably a win hiding somewhere in those lines, but it is not an easy one.</p>
  
Answers.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 3.0
Answers.CreationDate: 2018-03-10T06:42:25.650Z
Answers.Text: After 1.d4 Bd6 2.Bg6 Kg7 3.Bxe8 is indeed a clear win. The difficulty is that black has no reason to play Kg7.
Answers.UserDisplayName: Emphyrio
Answers.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 3.0
Answers.CreationDate: 2018-03-06T09:14:28.603Z
Answers.LastActivityDate: 2018-03-06T09:14:28.603Z
Answers.UserDisplayName: Evargalo
Answers.Body: <p>I just remembered I totally forgot to come here post the solution. My apologies but better late than never :).</p>
  
  <p>The main interest of this position is the apparent mutual zugzwang soon appearing after 1.d4 Bd6 2.Bg6, when playing natural moves and bringing the white king to f5 (in the position white : Kf5, Ra8, Bg6 pawns d4,d5,e6/ black : Kf8,Re7,Bg3,Ne8).</p>
  
  <p>In that position If black is to play (which is the case ine the soçlution below after 13.Ra8), black loses very quickly (1...Bh2 loses the possilibility to play bh4+, so 2.Bxe8 Rxe8 3.Ra7 (threatening 4.Rf7+ followed by 5.Rd7 and the d pawn will be able to move to d6)3...Rb8 4.Kf6 (and bh4+ not possible anymore with the B on h2).</p>
  
  <p>On the other hand, with white to play (which would be the case in the solution below if white would chose to play the natural 6.Kf5), it's much harder to figure out how to win. The triangulation manoeuver requires to bring the white king to g4 and the white bishop to h5 (which aren't very naturlal ideas), before trinagulation with the rook (although the move order doesn t matter, you can olay 1.Rc8 Fh2 first, then bring the king to g4 and then the bishop to h5, or play Kg4 first or Bh5 first), but the traingulation manouever itself stays unique and the only way to win (just interversion duals).</p>
  
  <p>I'll just put the solution as is, I'll try to go into more details if some things aren't clear :</p>
  
  <p><b>
  1.d4 Bd6 (i)<br>
  2.Bg6 Bb4<br>
  3.Ke2 Bd6<br>
  4.Kf3 Bc7<br>
  5.Kg4 Bh2! (ii)<br>
  6.Bh5 Bc7! (iii)<br>
  7.Rc8 Bh2! (iv)<br>
  8.Rd8 Bc7<br>
  9.Ra8 Bh2! (v)<br>
  10.Rc8 Bd6<br>
  11.Bg6 Bh2<br>
  12.Kf5 Bg3<br>
  13.Ra8 Bh2<br>
  14.Bxe8 Rxe8<br>
  15.Ra7 Rb8<br>
  16.Kf6 Rb1<br>
  17.Ra8+ Bb8<br>
  18.d6 +-<br>
  </b></p>
  
  <p>(i)1....Bxd4 2.d6! Rxe6 3.d7! Bb6 4.Bf5! Re7 5.Bg4! +-<br>
  (ii)5...Bd6 6.Rc8 Bh2 7.Kf5 Bg3 8.Ra8 +-<br>
  (iii)6...Bd6 7.Kf5 Bg3 8.Bg6 +-<br>
  (iv)7...Bd6 8.Bg6 Bh2 9.Kf5 Bg3 10.Ra8 +-<br>
  (v)9...Bd6 10.Kf5 Bg3 11.Bg6 +- </p>
  
Answers.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 4.0
Answers.CreationDate: 2018-11-22T10:10:25.040Z
Answers.LastActivityDate: 2018-11-22T10:24:49.163Z
Answers.LastEditDate: 2018-11-22T10:24:49.163Z
Answers.UserDisplayName: Emphyrio
Body: <pre><code>R3nk21B1K4/4r3/4P3/3Pb3/8/3P4/8/1B1K4 w - - 0 1
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>White to play and ?, D.Antonini 09/2017</p>
  
  <p>I wouldn't qualify this position as a study, at least according to modern canons for study composition, as there are a few duals (interversion ones) and a few other defaults. I prefer to present it as a practical endgame position worth having a look at.</p>
  
  <p>Therefore I won't even give a specific statement : white to play, and it's up to you to figure out if they can win or only draw. I must warn you it's rather difficult to analyse this position accurately. There is one concealed idea (and programs won't be able to help much figuring it out).  But I'm sure you'll feel pretty happy once you manage to figure it all out - if you do (but with brillant chess composers like Noam Elkies around, I'm sure some of you will manage to).</p>
  
Comments.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 3.0
Comments.CreationDate: 2018-03-06T18:01:46.947Z
Comments.Text: "...and programs won't be able to help much figuring it out..."  challenge accepted! Stockfish is purring away.
Comments.UserDisplayName: Tony Ennis
Comments.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 3.0
Comments.CreationDate: 2018-03-06T19:47:41.473Z
Comments.Text: My first impression is that this must be a "white to play and win" problem, since the line 1.d4 Bxd4 2.Bg6 is enough for white to force the draw, and it's too easy to spot to be considered a challenge.
Comments.UserDisplayName: Scounged
Comments.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 3.0
Comments.CreationDate: 2018-03-06T23:34:47.037Z
Comments.Text: After 4.25 hours, Stockfish is still liking the obvious move.
Comments.UserDisplayName: Tony Ennis
Comments.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 3.0
Comments.CreationDate: 2018-03-07T00:05:55.737Z
Comments.Text: (are you the same D.Antonini who use to be active on the french forum france-echecs about ten years ago?)
Comments.UserDisplayName: Evargalo
Comments.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 3.0
Comments.CreationDate: 2018-03-07T14:29:47.223Z
Comments.Text: yes I 'm "sigloxx". And somewhat active again on France-Echecs lately. Stockfish won't have any problem finding the first move. It will juste have issues finding the winning line.
Comments.UserDisplayName: Emphyrio
Comments.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 3.0
Comments.CreationDate: 2018-03-07T17:12:32.653Z
Comments.Text: 20+ hours in, on a decent machine, Stockfish 6 has not found a remarkable result.
Comments.UserDisplayName: Tony Ennis
Comments.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 3.0
Comments.CreationDate: 2018-03-07T22:29:40.430Z
Comments.Text: Even if you leave SF9 think several days on a powerful PC, he won't "see" the solution. If you leave him play against himself with very slow time controls, he will win with white (I think), but kinda accidentally, playing lots of pointless moves.
Comments.UserDisplayName: Emphyrio
Comments.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 3.0
Comments.CreationDate: 2018-03-10T07:30:22.057Z
Comments.Text: Hello sigloxx, I user to be "pùch" there...
Comments.UserDisplayName: Evargalo
Comments.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 3.0
Comments.CreationDate: 2018-03-11T07:00:35.607Z
Comments.Text: ah hello Olivier ;).
Comments.UserDisplayName: Emphyrio
Tags: <analysis><endgame><problems>
Title: Endgame analysis : white to play and..?
ThreadText: # Endgame analysis : white to play and..?
  
  (Asked by: username_0 on 2018-03-06)
  
  ```
  R3nk21B1K4/4r3/4P3/3Pb3/8/3P4/8/1B1K4 w - - 0 1
  
  ```
  
  White to play and ?, D.Antonini 09/2017
  
  I wouldn't qualify this position as a study, at least according to modern canons for study composition, as there are a few duals (interversion ones) and a few other defaults. I prefer to present it as a practical endgame position worth having a look at.
  
  Therefore I won't even give a specific statement : white to play, and it's up to you to figure out if they can win or only draw. I must warn you it's rather difficult to analyse this position accurately. There is one concealed idea (and programs won't be able to help much figuring it out). But I'm sure you'll feel pretty happy once you manage to figure it all out - if you do (but with brillant chess composers like Noam Elkies around, I'm sure some of you will manage to).
  
  **Tags:** analysis, endgame, problems
  
  > **Comments:**
  > **username_1**: "...and programs won't be able to help much figuring it out..."  challenge accepted! Stockfish is purring away.  
  > **username_2**: My first impression is that this must be a "white to play and win" problem, since the line 1.d4 Bxd4 2.Bg6 is enough for white to force the draw, and it's too easy to spot to be considered a challenge.  
  > **username_1**: After 4.25 hours, Stockfish is still liking the obvious move.  
  > **username_3**: (are you the same D.Antonini who use to be active on the french forum france-echecs about ten years ago?)  
  > **username_0**: yes I 'm "sigloxx". And somewhat active again on France-Echecs lately. Stockfish won't have any problem finding the first move. It will juste have issues finding the winning line.  
  > **username_1**: 20+ hours in, on a decent machine, Stockfish 6 has not found a remarkable result.  
  > **username_0**: Even if you leave SF9 think several days on a powerful PC, he won't "see" the solution. If you leave him play against himself with very slow time controls, he will win with white (I think), but kinda accidentally, playing lots of pointless moves.  
  > **username_3**: Hello sigloxx, I user to be "pùch" there...  
  > **username_0**: ah hello Olivier ;).  
  
  ---
  
  ## 2 answers
  
  ### Answer by username_3 on 2018-03-06. Score: 2
  
  First thoughts:
  
  We are obviously looking for a win for White. Making a draw is no challenge, you just have to exchange either the rook or your bishop even if you lose all three pawns in the process. 1.d4, 2.Bg6, 3.Bxe8 is a straitforward draw.
  
  If we do nothing dramatic, Black can blockade with ...Kg7 and ...Bd6, when he cannot be worse. So let's go for direct play trying to exploit the pin on the 8th rank:
  
  1.d4 Bd6 (or 1...Bd4 when 2.Bg6 might be the best try but the hand wants to play 2.d6 Rxe6 3.d7 Bf6 (or Bb6) and Black seems to draw thanks to ...Kg7 or ...Rd6+ - looks like a good line in which one can look for pretty ideas...)
  
  2.Bg6 Kg7 (Black can also wait with his bishop, but White will try to bring in his king and maybe create a zugzwang of some sort)
  
  3.Bxe8 (3.Rxe8 Rxe8 4.Bxe8 Kf8 is a dead draw) and with the rooks on the board White may well be able to break the blockade.
  
  Well, there is probably a win hiding somewhere in those lines, but it is not an easy one.
  
  > **Comments:**
  > **username_0**: After 1.d4 Bd6 2.Bg6 Kg7 3.Bxe8 is indeed a clear win. The difficulty is that black has no reason to play Kg7.  
  
  ---
  
  ### Answer by username_0 on 2018-11-22. Score: 2
  
  I just remembered I totally forgot to come here post the solution. My apologies but better late than never :).
  
  The main interest of this position is the apparent mutual zugzwang soon appearing after 1.d4 Bd6 2.Bg6, when playing natural moves and bringing the white king to f5 (in the position white : Kf5, Ra8, Bg6 pawns d4,d5,e6/ black : Kf8,Re7,Bg3,Ne8).
  
  In that position If black is to play (which is the case ine the soçlution below after 13.Ra8), black loses very quickly (1...Bh2 loses the possilibility to play bh4+, so 2.Bxe8 Rxe8 3.Ra7 (threatening 4.Rf7+ followed by 5.Rd7 and the d pawn will be able to move to d6)3...Rb8 4.Kf6 (and bh4+ not possible anymore with the B on h2).
  
  On the other hand, with white to play (which would be the case in the solution below if white would chose to play the natural 6.Kf5), it's much harder to figure out how to win. The triangulation manoeuver requires to bring the white king to g4 and the white bishop to h5 (which aren't very naturlal ideas), before trinagulation with the rook (although the move order doesn t matter, you can olay 1.Rc8 Fh2 first, then bring the king to g4 and then the bishop to h5, or play Kg4 first or Bh5 first), but the traingulation manouever itself stays unique and the only way to win (just interversion duals).
  
  I'll just put the solution as is, I'll try to go into more details if some things aren't clear :
  
  **1.d4 Bd6 (i)  
  2.Bg6 Bb4  
  3.Ke2 Bd6  
  4.Kf3 Bc7  
  5.Kg4 Bh2! (ii)  
  6.Bh5 Bc7! (iii)  
  7.Rc8 Bh2! (iv)  
  8.Rd8 Bc7  
  9.Ra8 Bh2! (v)  
  10.Rc8 Bd6  
  11.Bg6 Bh2  
  12.Kf5 Bg3  
  13.Ra8 Bh2  
  14.Bxe8 Rxe8  
  15.Ra7 Rb8  
  16.Kf6 Rb1  
  17.Ra8+ Bb8  
  18.d6 +-**
  
  (i)1....Bxd4 2.d6! Rxe6 3.d7! Bb6 4.Bf5! Re7 5.Bg4! +-  
  (ii)5...Bd6 6.Rc8 Bh2 7.Kf5 Bg3 8.Ra8 +-  
  (iii)6...Bd6 7.Kf5 Bg3 8.Bg6 +-  
  (iv)7...Bd6 8.Bg6 Bh2 9.Kf5 Bg3 10.Ra8 +-  
  (v)9...Bd6 10.Kf5 Bg3 11.Bg6 +-
  
  
  ---
  
  