Answers.Body: <p>Jonathan Hawkins excellent endgame book, &quot;<em>Amateur to IM</em>&quot; gives an example of a flanking maneuver in his first main topic, &quot;Capablanca's pawn endgame&quot;. This is a simple looking endgame where white has pawns on g2 and h2 versus black's single pawn on h7. You would think it would be a straightforward win for white but the win is anything but straightforward if black knows the endgame and the available drawing tricks.</p>
  <p>Black has two possible approaches. The first is to sit and wait with the pawn remaining on h7 and the king shuffling around g7. If white doesn't know the endgame there is a 50% chance of blundering the draw. White has two chances to count correctly and either move h2-3-4 or h4 or g2-3-4 or g4. Once the pawns reach h4 and g4 the result of the game is determined. You have to calculate early.</p>
  <p>The second involves moving the h pawn up one square to h6 and keeping the king around f6. Again there is a key position which white must reach with black to move if white is to win using a flanking maneuver. If white reaches the key position with white to move then it is drawn.</p>
  <p>Here is the key position and the flanking maneuver:</p>
  <pre><code>[fen &quot;8/8/5k1p/8/5KPP/8/8/8 b - - 0 1&quot;]
  [Startflipped &quot;1&quot;]
  
  1...Ke6 2. Ke4 Kf6 (2...Kd6 3. Kf5) 3. Kd5 {outflanking} Ke7 4. Ke5 Kf7 5. Kf5 Kg7 6. Ke6 {second outflanking} Kg6 7. h5+ {breaking black's side opposition} Kg7 8. Ke7 Kg8 9. Kf6 Kh7 10. Kf7 Kh8 11. Kg6
  </code></pre>
  <p>The white moves 3. Kd5 and 6. Ke6 are both examples of outflanking black.</p>
  
Answers.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 4.0
Answers.CreationDate: 2022-03-25T11:40:04.060Z
Answers.Text: so outflanking and flanking maneuver are the same?
Answers.UserDisplayName: miniHessel
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Answers.UserDisplayName: Brian Towers
Body: <p>When is a move defined as a flanking maneuver? Are there certain rules that define it as that?</p>
  
Comments.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 4.0
Comments.CreationDate: 2022-03-24T16:13:56.513Z
Comments.Text: [This article](https://www.ichess.net/blog/rook-endgame-basics-flanking-maneuver/) mentions that term in a *rook* endgame ...
Comments.UserDisplayName: Glorfindel
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Comments.CreationDate: 2022-03-24T21:58:22.170Z
Comments.Text: I think it's a bit restrictive to think of a flanking maneuver as ONE move. In pawn endgames in particular, I'm pretty sure that they are referring to the scenario when the attacking side manages to break the opposition by means of zugzwang, thereby letting the attacker's king into the defender's position. In either case, one does not actually NEED strict definitions for this kind of concept, since it's more about learning patterns and ideas rather than trying to classify positions/moves.
Comments.UserDisplayName: Scounged
Tags: <endgame><pawn-endgame>
Title: What is a flanking maneuver in K+P endgame?
ThreadText: # What is a flanking maneuver in K+P endgame?
  
  (Asked by: username_0 on 2022-03-24)
  
  When is a move defined as a flanking maneuver? Are there certain rules that define it as that?
  
  **Tags:** endgame, pawn-endgame
  
  > **Comments:**
  > **username_1**: [This article](https://www.ichess.net/blog/rook-endgame-basics-flanking-maneuver/) mentions that term in a *rook* endgame ...  
  > **username_2**: I think it's a bit restrictive to think of a flanking maneuver as ONE move. In pawn endgames in particular, I'm pretty sure that they are referring to the scenario when the attacking side manages to break the opposition by means of zugzwang, thereby letting the attacker's king into the defender's position. In either case, one does not actually NEED strict definitions for this kind of concept, since it's more about learning patterns and ideas rather than trying to classify positions/moves.  
  
  ---
  
  ## 1 answers
  
  ### Answer by username_3 on 2022-03-25. Score: 1
  
  Jonathan Hawkins excellent endgame book, "*Amateur to IM*" gives an example of a flanking maneuver in his first main topic, "Capablanca's pawn endgame". This is a simple looking endgame where white has pawns on g2 and h2 versus black's single pawn on h7. You would think it would be a straightforward win for white but the win is anything but straightforward if black knows the endgame and the available drawing tricks.
  
  Black has two possible approaches. The first is to sit and wait with the pawn remaining on h7 and the king shuffling around g7. If white doesn't know the endgame there is a 50% chance of blundering the draw. White has two chances to count correctly and either move h2-3-4 or h4 or g2-3-4 or g4. Once the pawns reach h4 and g4 the result of the game is determined. You have to calculate early.
  
  The second involves moving the h pawn up one square to h6 and keeping the king around f6. Again there is a key position which white must reach with black to move if white is to win using a flanking maneuver. If white reaches the key position with white to move then it is drawn.
  
  Here is the key position and the flanking maneuver:
  
  ```
  [fen "8/8/5k1p/8/5KPP/8/8/8 b - - 0 1"]
  [Startflipped "1"]
  
  1...Ke6 2. Ke4 Kf6 (2...Kd6 3. Kf5) 3. Kd5 {outflanking} Ke7 4. Ke5 Kf7 5. Kf5 Kg7 6. Ke6 {second outflanking} Kg6 7. h5+ {breaking black's side opposition} Kg7 8. Ke7 Kg8 9. Kf6 Kh7 10. Kf7 Kh8 11. Kg6
  
  ```
  
  The white moves 3. Kd5 and 6. Ke6 are both examples of outflanking black.
  
  > **Comments:**
  > **username_0**: so outflanking and flanking maneuver are the same?  
  
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