The last pawn: king behind the pawn
In this and subsequent lessons, we will look at positions in which the king stands in front of its own pawn.
As in the previous lesson, we will see that having the opposition determines the outcome. If the defending party has opposition, then they hold a draw. If the side with the extra pawn has opposition, then they win. Of course, in all situations you have to keep playing the right moves to achieve the desired result. In examples 1, 2 and 3 you can see what that looks like.
If you master the technique in examples 2 and 3, this will earn you many points in your games! So practice this well in the coming tasks.
What do you have to do?
Is it your move and do you only have a king? Make a draw. Is it your move and you have a pawn more? Then go for victory. Try to exploit opposition.
The kings face each other with one square between them. It is White's move so that means Black has opposition.
1.Kd5 Kd7. Black puts the king opposite the white once again, keeping opposition. 2.e5. White moves the pawn, putting the king next to the pawn. This issue was covered in the previous lesson. Now for black it is a matter of staying close to the pawn and moving to the promotion square with the king at the right moment. 2...Ke7 3.e6. If white does not move the pawn forward, they will not make progress. The position on the board is the same as Example 5 from the previous lesson! 3...Ke8. The king moves to the promotion square and after 4.Kd6 black keeps opposition with 4...Kd8! 5.e7+ Ke8 6.Ke6 stalemate!
