Chess lessons › Chess endgames
Mined squares
A square that attacks a pawn can be a trap: step on it first and your rival steps to the partner square.
The idea
A square beside a pawn can lose: your rival steps to the partner.
- Kc5 looks natural, but Black’s king is one step from e4.
- After Kc5, Ke4 leaves White to move, and every king move gives up d4.
- Kc6 attacks d5 without stepping on the mined square.
In a game: Before a king steps next to a pawn, check if the enemy king can reach the partner square at once.
How the lesson begins
The pawns on d4 and d5 are locked. White’s king on b4 would love to attack d5, so Kc5 looks natural. Black’s king on f4 would love to attack d4.
The position is a draw with White to move. But some king moves that look active lose. A square that loses for the king that steps there first, because the other king can reach its partner square, is a mined square.
Find the move
White to move. Two king moves keep the draw. Find one of them.
A hint
Step back to the third rank, but not to the edge of the board.
Show the answer
1. Kb3
Both Kb3 and Kc3 hold. Kc5, Kb5 and every move to the a-file lose. The trouble with Kc5 is the trap: Black’s king is one step from e4, and Kc5 Ke4 leaves White to move in the pair.
In numbers
In the puzzle bank
795 puzzles in GreyChess’s bank practise it. Half of them are rated between 1,187 and 2,420.
The piece that makes the first move of the answer: king 57%, pawn 32%, rook 5%, bishop 3%, knight 2%, queen 1%, in puzzles from the Lichess puzzle database.