The concept of the far distant passed pawn
Submitted by
on Wed, 07/29/2009 at 6:37am.
Presumely many of you know already the concept of a far distant passed pawn . Here is an illustrative example for it:
Although the material is equal, white will win this pawnendgame easily.The reason for it is the distant passed pawn on the b-file.
White offers it to get the d-pawn and then his king is directly in the near of opponent`s kingside pawns
Here the proof:
This is easy to understand.But would that concept also work with other pieces on board? Yes and no!
In endgames with minor pieces (knights and bishops) the distant passed pawn means normally a clear adventage. But in endgames with rooks it depends on the positions of the rooks ( whose rook is behind the passed pawn)
In endgames with the queens on board is the kingsafety often a problem, so that the concept of distant passed pawn sometimes works not so well
***
Let us now look at a position of a mastergame
Perhaps the heat in Havanna influenced the black player, a Middle European, to offer here the exchange of the queens. Heat is not easy to bear for those who are not used to it. Emanuel Lasker experienced this in his match against Capablanca in earlier times.
But it was a wrong decision. The endgame with queens would probably have ended with a draw. After 1. ... Kf8 mate threat is ruled out and 2. Bc5 be7 is good enough to defend the king. And cause of unsecure white kingsafety the concept of distant passed pawn works not so effective with queens on board.
After his move 1. ...Qc6 black is in an endgame of same-coloured bishops and an distant passed pawn on opponent`s side
So here the end position from previous diagram as puzzle. Test your technique:
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