In the following positions you can try achieve what is required against the diagrams – which will try to make things as hard as possible for you by playing the black side. Please try to find the required win or draw yourself. We will add full video explanations for each position in this report, a few days after publication.
Here’s the first position for you to solve:
There is a single way for you to win here – if you do not follow the narrow path, you will end up with a draw or actually lose. It is clear that you have to figure out a way to promote a pawn. Can you do it, against stubborn resistance by Black?
Black cannot eliminate the two white pawns, but he is threatening to promote one of his pawns and actually win the game. So how do you stop that from happening – and actually win the game?
The question here is where to move the king. You have six options, but only one of them will allow White to win. You really have to understand opposition to be able to take the full point.
This is a very entertaining puzzle. Obviously White can easily promote the h-pawn, and there is nothing that Black can do about it. Or is there? Try it against the diagram and see what it comes up with. And find a way to overcome its defence.
Analyse without engines
If you want to analyse the above positions without the interference of the diagram playing Black you can do it on the boards below. Naturally the engine is shut off, so you have to work everything out all by yourself.
Here are the solutions to all four problems, very nicely explained by Volclus, in video shorts:
