Endgame Studies 10

H. Faheni, 1922
H. Faheni, 1922

White to play and win

The first thing to notice in this position is that the black king cannot move and the black bishop is almost trapped. The only way for white to win is by trapping the bishop so the first move looks very flashy but should be rather easy to find.

1. Ng3! fxg3

Black has to take the knight, otherwise white could play 2.Nf5+ followed by 3.f7.
But now white needs to win the bishop but the king cannot go to the kingside right now because of 2.Kc1 b4! 3.Kd1 Bf2 and the king cannot come closer.

2.a3!

Preventing black from playing b4 and making room for the white king to lose a tempo.

2...Bf2 3.Ka2 Be1 4.Ka1

Now white has lost a tempo with the triangulation and can hunt down the bishop.

4...Bd2 5.Kb1 Be1 6.Kc1 Bf2 7.Kd1 Bg1 8.Ke1 Bh2 9.Kf1 1-0