Make the right pawn promotion

Logic Level 3

It is White's turn and White is trying to win. White can promote a pawn by advancing it to the d8 square. White can choose to promote the pawn to a queen, rook, bishop or knight. Which is the right choice?

Hint: Pay attention to Black's tactical resource!

Bishop Knight Queen Rook

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1 solution

Thomas Raffill
Sep 2, 2018

Following the hint, we look for Black's tactical resource. White's king is on the same diagonal as the d8 square where the pawn will promote. So, after the promotion, Black can make a "fork" or double attack by moving the bishop to the e7 square, checking White's king and also attacking White's new piece.

If White promotes the pawn to a rook or a knight, Black can reply with the bishop fork and immediately win White's new piece. After that, Black is blocking both of White's pawns, and White cannot win.

Then how about a queen? If Black then plays the bishop fork, the queen can take the bishop. But the problem is, the resulting position is a draw by stalemate! Check the diagram.

The right choice is to promote to a bishop. Now if Black plays the forking move, White's bishop can take Black's bishop without stalemating Black. Otherwise, White is two pawns ahead and will win easily.

but doent the black bishop kil the pawn before it even reaches 2e8?

NSCS 747 - 11 months ago

@Nathan Soliman Here is an example. 1. d8=B Kg7 2. e7 Bxe7 3. Bxe7

So yes, the Black bishop takes one of the pawns, but White's bishop takes Black's bishop and White is left with an extra bishop plus h-pawn, and those are enough to win the game. Black won't be able to prevent White from eventually queening the h-pawn.

Thomas Raffill - 11 months ago

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