What to do in this position??

[tttony]

Hi all, I'm new here

I'm interested in make a chess engine so I'm testing few chess engines with Arena 3.0

I was testing Fruit 2.3.1 vs Chronos 1.9.9 x64

[d]8/8/5pb1/3k3p/5K1P/6P1/8/3B4 w - - c0

But I think in this position if white plays Bxh5 has an advantage with that pair of pawns

But ended in 50 moves rules

What do you think??

[Mike S.]

After 1.Bxh5 Bxh5 (what else) we have a 6-piece position. The Nalimov endgame tablebases confirm that it is a draw by best play of both. Nevertheless White doesn't risk anything because after 2.Kf5, he can capture Black's last pawn. - But since we found that 1.Bxh5 results in a draw, White may prefer something else to keep a "cosmetic" advantage. Maybe Black loses on time!


Analysis by Fire 1.31 w32+TriB at depth 24:

1. = (0.25): 1.Bb3+ Kd6 2.Ba2 Ke7 3.Bd5 Kd6 4.Bf3 Ke6 5.Be2 Ke7 6.Bf1 Kd6 7.Bg2 Ke7 8.Bc6 Ke6 9.Bh1 Bc2 10.Bg2 Bg6 11.Bc6 Bc2 12.Bb5 Bg6 13.Bc4+ Ke7 14.Be2 Ke6 15.Bf3 Be8 16.Be4 Bf7 17.Bf5+ Ke7 18.Bd3 Be8 19.Be2 Bg6
2. = (0.25): 1.Ba4 Kd6 2.Bb5 Ke7 3.Bc6 Ke6 4.Bh1 Bc2 5.Bg2 Bg6 6.Bc6 Bc2 7.Bb5 Bg6 8.Bc4+ Ke7 9.Be2 Ke6 10.Bf3 Be8 11.Be4 Bf7 12.Bf5+ Ke7 13.Bd3 Be8 14.Be2 Bg6 15.Bf1 Kd6 16.Bg2 Ke7 17.Bc6
3. = (0.25): 1.Bf3+ Ke6 2.Be2 Ke7 3.Bf1 Kd6 4.Bg2 Ke7 5.Bc6 Ke6 6.Bh1 Bc2 7.Bg2 Bg6 8.Bc6 Bc2 9.Bb5 Bg6 10.Bc4+ Ke7 11.Be2 Ke6 12.Bf3 Be8 13.Be4 Bf7 14.Bf5+ Ke7 15.Bd3 Be8 16.Be2 Bg6

I suspect this eval is just because White's pawn are connected and Black's not. There is no progress in these variations and I assume White cannot make progress.

[Tom Barrister]

1 Bxh5 is a draw. White can win both pawns for the Bishop, but then Black plays Kd6, waits for White's King to go back to g5 (which must be done to advance the pawns), and then plays his King towards g7.

If White doesn't play 1 Bxh5, Black can simply move the King towards g7.

[Albert Silver]

Hi all, I'm new here

I'm interested in make a chess engine so I'm testing few chess engines with Arena 3.0

I was testing Fruit 2.3.1 vs Chronos 1.9.9 x64

[d]8/8/5pb1/3k3p/5K1P/6P1/8/3B4 w - - c0

But I think in this position if white plays Bxh5 has an advantage with that pair of pawns

But ended in 50 moves rules

What do you think??

Independently of the tablebase evaluation, it does not seem hard to draw.

Black slows the pawn advance with the bishop, gets the king on the 'g' or 'h' file, and sacs the bishop for the g-pawn.