Dribbling of pawns.

[Ajedrecista]

Hello:

I wrote before about dribbling of pawns here. I got a surely not new idea about a winning pawn endgame, throwing pawns here and there to finally queen the last one and win against a bunch of pawns. The basic idea is the following:

[pgn][Event ""]
[Date "2026.05.04"]
[Site ""]
[Round ""]
[SetUp "1"]
[FEN "8/1p6/p1p5/P1P5/1P1P4/7k/8/7K w - - 0 1"]
[Result "1-0"]

1.d5 ({(b5 push also wins with the same idea)}) 1...cxd5 2.b5 axb5 (2...d4 c6 1-0) 3.a6 ({(3.c6 wins slightly slower)}) 3...bxa6 4.c6 b4 ({(Other moves also lose)}) 5.c7 b3 6.c8=Q+ 1-0[/pgn]

------------

The b5 and d5 pushes, as well as a6 and c6, might need to be played in a certain order, depending on the arrangement of the kings and further black pieces. For example:

[pgn][Event ""]
[Date "2026.05.04"]
[Site ""]
[Round ""]
[SetUp "1"]
[FEN "8/1p6/p1p5/P1P5/1P1P1k2/8/8/7K w - - 0 1"]
[Result "1-0"]

1.d5! ({(b5 push loses)}) 1...cxd5 (1...Ke5 2.d6 1-0) 2.b5! ({(Only winning move)}) 2...d4 ({(2...axb5 also loses)}) 3.c6 ({(3.Kg1 and 3.Kg2 also win)}) 3...bxc6 (3...d3 4.cxb7! ({(Looking for the combination of queening and giving check)}) 1-0) 4.b6! ({(Looking for the combination of queening and giving check)}) 1-0[/pgn]

[pgn][Event ""]
[Date "2026.05.04"]
[Site ""]
[Round ""]
[SetUp "1"]
[FEN "8/1p6/p1p5/P1P5/1P1P4/1k6/8/7K w - - 0 1"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]

1.d5! (1.b5? Kc4! 0-1) 1...cxd5! 2.b5! d4! 3.c6 (3.bxa6 bxa6! 1/2-1/2) 3...d3! 1/2-1/2[/pgn]

[pgn][Event ""]
[Date "2026.05.04"]
[Site ""]
[Round ""]
[SetUp "1"]
[FEN "7b/1p6/p1p2p2/P1P2p2/1P1P2k1/8/8/4K3 w - - 0 1"]
[Result "1-0"]

1.d5! ({(SF 18 with Multi-PV = 7 is a bit slow until realises that 1.d5! wins)}) 1...cxd5 2.b5! axb5 3.a6 (3.c6 bxc6 4.a6 1-0) 3...bxa6 4.c6 1-0[/pgn]

[pgn][Event ""]
[Date "2026.05.04"]
[Site ""]
[Round ""]
[SetUp "1"]
[FEN "8/1p6/p1p5/P1P5/1P1P1k2/6p1/8/6K1 w - - 0 1"]
[Result "1-0"]

1.d5! ({(b5 push loses)}) 1...cxd5 (1...Ke5 2.d6 1-0) 2.b5! ({(Only winning move)}) 2...axb5 3.a6 (3.c6 bxc6 4.a6 1-0) 3...bxa6 4.c6 1-0[/pgn]

------------

The same idea holds with more wood OTB:

[pgn][Event ""]
[Date "2026.05.04"]
[Site ""]
[Round ""]
[SetUp "1"]
[FEN "8/1p6/p1p5/P1P5/1P1P4/3k2p1/6Kb/8 w - - 0 1"]
[Result "1-0"]

1.d5! ({(b5 push loses)}) 1...cxd5 2.b5! axb5 (2...d4 {(3.bxa6 and 3.c6 win; the black king on d-file stops the black passed pawn)} 1-0) 3.a6 ({(3.c6 also wins)}) 3...bxa6 4.c6! b4 5.c7! b3 6.c8=Q! b2 7.Qxa6+ ({(7-man EGTB win)}) 7...Kc3 8.Qa3 Kc2 9.Qc5+ Kd3 10.Qxd5+ Kc2 ({(Lose in 26 moves)}) 11.Qc4 Kd2 12.Qb3 Kc1 13.Qc3+ Kb1 14.Kf3 ({(The white king joins to the party)}) 14...Ka2 15.Qc4+ Ka3 16.Qc2 g2 17.Kxg2! Bd6 18.Kf3 Ka2 19.Qc4+! Ka3 20.Qd3+ Ka2 21.Qd5 (21.Qxd6? b1=Q 1/2-1/2) 21...Ka1 22.Qa5+ Kb1 23.Ke3 Kc2 24.Qd2 Kb3 25.Qd5+ Kc3 26.Qd3 Kb4 27.Qxd6+ ({(White had to play carefully because black could queen anytime)}) 1-0[/pgn]

------------

The more difficult even? With two additional black pawns on g6 and h6:

[pgn][Event ""]
[Date "2026.05.04"]
[Site ""]
[Round ""]
[SetUp "1"]
[FEN "8/1p6/p1p3pp/P1P5/1P1P4/3k2p1/6Kb/8 w - - 0 1"]
[Result "1-0"]

1.d5! ({(b5 push loses)}) 1...cxd5 2.b5! axb5 (2...d4 {(3.bxa6 and 3.c6 win; the black king on d-file stops the black passed pawn)} 1-0) 3.a6! ({(3.c6 draws according to SF 18)}) 3...bxa6 4.c6! b4 5.c7! b3 6.c8=Q! b2 7.Qxa6+ ({(Huntsman outputs 0.00 at depth 53 and agrees with SF since depth 54)}) Kc2 8.Qxg6+ Kc3 9.Qc6+ Kb4 10.Qxh6 d4 11.Qb6+ Kc3 12.Qc5+ ({(Still long play)}) 1-0[/pgn]

Any insights are welcome.

Regards from Spain.

Ajedrecista.