Nice endgame puzzle (using Bähr‘s rule is helpful)

Having read the Endgame Manual by Dvoretzky I am currently stuck in another tome, „Fundamental Chess Endgames“ by Endgame Guru Karsten Müller.

I like that one. Things look gloomy for Black to move. What to do? Try to figure it out yourself - the Engine will find the solution in no time. ;)

lichess.org/editor/8/p7/Pb4p1/5k1p/5P2/3K1NPP/8/8 b

Have fun!

@Sarg0n I did not turn on the engine, I did not move the pieces on the chessboard. My answer is a draw.

@Sarg0n Interesting puzzle with a bunch of only moves! In a practical game, this is lost. Even a 2700 GM likely misses at least one only move (especially if under time pressure which is often the case this late in the game). So for us mere mortals, it is a novelty to gawk over, but not really consider realistic to find in a game reliably.

@ujcn Yeah, you can say "draw," but you're pretty unlikely to given how many only moves black has to find.

@dumb_knight #3
I can explain why I said a draw. But you are so fascinated by the poetry of the lines that I do not want to disappoint you with the prose of simple logic. I give a hint: you need to calculate the endgame after moves 1. Nd4 Bd4 2. Kd4 h4! Is it a white win or a draw?

It's a draw if you saw all that *and* play the resulting position correctly, which is still not guaranteed (and where you would never trade your bishop for knight in the first place if you didn't see the resulting draw). But that's fine. I'm glad you found the draw.

I am also glad that my hint helped you figure out this puzzle.

It didn't, but thank you.

This is a game position. No matter if you like it or not you have to solve such problems in every game. Don’t discuss, solve! ;) The secret is to enhance your pattern/chunks pool - better today than tomorrow.

Black went wrong in move 2 and lost.

@Sarg0n Why not discuss? If we take an example from the literature, then sometimes criticism is more useful than the book itself.
@dumb_knight The solution to the puzzle came to me when I remembered an example from my game.