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Artist: Olga Yastremska

"I'll let you promote—if you let me mate."

Endgame
How to navigate stalemate traps, allow promotion—and still win.

Intro

Tim Krabbé says of the great Soviet-Armenian composer E. Pogosjants (1935-1990): "He might well be the most prolific composer ever, with 6500 studies and problems, of which 4500 were published. Apart from that, he 'penned some 4000 assorted poems and aphorisms, largely unpublished' [quoting from John Roycroft]. According to Roycroft, Pogosyants was a rather naive man who, as a young and idealistic communist, criticised KGB-chief Shelepin and was subsequently arrested, sentenced, and treated in a psychiatric hospital. The substances administered to him there left him an insomniac for the rest of his life, which did not deter him from wearing his party insignas afterwards, and which was a blessing to the chess world. The quality of his work equals its quantity." Krabbé says of our problem: "One of Pogosyants' first studies, and still one of his best."

The Problem

E. Pogosjants, 1961

lichess-fen.jpgWhite to win.

Lichess arrow-down-icon.png(Solution appears below.)
Lichess arrow-down-icon.png

The Solution

https://lichess.org/study/BfjBVnVh/XfqwVOkO#0

Outro

For more on the wonderland of chess problem compositions, visit ChessProblem.net.