Queen vs Pawns
The queen normally wins against one or even several pawns. Only if the pawns are very far advanced do they have a chance.
We start with a single pawn. If it has advanced to the seventh rank and is threatening to promote, everything depends on whether the attacking king can assist the queen. With a central pawn, this is almost always possible, no matter how far away the king is.
- Queen vs e-pawn
At first the queen has to approach.
2...<&d3 is met by 3 Wb4 followed by Wei. If the queen manages to get in front of the pawn, the win is trivial.
The decisive moment. White forces the black king in front of the pawn, so that he can bring his own king closer.
5...<£el 6 &b7 4f2 7 «d4+ <£>fl 8 Wf4+ &g2 9«e3!<£fllO «T3+!
The pattern repeats itself.
10...&el 11 <£c6 ¿d2 12 Wf4+ ¿dl 13 Wd4+ &c2 14 We3! ¿dl 15 Wd3+! 4el 16 &d5 &f217 Wd4+ <£fl 18 Wf4+ igl 19 We 3! &fl 20 Wf3+! ¿el 21 &e4 ¿d2 22 Wd3+ ¿el 23 4>f3 +-
The distance of the white king from the pawn was irrelevant. However, the position would have been drawn with the king on d5, d6 or d7, because the white queen would be obstructed. The same winning procedure works against a knight's pawn.
With a rook's or bishop's pawn, there are difficulties because of possible stalemate defences.
Queen vs a-pawn
White always wins if his king is inside the zone and it is his turn to move.
lWb4+
1 Wf2+ <£bl (1 ...4>b3 2 +-) 2 <£b4 wins more quickly.
White has managed to force Black's king in front of the pawn, but cannot move his king in as usual due to stalemate. However, White can mate the black king instead:
4 Wdl+ &b2 5 <£b4 alV 6 Wd2+! ¿bl 7 <£b3!+-
If you study the zone carefully, you will see that if White's king is inside, it can either reach b3 in two moves, or d3 or d2 in one move, to give mate by )Brc2#.
The bishop's pawn also makes a stalemate defence possible:
Queen vs c-pawn
4 lBrxc2 is stalemate.
The zone is based on the logic that White wins only if his king can reach b3 or d2 in one move. If Black's king is on the other side of the c-pawn, the winning zone is much larger. This is because White can win a tempo when Black's king blocks the c-pawn and because there exist additional mating patterns on the other side of the pawn (see following diagram).
2 ®d4+ &e2 3 Wc3! &dl 4 ®d3+! &cl 5 ¿c4 ¿b2 6 Wd2 ¿bl 7 ¿b3! clV 8 ®a2#!
- Queen vs c-pawn
With his king on g4, White would win as follows: 1Vf4+ <£>dl 2 Vd4+ <£cl 3 ®al+ <&d2 4 H>2! ¿dl 5 <4f3! cl® 6 ®e2#!.
If the defender has additional pawns, the stalemate defence may become impossible:
I.Fuss - A.Becker
Vienna Trebitsch mem 1934
1 %2+ ¿bl 2 #fl+ ¿b2 3 We2+ ¿bl 4 Wdl+ ib2 5 Wd2+ ¿bl 6 Wb4+ ¿c2 7 Wa3! &bl8Wb3+! $al9Wc2 1-0
Wcl# follows.
Note that with the rear pawn on a5 or a4, the position would have been a draw, because the queen checks on b4 and b3 are essential for the winning process.
The following study also illustrates this motif:
P.Farago
Ceskoslovensky Sach, 1937
After 1 g6? a4-f! 2 <4>xa4 (2 <&a2 b3+! 3 4>a3 b2 4 <&xb2 a3+! 5 4>a2 h3! =) 2...b3! 3 4>xb3 h3! 4 g7 h2! 5 4>c3 4>g2 6 g8W+ = White's king is just outside the winning zone.
I...b3 2 <£xb3! a4+ 3 4>a3! h3 4 g6! h2 5 g7! <&g2 6 g8«+! 4>f2 7 #d5 &gl 8 Wdl+ 4>g2 9 Wg4+ ¿f2 10 Hi3! <4>gl 11 Wg3+! ¿hi 12 <£b4! a3 13 Wf2! a2 14 «fl#!
Sometimes an additional pawn makes a successful defence possible by denying essential squares to the enemy queen. In the following position Black can't force the white king to g8:
G.van Doesburgh - G.Maroczy
Zandvoort 1936
G.van Doesburgh - G.Maroczy
Zandvoort 1936
l...Wa7 2 ¿h8 #d4 3 h5! Äf6 4 4>h7! «15+ 5 ¿ h6! «f6+
6 <£h7 «f5+ 7 <£h6! «e6+ 8 <£h7! «f7 9 h6 ¿c5 10 $h8 «g6 11 g8« «xh6+ 12 «h7 «xh7+ 13 &xh7 V2-V2
Usually the queen wins easily against several pawns if they haven't advanced to the seventh rank:
- J.Berger, 1914
Or: 1 ...f3 2 «b8 f2 3 «f4 +-; 1 ...g3 2 «h8+ <£g4 3 «c8+ <£h4 4 «f5 h2 5 «xf4+ <4>h3 6 «f3 +-.
2 «hl h2 3 &c2 f3 4 &d2 ih3 5 «fl+ 6&e3+-
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