Queen and Pawn vs Queen: Botvinnik's Winning Method

Watch the method: press play to see the winning idea run, or step through it move by move.

Queen and pawn versus queen is drawn far more often than it is won, but when the defending king is far from the pawn the attacker has real chances. These are hard endings: with correct play the win often needs more than fifty moves.

The problem. The defending queen delivers a stream of checks that keeps your king running and the pawn frozen. Winning means ending that stream.

Botvinnik's method. Do not try to walk the king out of the checks. Instead, place the queen where it can interpose on the checking line. The block shields the king and offers a trade at the same time, and the defender cannot take, because the pawn ending is lost. In this drill the sequence is Qf6 Qd5+ Qf5, and Qf5 is the only move that keeps the win.

The pawn matters. With a remote defending king, a central or bishop pawn wins in practically every position, and a knight pawn wins very often. Only the rook pawn draws in a majority of cases. (Do not confuse this with queen versus a lone pawn, where rook and bishop pawns are the drawish ones because of stalemate.)

King next to king. One rule makes the counter-checks appear on their own: march your king onto the same rank or file as the enemy king, or right beside it. Then, when you block a check with your queen, you are often checking too, and the trade is forced on your terms. Two habits go with it: never park your king in front of your own pawn, which only invites checks, and keep your queen near the center, since a queen on the edge slows the win and hands the defender perpetual-check chances.

In this drill the margin is thin. Find the interposition, and watch for stalemate as the black king runs out of squares.