Winning Isolated Queen Pawn KP Ending

 I still have quite a few issues of Inside Chess which was a bimonthly periodical brain child  of Seattle native Yasser Seirawan prior to easy access to the internet. I thought of Yaz after reaching the following KP ending where I was left with the doomed IQP.

It is crazy, but Whites last pawn move f4 is LOSING. I screwed it up with the game becoming a draw. Despite Black's ostensibly weak d4 pawn, White is busted with Black enjoying the enviable extra pawn move advantage which will create a zugzwang favoring the second player. 

Also the only winning move is h6 which was not noticed by this slightly above average player! So, despite Black having 3 pawn islands to White's more manageable 2, Black is winning for concrete reasons rather than blind adherence to general principles. 

Fork Trick with deeper motive

 ICC player blitzman fell prey to the fork trick in this game. The real motivation for  playing Q takes h2 pawn is NOT the obvious recovery of the material after Ng4 and the capture of the White Bitch at e3. 

The positional justification is Horse moving to the d1 square double attacking the paralyzed b2 and c3 White Pawns!! 

Predator Ward Farnsworth does above average job of extolling the virtues of positionally motivated tactics.The law professor's political preferences are quite sub standard as the buzz around UT campus suggests he voted for Trump. I beat Ward decisively in a Dallas Texas tournament, but he has certainly beaten me more decisively in his capacity to produce income and his status at a major university!!

Fascinating Conversion to Winning KP ending an Exchange Down!!

ICC player eternalwarrior blundered in below diagram by moving his Rook to c7 rather than c8. His logic was impeccable wanting to protect d7 pawn, but there was a tactical oversight in his reasoning. 

Can you see the flaw in his reasoning based on Black's King location and the harmonizing/coordination of the g5 Knight an the e6 pawn?

After pawn to e7 there are two Knight Forks that lead to a won King and Pawn ending where the White King ends up at the dominating d5 square and Black possessing a weak isolated passed d pawn still stuck on its original d7 square!!! One of the variants actually forces the Black Monarch to block the passed pawn in order to to gobbled up by f6 Knight Fork!!!! SO BEAUTIFUL

It is impossible to go through all the variations as to why White is winning, but some of the ideas are White has two pawn islands to Black's three, White has 3-2 King Side pawn majority, Zugzwang(means German for every move loses),  a more active centralized King, and maybe even triangulation in some variations. 

I would love to know if Doug Hyatt or Russian Speaking White guy GM Bryan Smith would consider this position, after the blunder, to be worthy of study?

Tolerating what appears to be a Dangerous Check

Weak pawns frequently control important squares. See the commentary of D. Naroditsky in the seminal game of pawn health versus piece mobility(Carlson/Nakamura) where the 5 time US champion possessed an uncompromised pawn structure and two horses versus the tattered pawns and Bishop Pair of the World Champion. Great article about it in the United States periodical Chess Life.

Also master Quora commentator Tom Wilkins writes about Naroditsky's winning online blitz record against King Magnus.

Ultrarunner, hailing from Denmark, plays boring but winning chess at ICC with his pet line the King's Indian Attack. In the diagrammed position, White "threatens" Queen to d8 check. This is an instance of playing safe or conservatively. OTB players would be inclined to play the safe defensive move Qe7. However White's impotent prelate at f3 would make a postal player scratch his whiskers and consider the greedy Queen captures pawn at b3 not fearing the "meaningless check" since the White light squared  Bishop is poorly placed not being able to aid in attacking what appears to be a vulnerable Black Monarch!!

A dude at ChessFox.com can relate to all this citing Philidor's claim that pawns are the soul of chess. I find it sooo odd that the owner of ChessFox never identifies themselves, but want you to buy chess tutorials from them. Maybe a lower rate player who thinks it would hurt his bottom line or sales?

Won King and Pawn Ending if Bishops can be forced off.

The following Bishop Ending is of practical and theoretical interest. It arose from a French Defense where Black captured White's e4 pawn on the third move of the game at the Internet Chess Club.

White has three pawn islands to Black's two. In a pure King and Pawn ending, the side with the fewer pawn islands frequently has the advantage. Such would be the case here if Black could figure out a way to force a trade of Bishops. Black would eventually win the game owing to his 4-3 King Side Pawn majority.

As you can see from the screenshot of the game, Black has just played Bc6 begging White, played by Taliesin of the the ICC, to exchange Bishops which would lead to previously mentioned losing end game for White.

Why is the ending losing for White? In short, because of the weakness of his isolated c5 pawn and a2 pawn. Black can convert is 4-3 majority to a single passed pawn which White must chase down which will lead to Black's a7 pawn queening.

Since this passed pawn is a rook pawn, Black has to prevent White getting to the stalemating c1 square.