Chess Puzzle: Stairway To Heaven

This is a famous endgame study where with an ingenious strategy White avoids stalemate after which White King hurries towards the 8th rank! An instructive King manoeuvre in pawn endgame which every chess player should see!
_____________
Palamede Lippmann, Lionel Kieseritzky
Chess Player’s Chronicle (166) 1848
White is winning
_____________
This position in Forsyth-Edwards Notation (FEN) is: k7/Pp6/1Pp5/2Pp4/3Pp3/4P3/5P2/6K1 w – – 0 0
_____________
Twitter →
_____________________________________________
Facebook →
_____________________________________________________
Instagram →
_____________
Video Thumbnail Credits:
_____________
#chesspuzzle

66 Comments

  1. I show this puzzle to my students on a regular basis. It is my favorite puzzle.

  2. 12. Kd5 seems unnecessary to me. It mates faster, but if the student were to accidentally play 14. Kd7 they lose. Why give the opponent any chance, no matter how small? Take the the pawn and then the a8=Q+ is beautiful.

  3. How the hell can you play f4 for white and black take IT? BLACK can only take white pawn if played f3

  4. 1. C pawn takes on d6 with en passant?

    Maybe previous move by black was …d5?

  5. QxbB2 Qf8+, Kxf8 Bb4+, Kg8 Bd2, Qxd2 Rxe8, Rxe8+#

  6. The 8th edition of Bilguer's Handbuch contains it.

  7. 2:04 We can take in c5 : Kxc5 Ka8 Kd6 Kb7 a8=Q+ Kxa8 Kc6 Kb8 b7 Ka7 Kc7 Ka6 b8=Q etc. Best regards

  8. Cant you just get a pawn to last and spawn Queen and checkmate

  9. 1:26 In this position 8. c6 is also winning for white, because after 8. … bxc6 9. Kd3 c5 10. Kc4 d3 11. Kxd3 c4+ 12. Kxc4 white is clearly winning. Nevertheless, great puzzle.

    About a second puzzle, solution is 1. … Qxb2!! with direct threat 2. … Qg2#, if white play 2. Bxb2 then 2. … Rxf1+ Kxf1 3. Re1#, the only way to delay the inevitable is sacrifice the queen 2. Qf8+ Kxf8 3. Bb4+ and now are two ways for checkmate white, first way: 3. … Kf7 4. Bd2 Qd4+ (Qxd2 also works, there is a checkmate with the queen in the next move) Be3 5. Qxe3#, second way (more spectacular in my opinion): 3. … Qxb4! (by sacrificing the queen) now there is no more checks, and no matter what white will play, for example 4. Nxb4 then 4. … Rxf1+ 5. Kxf1 Re1#. It was really interesting position therefore I took my time for detailed analysis.

  10. Not trying to be disrespectful but i hated your voice on 2:153:00. It gave me cancer

  11. I've found another solution (2 solutions)

  12. Congratulations on 100k…been here since 32k..learned a lot over the year.. Hail sensei suren

  13. queen b7 takes pawn at b2… is the winning move for black

  14. Kxc5 instead of Kd5 is also winning: Kxc5 Ka8 Kb5 Kb7 a8Q+ Kxa8 Ka6 +-

  15. At 2:03, that's not White's only response. It looks pretty yes, but White could've also just taken the pawn
    1.Kxc5 (if 1 … ka8 2.kb5 kb7 3.a8=Q kxa8 4.kc6 wins just like 1:47 position)

  16. It's really sad, you seem to have great content… But your voice and especially your pronunciation is so disturbing that I can't even stand through a video of 3 minutes without cringing… It's a shame

  17. You're dumb. king black b6 move 2 after the cut

  18. Easy, I figured the solution immediately after i saw this

  19. Nice puzzle, but it is impossible to reach such a position in real game. I apologise for my shaky English. Where are you from, Suren?

  20. Nice puzzle, but it is impossible to reach such a position in real game. I apologise for my shaky english

  21. And she's buying the stairway to heaven🎶

  22. I clicked your link and am watching for the first time.this puzzle is similar to the other.yes stairway to heaven. What a title!

  23. 1. f4 f3 2. Kf1 f2 3. e4 dxe4 4. Kxf2 e3+ 5.
    Ke1 e2 6. d5 cxd5 7. Kxe2 d4 8. Kd2 d3 9. c6 bxc6 10. Kxd3 Kb7 11. Kc4 Ka8 12. Kc5 Kb7 13. a8=Q+ Kxa8 14. Kxc6 Kb8 15. b7 Ka7 16. Kc7 Ka6 17. b8=Q Ka5 18. Qb3 Ka6 19. Qb6#

  24. I got this puzzle yesterday and i solved it by accident and when my master came and said show me i forgot ;-;

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published.