You may be familiar with the following endgame composition by Richard Reti, but you may not have been aware of the four other compositions that follow it. All are White to move and draw and, if you have not seen them before, you are in for a treat. How is it possible that White can save any of these positions?
Here's a third composition of Reti's. This is not quite as pretty as his classic K+P compositions just above, but it may still surprise a few of you. The key is gaining time to catch the passed pawn.
It looks hopeless for white... like so many of Reti's compositions, how can the white king catch the advanced black g-pawn?1.e7 Bb5 Required to prevent e8(Q) 2.Kc5 And here's the key. White attacks the Bb5, gaining the time needed to catch the g-pawn 2...Be8 [2...g3 3.Kxb5 g2 4.e8Q+] 3.Kd4 g3 4.Ke3 Bc6 5.e8Q+ Bxe8 6.Kf3= White has succeeded in catching black's passed pawn. *
The final problem may have the most surprising solution of all. To capture the black pawn, the white king must begin its journey in the wrong direction!
