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Questions tagged [zugzwang]

Zugzwang is a German term, literally meaning "compulsion to move," which refers in chess to a situation in which any move by the side whose turn it is leads to ruin, but the player would be saved if only it were legal to "pass."

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Demystifying Seirawan-Kasparov 1983 king and pawn endgame

I am currently studying the Tarrasch Defense 1.d4 d5 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 c5, and naturally I've stumbled upon many Kasparov games as he frequentloy and quite successfully employed this opening throughout his career. In particular, in the game Yasser…
user929304
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What are some chess games that feature Zugzwang despite many pieces remaining on the board?

The game Saemisch - Nimzowitsch (Copenhagen 1923) has come to be known as the Immortal Zugzwang Game, as a play on Anderssen's swashbuckling Immortal Game. I am interested in finding other examples of what might be called a "grand Zugzwang," where…
ETD
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Are there any symmetric zugzwang positions?

Although very unlikely, the starting position could be a forced win for Black. This would mean it is a position of mutual zugzwang, in the strong sense that whoever moves first loses. Wikipedia refers to one such position as trébuchet. Such…
Dag Oskar Madsen
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What are the origins of the words 'zwischenzug' and 'zugzwang'?

I've heard chess analysts use the words Zugzwang (being forced to make a bad move) and Zwischenzug (making an intermediate move which improves the outcome of the next move) in commentary. Does anyone know how these German words found their way into…
Totero
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Are there any Chess960 positions where Black has the advantage?

I've heard it said that some Chess960 positions have a significant advantage for White, usually involving fast attacks against undefended pawns. However, since zugzwang positions do exist, it's theoretically possible that Black could have an…
eyeballfrog
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Is there a position with the stupidest possible move?

I define a stupid move as a move that puts the opponent in zugzwang so that all their moves result in mate in one (weaker version: a loss); is chosen instead of a move that gives mate in one (weaker version: a limited number of moves). A move is…
Bob Jansen
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How can I identify Zugzwang opportunities?

How can I identify Zugzwang opportunities, not only for myself, but for my opponent. Often times, I run into Zugzwang, whether it is for my benefit or not, by accident. Is this just a matter of looking at all the possible moves my opponent and I…
xaisoft
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Full board with full point mutual zugzwang

I have two questions. 1) Is there a position with all pieces on board such that the side to move loses? 2) Is there a position with all pieces on board such that the side to move is checkmated in 1? Regarding question two, here is one example…
Peter
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What is the difference between a waiting move and zugzwang?

I can't see the difference between a waiting move and zugzwang.
user30415
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Is this selfmate solvable or fixable?

This is a kind of a repost of a fascinating chess problem that appeared yesterday. The original poster got shy or something, and bafflingly deleted his own post, which was beginning to attract some good reputation and interest. In the mean time, I…
Laska
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Midgame zugzwang?

I'm aware that sometimes in the endgame, one player is able to create a fortress and is fine with just shuffling their pieces to a draw. However, in the midgame, with nearly all the pieces still on the board, is it ever advisable to NOT attack or…
information_interchange
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Formal definition of corresponding squares

For (endgame) training purposes, I would like to write a python program (using python chess) that generates all pairs of corresponding squares in a pawn endgame. Following the definition from Dvoretsky's Endgame Manual, I define corresponding…
Kasper Dokter
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Technique for drawing this king and multiple pawns endgame

Given this position with king and multiple pawns per side (white to move): 3k4/p4ppp/1p2p3/8/8/1P4P1/P3PPKP/8 w - - 0 26 Engines give a 0.0 evaluation. Assuming your opponent plays best moves, my understanding is that it should be reasonably easy…
antonro
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Can a zugzwang be a bad move?

There's this related Helpful Zugzwang? but it's not quite what I am asking. I mean a double (or further) zugzwang. So a player puts another player in zugzwang, and the other player makes a move. However, after that move, the first player doesn't…
LeopardL GD
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Trying to remember a zugzwang puzzle/study position

I am trying to remember a puzzle position, or maybe was it originated from a real game, i dont remember. After Rook c8, we have a nice zugzwang, which forces black to have as only legal move Rook from a7 to a8, making it en prise for white's…
ghilesZ
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