One of the most important things in chess is pattern recognition: the ability to recognise typical themes and images on the board, characteristics of a position and their consequences.
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[Event "rated untimed match"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "????.??.??"]
[Round "?"]
[White "White player"]
[Black "Black player"]
[Result "*"]
[BlackElo "0"]
[FEN "8/2pp2pp/8/2PP1P2/1p5k/8/PP4p1/6K1 w - - 0 1"]
[SetUp "1"]
[TimeControl "0"]
[WhiteElo "0"]
{ Simple Surprise.|White to move and win. } 1. f6 { The only winning move!
White would like to advance a4 eventually creating a deadly outside passer to
promote on a8. However, he must deal with several subtle threats from Black.
The immediate a4 is refuted by bxa3 bxa3 and Kg3! Then black marchs his
h-pawn down the board to mate. Furthermore, if white plays Kxg2 immediately
then Black plays Kg5 and wins the race to stop the a-pawn. } ( 1. Kxg2 Kg5 2. a4 bxa3 3. bxa3 Kf6 4. a4 Ke7 5. a5 Kd8 6. c6 dxc6 7. dxc6 Kc8 8. Kg3 Kb8 9. Kf4 Ka7 10. Ke5 Ka6 11. Ke6 Kxa5 12. Kf7 h5 13. Kxg7 h4 14. f6 h3 15. f7 h2 16. f8=Q h1=Q 17. Qa8+ Kb4 18. Qb7+ Kc5 19. Qxc7 Qxc6 { Draw. } ) ( 1. a4 bxa3 2. bxa3 Kg3 3. a4 h5 4. a5 h4 5. a6 h3 6. a7 h2# ) 1... gxf6 { Forced, or white
will promote his advanced pawn. } 2. Kxg2 { Forced. Otherwise black will play
Kg3 and march his g- or h-pawn down the board for mate. } 2... Kg4 { Black attempts
to stop the a-pawn advance by alternate route. } 3. a4 bxa3 4. bxa3 { White has
created an outside passer. } 4... Kf4 5. a4 Ke4 6. d6 { No matter how black plays,
his king's direct path to stop the a-pawn will be blocked by his own pawns. } 6... cxd6 7. c6 dxc6 8. a5 c5 9. a6 d5 10. a7 c4 11. a8=Q { White wins with a large
material advantage. } 11... f5 12. Qc8 f4 13. Qh3 h5 14. Qxh5 Kd4 15. Kf3 c3 16. Qh7 Kc4 17. Kxf4 d4 18. Ke4 c2 19. Qc7+ Kb3 20. Kd3 Kb2 21. Qxc2+ Ka3 22. Kc4 d3 23. Qb3# *