Usually, in Horde Chess, most of the action happens in the middle of the game. This is when all of the tactic moves and strategic advancements are made. The endgame is most of the time either black capturing isolated pawns or white uses 4 queens to checkmate. But there are exceptions to that. In fact, some of the most interesting positions arise only at the very end of the game. For example, we will see the game Malesuurmeister-Sinamon73 where this position was encountered, at move 99:
Black’s turn.
Black holds on with a king, a queen and a bishop, but white’s pawns are dangerously advanced. I recommend taking a minute to ponder this position.
Side note: When the game reached this position, white had only 3.4 seconds remaining on his clock, when the black had a full 2 minutes and 43 seconds (both sides had a 2 seconds increment for each move they play).
White has a simple plan. His next move shall be 100. f6, then 101. g7+, and queen promotion will become inevitable. Black, on the other hand, got no immediately clear plan to perform. Let’s go through his options.
Moving with the bishop
I’m writing this just to get it off the table. The bishop is positioned in the perfect place and any of the options 99… B:h6? 100. g:h6, or 99… Bg7? 100. f6, or 99… Be7? 100. g7+ ends miserably for black.
Sacrificing the queen on f6
Black can try to give away his queen for the pawn on f6. After 99… Qe7 100. f6 Q:f6 101. g:f6
White still have too many pawns for the remaining pieces to block. For example, after 101… B:h6 102. e5 Bf8 103. e6
Black can’t handle the attack with his limited resources.
Helping with the queen through b2
Black could, and actually did in the game, bring its queen to the action area by moving it to the other side of the board. After 99… Qb2, White have 2 main options:
Responds with f6
The first option is to proceed with the plan with 100. f6. Black will respond with 100… B:h6 101.g:h6 Q:f6, then white gets a queen by 102. e5!
Now 102… d:e5 103. d6 Q:g6 104. f8=Q+ Kh7
This position is actually a draw. White can promote the d6 pawn but will lose the h6 pawn and black will get to exchange his queen with one of the white queens. The other queen by itself cannot checkmate, so no side can win, and a draw will be announced.
Respond with e5
The second option for white, which was played on the game, is to first play 100. e5. Then, the game continued with 100.. Q:e5 101. f6 Q:f6 102. g7+ B:g7 103. g:f6 B:h6 104. f8=Q+ B:f8 105. f7 Kg7
Which consists a stalemate. There could be other moves after 100. e5, but they all end in a similar stalemate position.
A draw is definitely better than a loss, but the black player could do even better.
Sacrificing the queen on f7
After 99… Q:f7! 100. g:f7 Kh7
Black was left with a king, a bishop and a pawn, but the white pawns can no longer form an offensive form. After 101. f6 Kg6
White has to move and lose a pawn. After that, all of the white pawns will be captured one at a time, and black will win.
