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Two knights against a pawn

This is the famous endgame paradox: two knights cannot mate a lone king (it comes out stalemate), but if the opponent has a pawn, a win appears. The pawn robs the defending side of the saving stalemate, and the knights get their mate in first. White to move.

White has the king on a8 and knights on a7 and a2; Black has the king on a6 and a pawn on d4. The method: one knight blockades the pawn while the king and the other knight drive the enemy king into a corner, and at the last moment the blockading knight releases the pawn - but mate arrives before it can promote.

This is one of the longest and most difficult technical wins there is: the position is won, but takes more than fifty moves (164 plies per the tablebases), so in practice it is scored as a draw under the fifty-move rule. A purely theoretical but astonishing ending.

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