CBM Blog: The Troitzky Line
5/3/2011 – This is not a route on the Moscow Metro but a technique to solve a rare and difficult ending: two knights vs a pawn, which, you may or may not know, is winning if the defending pawn can be blockaded on or behind a certain line on the board. This was proven by the great endgame specialist A.A. Troitzky and is explained to us by GM Karsten Müller in a recent game. Very instructive.
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The Troitzky Line
The endgame two knights vs pawn probably does not belong to the standard mating procedures you need to master. But I found the following example so instructive that I could not resist the temptation to analyse it. Black's pawn has crossed the Troitzky-Line a4-b6-c5-d4-e4-f5-g6-h4, so that drawing and losing zones for the defending king exist. In this case it is imprisoned near the dangerous h8 corner so that White can win:
