The Single Corner opening with 11-15, 22-18 is very popular and full of interesting play, but sometimes a seemingly reasonable and natural looking move will singe a player's fingers, so to speak. We'll look at one such situation in today's original study.

To set the scene, here's the run-up, without commentary.

1.	11-15	22-18
2.	15x22	25x18
3.	9-14	18x9
4.	5x14	29-25
5.	8-11	25-22
6.	10-15	22-17
7.	4-8	17x10
8.	7x14	23-18
9.	15x22	26x10
10.	6x15	24-19
11.	15x24	28x19
12.	2-6	32-28
13.	11-15	19x10
14.	6x15	21-17
15.	12-16	28-24

Here's the position as it now stands.

White should have played 17-14 but didn't, and it's a win for Black, but how? Could you have drawn with White had you played 17-14? Black still would have an edge and the draw is not easy.

So we've burned the candle at both ends, and left you with two problems. Show the Black win after White's 28-24, and show how White could have made a draw with 17-14.

Too much? Burned out? Set your mouse aflame on Read More to see the solution and explanatory notes.

Solution

First we'll look into Black's winning line after 28-24.

16.

16-19

24-20

Forced.

17.

19-24

27-23

Attempting to remove a target.

18.	24-28	30-26
19.	28-32	26-22
20.	8-11	23-18

17-14 may be better here, but this move looks natural enough.

21.	15-19	18-14
22.	3-7	17-13
23.	32-28

The king swings into action.

23.	...	13-9
24.	19-23	22-17

9-5 is the computer move but we show instead a less artificial conclusion.

25.	23-27	31x24
26.	28x19	9-5
27.	11-15	14-9
28.	15-18	17-14
29.	19-15	20-16
30.	18-22	16-12
31.	15-11

Black wins. White is out of safe moves.

And now, let's look at the situation had 17-14 been played instead of 28-24.

16.

3-7

28-24

Now this move is okay. What a difference an interim move makes!

17.	16-19	24-20
18.	8-11

Best at this point, to hold the white man on 16.

18.	...	30-26
19.	19-24	26-23
20.	24-28	14-9
21.	28-32	27-24
22.	7-10	9-5
23.	10-14	23-19
24.	32-28

Best.

24.	...	19x10
25.	28x19	10-7
26.	14-17	7-3
27.	11-15	3-7
28.	15-18	7-10
29.	18-22	10-14
30.	17-21	14-17

Drawn. Black, with the narrowest of advantages, really can't win.

Computer analysis for this study was done with Ed Gilbert's KingsRow engine and the companion 10-piece end-game database.