White to move. How should white proceed?
Source: ChessToday.net
Chess Daily News from Susan Polgar
Practical chess tactic
About Author
White to move. How should white proceed?
Source: ChessToday.net
1 b5!
if black moves either rook, then 2. Rxd7.
if 1…cxb5 then
2. c6 winning bishop.
if black plays any other move, then 2. bxc6 winning bishop.
Black’s position is painful and sad, and I have been on the wrong end of a pin like this more than once. Given time, black will put the king on e8, and move the d8 rook out of the way, but white has a move just waiting to attack the hapless bishop a third time:
1. b5! cb5
Nothing better. If bc5, white plays 2.bc6 c4 3.Nc5 c3 4.Rc2 with an even bigger edge in material coming, or black can just concede the piece with a move like Rc8. Continuing:
2. c6 Ke8 (what else?)
Now, the question is how should white proceed from this point? Playing either 3.cd7 or 3.Rd7 should lead to a winning endgame for white up a knight for two pawns, though not a trivial one, in my opinion, since black can generate some counterplay on the queenside that white must take care to address properly. White need not be hasty here since black is tied up into knots- the d8 rook can never move without allowing a capture at d7 without picking up the second white pawn- the bishop can’t move because it is still pinned to d8, and the e7 rook can’t move for the moment until f6/f5 has been played, but even then, the rook won’t be able to leave the 7th rank. So, I think white should just reorganize his pieces and get the knight into action. I might do it in the following manner:
3. Rd5
Threatens Nd4 and attacks the b5 pawn. All black really has are pawn moves here. The idea here is to threaten Nxb5 and also threaten the maneuver Nf3-Ne5 giving a 4-fold attack on d7. I looked for a while at the line where white plays Nc1-Ne2-Nc3, but I don’t really see how this gets the knight into the action after black closes off the option of Nxb5 by playing a6. I really want to get the knight to d4 ASAP. Continuing:
3. …..f5
4. Nd4 Ra8
Black really can’t wait. If he tries Bc6, white takes at d8 with check followed by the knight fork from c6 to win a full rook. If he tries Rf7/g7, white just plays Ne6. And if black tries another pawn move like a6 to protect b5, white then plays Nf3 and a later Ne5 completely winning the bishop. Continuing:
5. cd7 Rd7
6. Rd7 Kd7
And now white has a choice- take at f5 or b5. My preference is to take at b5 to reduce black’s counterplay on the queenside, but this position is more clearly winning to me than the line where black is given two pawns for the piece.
Ein Schlag Sachertorte.
Killer pin along d-file can be exploited by attacking the pinned bishop. This cannot be prevented.
1. b5
1. .. cxb5 2. c6
1. .. bxc5 2. bxc6 c4 3. Nc5
1. .. Ke8 2. bxc6
i think, Nd4 is the best move, threatening Nc6 and Ne6+ at the same time and eventually winning an exchange.
greets, jan