White to move. How should White proceed?
Chess Daily News from Susan Polgar
Relentless attack
About Author
White to move. How should White proceed?
My first idea is to sacrifice the rook on h5, in order to open the g-file, then Rg1+ will be my next threat…
Black can just check me once with his queen, but after Ke2 the checks are over and with that the game…
Is this right?
white knight g5—white queen h7
That could work only if Black “colaborates” with 1…Rf8??, after 1.Ng5
But what if he doesn’t want to play the rook, and insteed plays something like 1…Ne5 and after 2.Qh7+ Kf8 ?
My first idea was the simple fxg6, threatening either opening the g file with gxf7 check, Qh7 check or Rxh5
maybe after
1. fxg6 fxg6
2. Rd6
?
f6 would threaten mate, if not for two things:
1) The knight on h5 protecting the g7 square, and
2) the knight on d7 which can sacrifice itself for two pawns and removing the threat
Rxh5 removes both of these problems. The rook has to be taken (either immediately or after a spite check), to prevent mate on h8. Once taken, f6 threatens mate on g7, and Nxf6, exf6 leaves Black with nothing to do except tip his king over.
anon at 9:42pm: after 1. Ng5, I think 1… Qc5+ followed by …Nf4+, …Ng3+, or …Qe3+ or Qxd4+ depending on where how White responds, can keep white running around a little bit, maybe enough to break up the attack. Remember white is already down a piece.
1. Rxh5 wins:
1… gxh5
2. Rg1 mate
1… Qc5+
2. Nd4 Qxd4+
3. Rxd4 after which f6 followed by Qg7 mate can’t be stopped.
Maybe some other lines let black drop his queen in about the sam eway.
I think Rh1-g1 to exploit the pin on g6 both against blacks king and blacks queen. black moves Pxa4 to try and gain material. then white Fxg6 black Fxg6. White Rg6 forking the black king and queen. black Qxg6 white Qxg6 forking the black king and knight. this would be alot of material damage to black.
1. Ng5 may look threatening, but black has 1. — Nf8 which seems not only to hold for black (black was up a pawn and knight in the starting position so he can afford to give back material) but in fact gives black the advantage after:
1. Ng5 Qc5+
2. Kg2 Nf8
3. Rxh5 Qxe5
———-
1. Rg1 seems to be promising also, but after Nxe5 white is in trouble. For example:
1. Rg1 Nxe5
2. Qxh5
(to protect the knight at f3, 2. Nxe5 is met by 2. — Qc5+ and 3. — Qxe5 where black holds off white’s attack and stays a piece ahead)
2. — Qxf3+
3. Qxf3 Nxf3
4. Kxf3
and black is up a pawn or two.
————-
fxg6 is more promising, but it too has problems.
1. fxg6 fxg6
2. Rxh5 Qc5+
3. Ke2 gxh5
4. Qg6+ Kf8
5. Rd6 Qxd6
6. Qxd6
with a messy queen for 2 rooks ending, though white is better.
————-
Anonymous said
QUOTE
1. Rxh5 wins:
(correct)
1… gxh5
2. Rg1 mate
(don’t be silly, first of all it is not mate in 1, black has 2. — Qg6 and can hold for several more moves, secondly gxh5 is not black’s best response)
1… Qc5+
2. Nd4 Qxd4+
3. Rxd4 after which f6 followed by Qg7 mate can’t be stopped.
(once again, 2. — Qxd4+ isn’t best for black, a better try is 2. — Qxe5, but now both f6 and fxg6 are both easily winning for white as black has to jettison his queen to stave off mate, if only for a few moves).
When 1.Rxh5 then 1…Qxf3! 2.Kxf3 Nxe5+ with counter-play…
yep…rook takes h5 is crushing…its rather simple to see. You gotta make em harder than that Susan…haha..
1. Txh5! Dxf3+
2. Kxf3 Nxe5+
3.Kf4 seems fine to me
Black will be mated soon.
3… gxh5
4. Rg1 mate
or
3… RxRd1
4.Qh8 mate
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
“1. Txh5! Dxf3+
2. Kxf3 Nxe5+
3.Kf4 seems fine to me
Black will be mated soon.
3… gxh5
4. Rg1 mate”
nope, not yet. Black plays 4…Ng4!
Then 5.f6! Rd4+. 6.Kg3 Nxh6 and black wins!
rh5 qf3
kf3 ne5
kf4 gh5
rd8 rd8
qg5 wins
tim wrote:
rh5 qf3
kf3 ne5
kf4 gh5
rd8 rd8
qg5 wins
Apparently white wins the rook, but black plays Ng6!+. Then 6.f:g6 Td4+ and if 7.Kg3 Rg4+ and black is winning…
roberto, why would you play kg3 when you could play kf3?
white could even win with kxn instead of qg5+ and have a queen for a rook.
tim, you’re right Kf3 is better, though I’m not sure it’s winning…
by the way, 3.Ke2 is the best move in that variation; it is mate in 4-5 moves…
“Once taken, f6 threatens mate on g7, and Nxf6, exf6 leaves Black with nothing to do except tip his king over.”
Wrong: Black can still fight with ..Qxf6, however after Qxf6 Rxd1, white has a decisive material advantage.