White to move. How should White proceed?
Chess Daily News from Susan Polgar
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White to move. How should White proceed?
BxN now how will black defend his bishop?
At first, I thought 1.Be4 was appropriate to win two pieces for a rook:
1. Be4 Qe4
2. Rf2??
And it appears white is up an exchange. However, black has the killing discovered attack of Bc8. Now, I had seen this possibility right from the start, but overlooked for a moment the other mate threat:
2. …..Bc8!
I had planned Rb8 pinning the bishop, but then Qe1 is also mate in 2. Yikes! So, I backed up to move 2 to see if I could salvage this for white:
2. Qf3 Qc4
Here, Qf3 seems a bit worse for black: [2. …Qf3 3.gf3 Bh4 4.Rb3 and white will double the rooks on the pinned bishop at b7 and will win the exchange when the smoke clears. It won’t help black to play 3. …Bd4 in this line since 4.Rb6 followed by 5.Rfb1 will still win one of the bishops leaving white up the exchange]. Continuing:
3. Rf2 Re8 (anything else, here?)
4. Qf4
Of course, 4.Rb7 is a blunder that loses instantly to Re1+. All in all, white is up the exchange. Now, is there anything better at move 1 for white? I am not seeing it at the moment, but I feel like I am overlooking something. I hate that feeling.
1.Be4 Qe4 2.Rb7! wins (if 2…Rb7 3.Qc8+ followed by Qxb7)
If 2.Rf2? black has 2…Bc8! with double attack (attacking queen and rook; if 3.Rb8 Qe1 wins).
1.Bxe4! Qxe4
A)2.Rxb7 ?? Rxb7 3.Qc8+ Kg7! 4.Qxb7 f3! and Black attack is decisive
B)2.Rxf2??? Bc8! wins
C)2.Qf3!! Qxf3 forced otherwise Qxf2 is of no more danger 3.gxf3 Be3 4.Rb3! Bd2 5.Rfb1 Bb4 6.c3! +-
safest is to simply play
1. Rxe4 Qxe4
2. Rxf2
white is an exchange up, the position is open, the black rook is pinned. and black has no compensation.
white can win more material, but risky is
1. Rxe4 Qxe4
2. Rxb7 Rxb7
3. Qc8+ Kg7
4. Qxb7
The problem is, black now has counter play:
4. … f3
5. g3 Qe2
(5… Bxg3 6. hxg3 f2+ 7. Kh2 hangs in there)
and black wins.
BxN QxB
RxB White wins a piece
Mark
Another check. crunch puzzle but with a nice twist.
Observation: Rxf2 is not the idea of the year (Nxf2+ doesn’t gain the rook ONLY)
First try: take the Bf2 with prior removal of his defender Ne4.
1.Bxe4 Qxe4
2.Rxf2
White is clearly ahead of material and will win, the pin on the Bb7 is effective because the Rb8 is not protected anymore.
CLEAR WIN??!?
NO!
In case of a pin involving a piece other than the King, the pinned piece can go whenever he wants for better results.
Let’s see the position obtained after the second white move…
Fen: 1r4k1/1b3p2/p5p1/3P4/P1P1qp2/7Q/2P2RPP/1R5K b
Tactical White weakness: unprotected Rb1.
The spectacular move 2…Bc8!! turns the table again! Queen and Rook are simultaneously attacked and the only move that saves the two pieces, aka 3.Rxb8, pinning again the Bishop, stumbles against Qe1#, exploiting the elimination of the two defenders of the back rank.
So, second try:
1.Bxe4 Qxe4 and now comes the real show-stopper:
2.Rxb7 (removal of a defender of the square c8) Rxb7 (the second defender is out too)
3.Qc8+ and then 4.Qxb7
if Black doesn’t want to play 2…Rxb7, White will win again because the Rook on the seventh rank, the weakness of the Bf2 and the material balance favourable to White are too much for one single game to Black.
Well, niftier than it seems!
PS: after verification, the puzzle seems to be a slightly rearranged position of an actual game:
Jakovenko,D (2570)-Ghaem Maghami,E (2511) U20 Wch at Goa, 2002
with the slight but very important difference that the game had not in the similar position the pawn of c2. The first variation stumbles now in a less contorted way after
1.Bxe4 Qxe4
2.Rxf2 Qxb1+ (Bc8 works too, but why miss the pleasure of an execution in two moves?)
Regards to all the solvers. Had they found 2…Bc8 in the faulty variation? Nasty one!
Cortex
Timothy Tournier seems to be correct about the line
1. Be4 Qe4
2. Rb7? Rb7
3. Qc8 Kg7! (protects f7!)
4. Qb7
Black’s 4. …f3 is a another killer reply.
I didn’t even see this line yesterday. I am getting too old for this.
Thanks Yancey !
Haven’t seen 4…f3…
Pawn c2 and pawn c5 hinder 2.Rxb7 Rxb7 3.Qc8+ Kg7 4.Qxb7 f3 5.Qb2+ Kh7 and the white queen does not cover f2. Furthermore, the pawn c5 hinder 2.Qg4 in main line.
Congrats Susan and Yancey. It is a difficult puzzle.