White to move. Can White save this game? How should white proceed?
7r/3PR1bk/2pQ4/5p1p/2q3pP/2Pn2P1/pr4P1/4R2K w – – 0 1
Chess Daily News from Susan Polgar
Attacking chess tactic
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1Qf6 wins
Seems straightforward (unless I am missing something).
1. Rxg7+ Kxg7 (forced)
2. Re7+ Qf7
(If 2…Kf8/g8 3. d8=Q#)
3. Qd4+ Kg6
4. Rxf7 Kxf7
5. Qxh8 Nf2+
6. Kh2 a1=Q (threatening Qh1# in the next move)
White can then save the game with a perpetual.
I think this is the 3rd time I see the same problem.
1. Qf6 wins.
For the continuations look here:
http://susanpolgar.blogspot.se/2013/09/saturday-tactic-review.html
The future Qg5+ is nice to see here:
1. Rxg7+ Kxg7
2. Qe7+ Kg6 (Kg8? d8=Q#. Kh6 Qf6+/Qg7+ as below)
3. Qg5+! Kh7 (Kf7 Re7+ Kf8 Qg7#/d8=Q#)
4. Re7+ Qe7
5. Rxe7#
Mate in no more than 5.
After
1. Qf6Black has two ways to escape mate by Qxg7# (1. … Nf2+ 2.Kh2 can only delay the following):
1)
1. … Rg8 (1. … Qxc3 2.Rxg7#)
2. Qcf5+ Kh6
2. … Kh8
3. Qxh5+ Bh6
4. Qxh6#
3. R1e6+ Qxe6
4. Rxe6+ Bf6
5. Rxf6+ Kg7
6. Qg6+ Kh8
7. Qh6#
2)
1. … Qg8
2. Qxf5+ Kh6
3. R1e6+ Qxe6 Here the black rook is on square h8 instead of g8
4. Rxe6+ Bf6
5. Rxf6+ Kg7
6. Qg6#
1. RxG7 KxG7
2. RG7
And it’s mate in 3.
I think I missed this line:
1. Rxf7+? Kxf7
2. Qe7+ Qf7!
This seems to spoil whites plan.
3. Qg5+ Kh7
4. Re7 a1=Q+
doesn’t look good for white.
What about:
1. Qf6! Rg8
How else to prevent Rxg7#/Qxg7#?
2. d8=Q! Qd5
How else to prevent Qf5/Qg5/Qh5#?
Rxd8? Qxg7#.
3. Qxg8+ Kxg8
4. Qg7#
This has to be the only solution I think (with a fiew variations).
I normally criticize multiple postings of a puzzle within weeks and a few months (this one has been posted 3 times now in the space of 6 months), but this puzzle is one of the better ones, both for white’s winning lines, and very instructive in that one particularly enticing move completely loses for white if it is played.
1.Rxg7+Kxg7
2.Re7+Kg8
3.d8=Q#
In the line above Kg8 may not
be needed and black may play Qf7
which may be a disaster for white.
So, the following seems better?
1.Rxg7+Kxg7
2.Qe7+Qf7
3.Qg5+Qg6
4.Re7+Kf8
5.d8=Q+Qe8
6.Qxe8#
Yancey, my teaching method is simple. I stress pattern recognition. That is why I repost various puzzles in random order. The idea is for everyone to recognize the pattern immediately. The solving time and accuracy should decrease substantially each time.
Have fun!
Susan
Susan,
Fair enough.
To others- white will lose with 1.Rxg7. 1.Qf6 is white’s only move to save the game, and it wins for white. Oleg Mezjuev gives the correct link to the comments from September.
This was a most, most interesting position and problem and so i decided to note a few general observations on the position and my experience with it.
The solution 1Qf6 is, of course, correct and not difficult to find- if you are looking for it. i, myself, was duped (as were a few others, i presume) into assuming white, being behind so much material and facing such apparent threats as Nxe1 and Rb1, had to look for a perpetual to save the position. Such a ‘quiet move’ as 1Qf6 in this fairly wild slugfest seems a little counterintuitive.
Some of the errors in the analyses offered here seem slight but are so vital to winning or losing that they can only be given ? or ?? or ??? One example is that some of the contributors seemed to miss the simple maneuver Qxf5-g5-h5 mating. If players are going to reach higher playing levels i feel they must be able to find moves to the order of accuracy, if not to the depth, of the level of calculating engines, which i believe is the principle difference between titled and lesser players.
After i analyzed this position with my limited abilities and ran through the lines until i was sure of the solution, i decided to employ a computer to check some of the lines after 1. Rxg7+ where my calculating had ‘bogged down’, well, just because. i use a little old Fritz 11 running on a modest 2GHz machine (not some monster supercomputer, mind you) set at a minute per move to check my tactics.
The kicker:
In the line Pranav Dandekar gave after 3.Qd4+ (one of the lines i was trying to calculate in my head) Fritzie started indicating a mate for black in 21 moves after about 30 seconds of thought!
Feels like i got ‘kicked’ in the head.
How extremely limited my abilities are is a depressing thought. i wonder if even Magnus would have announced a mate in 21 here…