Black to move. Can you find a brilliant continuation for black to hold this game?
Source: ChessToday.net
Chess Daily News from Susan Polgar
Brilliant game saving tactic
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Too bad I saw the game score before seeing it posed as a problem!
Well, Bb6 seems obvious to me, even if you don’t immediately see the latent knight fork after white replies with 2.Kc3 Rb5 3.Nd6, which actually did take me about a minute to spot. The real key to this problem is even deeper in the line, and is definitely not so simple work out over the board, and took me several minutes to spot the nuances:
1. …..Bb6
2. Kc3
I have not look at this thoroughly, but even my preference of 2.Rf1 looks like a draw to me (see below). I consider the above line the most important anyway:
2. …..Rb5 (or lose exchange Rxc4)
3. Nd6 Kg5!
I have to believe this was the move that made this a “brilliant tactic”. I think black loses with any other move, but I will cover those below. Continuing:
4. Nb5
I don’t see any other move here for white that is better. Continuing:
4. …..Ba5 skewering the rook and leading to a drawn endgame.
Now, back at move 3, black had 4 other squares on which to put the king, but only Kg5 draws:
3. …..Kf4 orK f6??
4. Rf1 wins black’s rook outright by removing the threatened skewer from a5. Or
3. …..Kg6??
4. Re6! and the king can’t attack the rook at all! since the knight covers f7 and f5. And lastly,
3. …..Kg4
4. Re4 and again, the king can’t move to attack the rook due the knight’s cover of f5, and the pawn’s cover of f3. Kg5 works because the black rook covers e5.
Now, lastly, back at move 2, white can’t move the rook earlier and save his winning chances:
1. …..Bb6
2. Rf1 Kg4 (other K moves ok, imo)
And now what for white but to take at b6? He can check with the knight from e5, but Kg3 should win the g-pawn, and if white plays Nd6, Rd4+ wins the horse, as does Rb3 on Na3. Continuing:
3. Nb6 Rb6 and this rook ending is a stone cold draw.