White to move. How should White proceed?
8/1r6/5p2/3k2p1/3N4/3P4/2P2K1Q/q7 w – – 0 1
Rinck 1904, presented by Andreas
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1. c4+ Kxd4
2. Qd6+ Kc3
3. Qxf6
and white Q is toast.
c4+kxn 2qd6+kc3.3Q skewer ch win17na
Hadn’t seen this one before. Cute. A skewer tour de force.
1. c4+ Kc5 (1. .. Kxd4 2. Qd6+ Kc3 3. Qxf6+) 2. Nb3+ Rxb3 3. Qc7+ Kb4 (3. .. Kd4 4. Qd6+ Kc3 5. Qxf6+) 4. Qe7+ Kc3 (4. .. Ka5 5. Qa7+) 5. Qxf6+
White can get the black queen with
1. c4+! Kxd4
2. Qd6+ Kc3
3. Qxf6+ Kxd3
4. Qxa1 and if
4. … Kxc4 then
5. Qc1+ wins the last black pawn and reaches an endgame queen vs. rook, which is won.
Stubborn sacking of knight seems to gain the queen in the corner:
1. c4! Kxd4?
2. Qc6+ Kc3 (only)
3. Qxf6+
is up with queen for rook.
1. … Kc5 (enforced)
2. Nb3+! Rxb3 (enforced)
3. Qc7+ Kb4 (Kd4 Qc6+ drops queen as above)
4. Qe7+!
Decisive. Qb6? Ka3. Qc6? Ka5.
4. … Ka4/Ka5 (Kc3 Qxf6+)
5. Qa7+
is up with queen for rook.
1. c4, 2. Nb3 and 4. Qe7 are 3 really beautiful moves. Especially seeing 4. Qe7 when playing 1. c4 takes a good sense for Q geometry.
I must admit to have used guessing here to find it (would be beautiful if that is the solution).
1. c4! Kc5
(If 1…Kxd4 then 2. Qd6+ Kc3 3. Qxf6+ winning black queen).
2. Nb3+ Rxb3
3. Qc7+
If 3…Kd4 then 4. Qd6+ Kc3 5. Qxf6+ winning black queen.
If 3…Kb4 then 4. Qd6+ (prevent Ka3)
Either 4….Ka4 or 4….Kc3. Either way, white can check the king and win the queen in the next move.
Starts with 1.c4+ and we are going to endgame Q&K vs R&K but now, exactly now, we see the true problem by your question! I need time to study this kind of endgame. I will try post my solution to this endgame as quickly as possible (or not 😀 ).
Black’s K doesn’t have too many options, so try
1.c4+
if 1…Kxd4 2.Qd6+ Kxd4 3.Qxf6+ and 4.Qxa1
if 1…Kc5 2.Ne6+ Kc6 3.Nd8+ and
4.Nxb7
and I’ve run out of lunchtime!
My black pudding and spinach omelette isn’t helping either!
0-0-0
-0-0-
1. c4+ Kc5 (Kxd4? Qd6+, Kc3, Qxf6+)
2. Nb3+! Rxb3
3. Qc7+ Kb4
4. Qe7+! Ka4
5. Qa7+
and White should win
Well, fortunately, c4 is kind of an obvious start- in addition, it is easy to see that black can’t take the knight with the king:
1. c4 Kd4
2. Qd6! Kc3 (only legal move)
3. Qf6 Kd3
4. Qa1 Kc4
5. Qc1 and the last black pawn falls for a technically won Q vs R ending (though not easy!!).
So, the question is, can black improve his first move? Let’s look at the only alternative:
1. c4 Kc5 (other legal move)
2. Nb3
Not an obviously winning move, but still an obvious move to at least look at:
2. …..Kc6 (Rb3 covered later)
3. Na1 Rb2
4. Kg3 Rh2
5. Kh2 and the ending is clearly won for white since he will be able to bring both the king and knight over to the kingside to win the two black pawns since black can never capture at d3 without allowing the c-pawn to escape the king’s reach.
At move 2 in this line, black cannot improve by taking the knight for much the same reasons as he couldn’t take the knight at d4 at move 1- the queen at a1 is liability:
1. c4 Kc5
2. Nb3 Rb3
3. Qc7! Kb4 (Kd4 4.Qd6 Kc3 5.Qf6)
4. Qe7! Ka4/a5 (again, Kc3 5.Qf6)
5. Qa7 Kb4
6. Qa1 Rd3
7. Qf6 and the other black pawn will eventually fall, too.
Dear Yancey:
After 1. c4 Kc5 2. Nb3+ Kc6?
Black is busted much quicker by
3. Qg2+ Kc7 4. Qxb7+ Kxb7 5. Nxa1
Lucy, I admit, I didn’t even see Qg2+, but I don’t see it being “much quicker”. The same ending is reached but with the kings on different squares.