White to move. How should white proceed?
Chess Daily News from Susan Polgar
Endgame review
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White to move. How should white proceed?
One ingredient of the combination is the fork of Ne6 if the king goes to catch the pawn at c7, this makes pushing the pawn possible:
1. c7 .. Kb7 (or the pawn queens easily)
2. Nc5+
Now there’s another important ingredient: the Black rook is hindered. Therefore .. Kc8 leads to zugzwang after 3. g4!
After the exchange Rook x Knight there’s the problem of opposition, which is not very difficult in this case.
I think I lost from this position once…so learned the hard way!
1. c7 Kb7
2. Nc5+ Kc8
3. g4 Rxc5
4. Kxc5 Kxc7
…and now black is doomed.
White is dead?
I remember this one. The push is deadly due to a latent forking threat, and a pretty zugzwang:
1. c7 Kb7 (or the pawn queens)
2. Nc5 Kc8 (Kc7 3.Ne6 wins easily)
3. g4
The hardest move to find, but when you do, it is probably a nice feeling. Black has no option but to move the rook to a square on which it is captured, or capture at c7- the king is frozen on c8 otherwise- and allow the fork from e6. Best here is to just capture at c5 and try to draw the pawn ending:
3. …..Rc5
4. Kc5 Kc7
But it is easy to see this is lost for black. It would continue (mostly for Venky, and to annoy those annoyed by my longer comments):
5. Kd5 Kd7
6. Ke5 Ke7
7. g5 Kf7
8. Kd6 Kg7
9. Ke6 Kg8
10.Kf6 Kh7
11.Kf7 Kh8
12.Kg6 and the rest is trivial.
Seems too easy.
1. Nc5+ Kb6
2. c7 Kc7
3. Ne6+ wins the rook.
1. c7 Kb7 box
2. Nc5+ Kc8 (not …Kc7: 3. Ne6+)
3. g4! 1-0 (Black is movebound.)
c7
Yeah, it only seems.
1. Nc5? Kb6
2. c7?? Rc5 wins for black.
1. Nc5+!? Kb6
2. Nd7+ Kxc6
3. Ne5+! Kc7
4. g4! with h4 trapping the rook.
But I cant see how white proceeds after 2…Kc7!
Fantastic one Susan!!
1. c7! Kb7
2. Nc5+ Kc8 (Forced)
3. g4!! A wonderful move. Black is in a horrible zugzwang. Black is forced to go..
3…… Rxc5
4. Kxc5 Kxc7
5. Kd5 Kd7
6. Ke5 Ke7
7. g5 Kf7
8. Kd6 Kg8
9. Ke6! Keeping diagonal opposition. White wins the ‘g6’ pawn soon.
Thanks again Susan!
Superb position.
Answer is obvious for a chess master like me! Solution: c7 Kb7 Nc5+ Kc8 g4 and black is in zugzwang and white wins the rook and the game GG!
Answer is obvious for a chess master like me! Solution: c7 Kb7 Nc5+ Kc8 g4 and black is in zugzwang and white wins the rook and the game GG!
Answer is obvious for a chess master like me! Solution: c7 Kb7 Nc5+ Kc8 g4 and black is in zugzwang and white wins the rook and the game GG!
1C7 kb7 2 Nc5 kc8 3 g4 Zugzwang
rook goes
Original position and source:
FEN: 8/8/1p3P1k/1r6/4K3/P3N3/1P6/8 w
(i.e. Nd3 instead of b3, pawn g2 instead of g3, mirror it…)
Rinck, Deutsche Schachzeitung, 1912, #1366
Checked. Sound study.
PS: Why camouflage position and hide sources? I don’t know. You cite sometimes sources and give exact positions.
Why don’t you unify sources and improve publication standards?
Anyway, Rinck was one of the topmost composers by quantity and quality.
1.Nc5 Kb6 2.Nd7+ Kxc6? 3.Se5+ Kc7 4.g4 may be an idea …
Eureka! Of cource it had to be zugzwang!
1. c7 Kb7
2. Nc5+ Kc8
3. g4!!
Since Kxc7 now fails to Ne6+, black is forced to play the rook:
3. … Rxc5 (only available move)
4. Kxc5 Kxc7
Whites extra pawn should win.
1. c7 Kb7 2. Nc5 Kc8 3. g4 +-
1. c7! Kb7 2. Nc5+ Kc8 3. g4! +-
1. Nc5+ Kb6
2. c7 loses the knight.
How about reversing it to c7 first?
1. c7 Kb7
2. Nc5+ with threat of fork if black takes the pawn.
But I’m not sure how else can black respond to the first move… That’s the line I came up with though.
Right idea, wrong move order
1.c7 Kb7
2. Nc5+ Rxc5
3. Kxc5 Kxc7
white wins on the kingside.
Hi Susan Polgar,
Nice puzzle.
White wins the game.[ Variations exist ] – “Nc5” initial move is fine.
Example [ Variations exist ]
=======
1.Nc5+ Kb6
2.Ne6 Rb5
3.c7 Rb4+
4.Kc3 Re4
5.c8(Q) Re3+
6.Kd2 R*Ne6
7.Q*Re6+ Kb5
8.Kc3 Ka5
9.Qd6 Kb5
10.Kb3 Ka5
11.Kc4 Ka4
12.Qb4++ Mate
White wins the game in ease.
By
Venky [ India – Chennai ]