White to move. How should White proceed?
8/1p3q1k/p1p1r2p/2P1n1p1/P1p1P3/2B4P/5QP1/3R3K w – – 0 1
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1. Qf5+ Qxf5 2. exf5 and 3. Re1
Qf5+ looks like an immediate kill. The Black Rook is overloaded after the forced Q exchange.
let´s win a piece with
1. Qf5+ Qxf5
2. exf5+ Re8
3. Re1
greets, jan
maybe qd4
1Qf5+ & doble attack on knight wins
Qf5+! Winning the Knight.
Qf5+! Winning the Knight
White can win the knight:
1. Qf5+ Qxf5
(Kg7 2.Bxe5+; Kh8 or Kg8 2.Rd8+ Re8 3.Rxe8+ Qxe8 4.Qxe5)
2. exf5 Re7
3. Re1 and the knight is lost.
I finally got something !
1.Qf5+! Qg6
(1…Kg8? 2.Rd8+ ! and White wins) Black can’t take because of 2.exf5 and the pin on the e-file decides
2.Rf1!
now 3.Bxe5 is threatened
2…Nd3
What else since the queen still cannot be taken for the perfect same reason.
3.Qf8!
Threatening both 4.Qh8 mate and 4.Rf7+ with a devastating attack
3…Ne5 4.Bxe5! 1-0
1. Qf5+ threats the knight, and will also win it:
1. … Qxf5
2. exf5 Re7
3. Re1
Knight has no option to move, Rxe5 follows next, and white has a nice f-pawn in addition to beeing a knight up.
Or:
2. … Rf6
3. g4! (clearly better than immediate Bxe5)
Again, knight has no options and will be taken next, same outcome as the previous line.
Qf5+ wins at least the knight in all variations.
Qf5 Qxf5; exf5 Re7; Re1 pins and wins the horsey.
Everything else is even worse for black:
Qf5 Kg7; Bxe5+
Qf5 Kg8; Rd8+
Rd7 !!
1. Qf5+ wins a piece
A. 1…Q:f5 2. ef and now if 2…Rf6 the Ne5 hangs, or if 2…R37/8 3. Re1 pins the N.
B. 1…Kg/h8 2. Rd8+ Kg7 3. B:e5+ wins a rook
C. 1…Kg7 2. B:e5+ Kf8 3. Rd8+ Ke7 4. Rd7+ K:d7 5. Q:f7+ Re7
Rd7? What if Qxd7?
White has a tactical shot that wins her material.
1 Qf5+ Qxf5
And not 1..Kh8, 2 Qxf7, nor 1…Kg8, 2 Rd8+, nor 1 … Kg7, 2 Bxe5+.
2 gxf5 Rf6
On 2 … Re7 or 1 … Re8, 2 Re1 wins the Knight. With the given move, Black gives up the Knight to go after the f-pawn.
3 Rf1!
White has no intention of giving up the pawn. It’s better here to settle for the Exchange and let the agile Rook go against the misplaced and slower-moving Knight.
3 … Nd7
4 Bxf6 Nxf6
5 Rc1
The point of not taking the Knight on move 3. Black can’t effectively protect the Queenside pawns with the Knight, whereas had Black been allowed to keep the Rook, he would have had a better chance.
White avoids the tempting 5 g4 Nd4, 6 Rc1 f3, and Black protects his passed pawn.
5 … Nd5
6 Rxc4 h5
Black stops his pawn from becoming backwards after White’s g4.
7 a5
White prevents a possible b6 later.
7 … Kg7
8 g4 hxg4
9 hxg4 Kf6
10 Re4
There’s no hurry in going after the b-pawn. White restricts the mobility of both Black’s King and Knight.
10 … Nc3
Black can’t sit around and wait for White to march his King into battle, although he might be able to hold on for a few moves longer that way. 10 … Nc7 is answered the same way as in the main line.
11 Rb4 Nb5
12 Kg2 Kf5
13 Rb3 Kf6
Of course, Black can’t stray far from the f-pawn.
14 Rd3
White threatens to invade via Rd7.
14 … Ke7
15 Rh3
With Black’s King diverted, White now gets in via the h-file. Black can do nothing about the fall of the Queenside pawns.
Qf5+
The best move would be;
1. Qf5+,Qxf5
2. exf5,Re7 or Re8
3. Re1 then black would not be able to save the knight….
How about Qf5+ Qxf5
exf5 Re7 or e8
Re1 winning N
Note that even after Re7 Ng6 is not possible because fxg6+
Best continuation? Not sure of that yet, but if I were playing this position, I would probably play Qf5+ without having to give it a lot of thought:
1. Qf5
Basically, I see two options for black-Qg6 blocking the check and Qf5 exchanging the queens. Moves like Kg8 or Kh8 are far worse since white replies with Rd8 (Kg8 2.Rd8 Re8 3.Qe5 wins the rook since Rd8 is met with Qh8#) and Qf7 (the knight is pinned to the king by the white bishop) respectively; and moves like Kg7 and Rg6 are met decisively by Be5 winning at least a piece and probably more in the former case. Let’s take Qf5 and Qg6 separately:
Option 1 with 1. ….Qf5:
1. …..Qf5
2. ef5
Here, black seems to have the options of Rf6, Re7, Re8, and Nd3 (threatening the fork Nf2+). Let’s take each in order:
Variation A with 2. ….Rf6:
2. …..Rf6
3. Rf1
Here, white need not be hasty in playing Be5 since the knight is pinned to the rook, and losing the f-pawn is probably worse than the difference between winning a piece and the exchange in the line below, but I am not 100% sure of this conclusion. Continuing:
3. …..Nd7 (anything better here?)
4. Bf6 Nf6
5. Rc1
This move plays itself since the f-pawn is invulnerable for at least 2 moves, and the queenside black pawns are just cannon fodder for the rook. Continuing:
5. …..Nd7
Here, there is no hope in the Ne4-Ng3+-Nf5 maneuver for black since white just uses the time to gobble up all four black pawns on the queenside and creates two decisive (one is enough vs the knight) passed pawns. The only plausible (and not very) is to try to win the two white queenside pawns:
6. Rc4
And I don’t see any reason to go further in this- the f5 pawn will be protected, if necessary, by g4 and white will have a variety of fairly simple methods to bring home the win.
Variation B with 2. …Re7:
2. …..Re7
3. Re1
Again, a move that plays itself, and was easy to find even without a chessboard. The knight is pinned and lost while the f-pawn stands, still. No need to go further in this line, or the alternative 2. ….Re8 which has the same outcome.
Variation C with 2. ….Nd3:
2. …..Nd3
3. fe6
A kind of move that is sometimes easy to miss in the heat of battle. At h7, the black king is now just outside the box of the queening square and must use a move to g8 or g6 in order to cover e8, but doing so means black does not have the time to play Nf2 and Nd1:
3. …..Nf2
4. Kg1 Nd1
5. e7 Nc3
6. a5 Kg7
7. e8(Q) and this is clearly lost for black.
Option 2 with 1. …Qg6
1. ….Qg6
2. Rf1
Obviously, white cannot play 2.Be5:
(2.Be5?? Qf5 3.ef5 Re5 and black will probably have a decisive edge). On 2.Rf1, white is threatening to win the knight with Be5. Black can’t play a move like 2. …Qf5 since the reply, ef5, gives rise to nearly identical problems seen in Option 1, that the knight is toast. Black can move the knight to d3 or d7, or play the rook to e8 or e7. Let’s look at each:
Variation A with 2. ….Nd3:
2. …..Nd3
3. Qf8
A pretty obvious move that threatens both Qh8# and Rf7, and there is no answer by blocking at e5 with either the rook (white plays Rf7 and wins) or the knight (white plays Be5 followed by Rf7). White will win.
Variation B with 2. …Nd7:
2. …..Nd7
3. Qf7 Qf7 (forced)
4. Rf7 Kg8 (Kg6 is worse)
5. Rd7 Re4
6. Rg7
The point is to set up Bg7+ winning h6, too:
6. …..Kf8 (Kh8 drops the rook)
7. Rb7 and this is clearly lost. Black cannot save himself by moving the knight.
Variation C with 2. …Re7
2. …..Re7
3. Be5 wins a piece, as will happen on any non-knight move. No reason to go further.
I think white wins with 1. Qf5 in all plausible variations.