White to move. Which side is better? How should White proceed?
5k2/3b4/3p4/p3pPqp/PpB4p/1P4r1/2P5/1K1R3Q w – – 0 2
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Finding the right continuation
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I’m very much liking 1.f6.
White wants to play Qd5 with threat of mate on f7 or nasty check with Qxd6. If immediate Qd5, Qf6 holds both threats. 1.f6 takes the f6 square from the queen.
Can’t see a defence. B can’t come to f5 coz of Qa8 mate. King can’t move. Think its all over
1. Qb7 leaves black with nothing but unpalatable alternatives.
1…B:f5 2. Qf7#
1…Q:f5 2. Rf1 Rf3 3. R:f3 or 2…Q:f1+ 3. B:f1 Rg1 4. Qf3+ and 5. Qf2.
1…Qe7 2. f6 Qh7 3. Qb8+ Be8 4. f7
1…Qd8 2. R:d6 Rg7 3. f6 Rh7 4. f7
Black’s king position is more problematic even though he is up two pawns and indirectly threatening another at f5 (but this pawn is indirectly protected by the threats of Rf1). Also, black has weak pawns at a5 and d6. The first thing that catches my eye is that white might start an attack with either Qa8, Qb7, or Qd5. These are attractive because they attack the weaknesses I outlined above, in addition to the unprotected bishop at d7. Lets take them in order and see where we get.
1. Qa8 Be8 (Kg7 is bad, Ke7 below)
2. Bb5
(Here, white has options like Qb8 or Qd5, but they don’t seem as forcing to me) Continuing:
2. …..Qe7 (Kg7 see below)
3. f6 Qf7 (what else?)
4. Rd6 and black’s position is already falling apart. Continuing:
4. …..Qg6 (Rb3 no better)
5. Kb2 Rc3 (Rg2 6.Qc8 h3 7.Rd8)
6. Rd2 h3 (nothing holds, I think)
7. Be8 Qf6 (Qe8 8.Rd8 wins)
8. Bh5 and the exposed king is history.
At move 2 in this line, black could Kg7 since the bishop can never be saved anyway once it is on e8:
2. …..Kg7
3. Qe8 Qf5
4. Bc4 and trying to protect the king and the d-pawn is going to be hopeless. The only other line I see from black’s first move is
1. Qa8 Ke7
2. Qb8 Qf6 (Qh6 and Qf5 below)
And, here, after 20 minutes of looking at this, I finally found
3. Be6!
Cutting the line from the queen to d6. Best of a lot of hopeless moves for black seems to be
3. …..d5
4. Rd5 Be6
And, here, white can win with a lot lines, but I would be trying for lines that drive the king back to the back rank before he exchanges the queen for the rook to break the attack. A lot of the lines I found reduce to queen vs rook which will be tedious with the kingside pawns still around and variously protected by the black king and rook. With this in mind, I prefer this continuation for white which bags the e-pawn and the h-pawns in quick fashion:
5. Qc7 Kf8
6. fe6 Qe6 (nothing else)
7. Rd8 Qe8
8. Re8 Ke8
9. Qe5 Kf8
10.Qf6 Kg8
11.Qh4 and the rest is easy.
At move 2 in this line black had two alternatives-Qf6 and Qf5:
2. …..Qh6
3. Be6 d5 (still nothing better)
4. Bd7
This looks strongest now because 4.Rd5 allows Rg1 and Ra1 with a draw at best for white. Continuing:
4. …..Qd6(Kd7 5.Rd5 mates in 3)
5. Qe8 Kf6
6. Qh5! Qd7
7. Qh4 Rg5 (nothing works)
8. Qh6 Kf5
9. Rf1 Kg4
10.Rg1 will win the rook, and there has to be a direct, forced mate in here somewhere, but I am getting tired.
Finally, at move two, black could have played
2. …..Qf5
3. Qd6 Ke8
4. Rd5 and this just looks hopeless. It might continue
4. …..Rg1 (retake at e5 w check)
5. Kb2 Rg5
6. Ra5 Qf3 (covers a8/thr Qc3)
7. Qb8 Ke7
8. Qb4 Ke8
9. Bd5! and the attack is now unstoppable.
All in all, white seems to win with 1. Qa8+. I don’t really see any reason to analyze the other possible first moves since this wins and is forcing right from the start. The real key to this position is the exposed black king and the weak pawn at d6. White’s f-pawn is not quite as vulnerable as it looks, as I pointed out at the beginning.
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Well, since my comment posted so quickly, I decided to take a second look to see if I missed something even more powerful than 1.Qa8+.
The other move that really attracted me was 1.Qb7. It does two things- threatens the bishop at d7 and indirectly threatens Qf7# at some point.
1. Qb7 Ke7 (Qe7,Qd8,Qg7,Be8 below)
2. Be6!
Here, 2.Bb5 Qf5 looks good for black as white must protect b3 now with Qd5. With Be6, the bishop at d7 is lost and the attack is just as strong as in the lines with 1.Qa8.
Black could have played four alternatives at his first move:
1. Qb7 Qe7
2. f6 Qf6 (Qe8 3.Rd6 wins)
3. Qd7!
Here, I at first thought 3.Rf1 was the move, and spent quite a lot of time analyzing a line black never enters. 3.Rf1 is met satifactorily by 3. ….Bf5! and white is the one struggling to hold. Continuing:
3. …..e4 (prevents Rd6 and Rf1)
And, here, it isn’t easy to find the best play for white. White should have a decisive edge by now, but I want to play Rf1, but Rf3 looks tedious to work around. One idea that might work is
4. Be2
Threatens Rf1. Also threatens Rd6 since now white can meet Rg1 with Bd1. Continuing:
4. …..Kg8 (Qe7 5.Rf1 wins)
5. Rd6 Rg1
6. Bd1 Qe5 (Qf7 7.Qc8 Kg7 Rd7)
Here, I can force black to give up the queen for a rook or give up his rook with
7. Qc8 Kh7
8. Qc7 Qg7 (Rg7 9.Rh6 Kh6 10.Qe5)
9. Qc6
Definitely not Rd7??. This is met with Rd1 with black winning. Continuing:
9. …..Rf1 (what else?)
10.Rd7 Rf7 (nothing holds)
11.Qe4 Kh8 (Kh6 12.Qd5Rd7 13.Qh5#)
12.Qe8 and the double attack bags black’s rook.
Alternative at move 1 with Qd8
1. Qb7 Qd8
2. f6 Be8 (Qf6 like above)
3. f7 Ba4 (what else not covered)
4. Rd6 Qd6 (nothing holds here)
5. Qc8 Kg7 (Ke7 6.f8(Q)#)
6. Qg8 Kf6 (Kh6 same)
7. f8(Q)Qf8
8. Qf8 Kg5
9. ba4
Alternative with Qg7
1. Qb7 Qg7
2. Qb8 Be8 (Ke7 3.Qd6 wins)
3. Qd6 Qe7
4. Qh6 Qg7 (Rg7 5.Qh8 Rg8 6.Qg8#)
5. Qb6 Rf3 (anything better?)
6. Rd8 Rf5
7. Qd6 Qe7
8. Qh6 Qg7
9. Re8 wins.
And, finally, the best for blacks seems to be
1. Qb7 Be8
2. f6 Qf6 (forced)
3. Rf1 Qf1 (Rf3 4.Rf3 Qf3 5.Qf3)
4. Bf1 Bg6
5. Kb2 Rc3
6. Bd3 Bd3
7. Qf3 Ke7
8. cd3 Rc5
9. Qh5 and white should have no problem winning this.
Now, which of the two main lines work best? My preference is still 1.Qa8 over 1.Qb7. Both are strong, but I had a much easier time dealing with the complications in the former. This probably means I am still missing the strongest line for white. Alas, I am done with this problem. Will check in tomorrow for the solution.
qa8+ followed by f6 in the two main var will win.
han
There are 3 first moves for White that suggest themselves right away: 1. Qd5, 1. Qa8+, and 1. Qb7
Maybe all of them win. Probably do. But I have to choose one. Right?
OK. I WON’T choose 1. Qd5, because although it threatens
both 2. Qf7# and 2. Qxd6+, both of those threats seem
to be adequately defended by 1…. Qf6. True, white can win both the a- and b-pawns here, while Black
gobbles up the f-pawn, but I want something better.
1. Qa8+ is probably pretty good, but I don’t want to
play it. Sure it would be nice if my opponent played:
1…. Ke7
2. Qb8 Qf6 (probably)
3. Be6 d5 (if 3…. Bxe6 4. Qxd6+ followed by fxe6)
4. Rxd5 Bxe6
5. Qc7+ followed by 6. fxe6
And it would be even nicer if my opponent played:
1…. Kg7 ???
But I know my opponent is stubborn and if I
play 1. Qa8+, it will go:
1…. Be8
2. Bb5 Qe7
3. f6 Qf7
4. Rxd6 Qg6
and suddenly my king is vulnerable too. I bet this
is still a win for White, but I don’t like it.
I had better take a look at the remaining first move
choice, 1. Qb7.
1. Qb7
This is going to take all night. Sigh. Black has 1…. Qd8,
1…. Qe7, 1… Be8, and don’t forget 1…. Rg1.
Well, let’s start with 1… Be8, since that’s the move
that made me reject 1. Qa8+.
1. Qb7 Be8
2. f6 (threatening 3. Qe7#)
2…. Qf6 (what else is there for Black to play?)
3. Rf1
I think I like 1. Qb7 (Queen on the 7th!), but
I’ve got to take a look at the other moves for Black.
OK.
1. Qb7 Rg1
I don’t like the looks of 2. Rxg1, and 2. Qxd7 is out, so:
2. Qb8+
If 2…. Kg7? 3. Qg8+ followed by mate, and if 2… Ke7
3. Qxd6+ Ke8 4. Qxd7+ Kf8 5. Qf7#.
2…. Be8
3. Qd6+ (this is looking good)
If 3…. Kg7
4. f6+ (Will I ever get to play this in a
real game?)
If 3…. Qe7
4. Qxe7+ Kxe7
5. Rxg1
So that leaves, after 1. Qb7, 1…. Qe7 and 1…. Qd8.
1. Qb7 Qe7 doesn’t look so hot for Black after
2. f6 Qe8
3. Rxd6 Rg1+
4. Kb2
Last try for Black after 1. Qb7 is 1…. Qd8
1. Qb7 Qd8
2. f6
I still like this move. It’s going to be followed by
3. Rxd6.
So is 1. Qb7 “the right continuation”?
1)f6 Qf6
2)Rf1 and white gets the queen.
This is similar to a game I recently had where my opponent had two extra pawns but and exposed king. I love these kinds of positions where one can see the impact of different advantages in a game
1.Qa8+
I)1…Be8 2.Bb5 Qe7 3.f6
a)3…Qe6 4.f7!
b)3…Qf7 4.Bc4 +-
II)1…Ke7 2.f6+ Qxf6 (2…Kxf6 3.Rf1+ +-) 3.Rf1 Bf5 4.Qa7+ K ad libidum 5.Qf2 Rg5 6.Bd3 e4? 7.Bxe4
III)1…Kg7 2.Qg8+ and mate to follow soon
Just a note to Yancey – I didn’t include 1. Qb7 Qe8 in my analysis because of 2. Qb8+ Ke7 3. Q:d6+ and 4. Q:d7+
Qa8+-Ke7 f6+
a)Qxf6 Rf1
b)kxf6 Qf8+