White to move. How should White proceed?
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White to move. How should White proceed?
elementry: rh6! wins the Q
But if 1.Rh6, then 1…Qf7. Then 2. Ng6+ Qxg6 3.Rxg6 hxg6; white would have only exchanged his R and N for black’s Q. Surely there’s something better?
1…Qf7 2.Qe7! and black’s Q has no safe squares remaining.
“But if 1.Rh6, then 1…Qf7!”
Yes, the only defense that protects against the mate while saving the queen from discovered attack.
“Then 2. Ng6+ Qxg6 3.Rxg6 hxg6; white would have only exchanged his R and N for black’s Q. Surely there’s something better?”
I can’t find better. This kind of problem is psychologically punishing, because we see the queen hanging and the cutesy smothered mate threat, and hope to win something big — but you have to take what the position will give you, and black can defend against all that, but white certainly has improved.
Before this exchange, white’s down a full pawn. And with an open position with pawns on both sides of the board, black’s bish is better than white’s knight. Now with a Queen for a Rook, Bish, and Pawn, white not only isn’t clearly behind, but may even be winning. After all the flashy tactics, black defended against disaster, but ended up losing the edge. Sometimes that’s all you can get.
One alternative might be to try to deflect the queen with 2 Qe7?! instead of 2 Ng6+:
Anonymous said…
“1…Qf7 2.Qe7! and black’s Q has no safe squares remaining.”
However, once again, black has an efficient saving move 2 Qe7? Rf8!, both protecting the queen and giving the king an escape square from the smothered mate.
After that, white is worse again, so 2 Ng6+ is better and I see nothing better than the original analysis. After:
1 Rh6 Qf7
2 Ng6+ Qxg6
3 Rxg6 hxg6
4 a4 is what I’d play, trying to undermine the base of black’s pawn chain, but I don’t see any clear course of action after that. I do like this position better than the original one; white has improved.
1.Rh6 Qf7 2.Qe7 Rf8 3.Ng6+ Qxg6 4.Qxf8X
After 1.Rh6 Qf7 2.Qe7?! Rf8! 3.Jg6+ Kg8! (bad is Qxg6 for Qxf8#) and now white position is very bad.
Better is exchange R+N for Q.
After 1.Rh6 Qf7 2.Qe7?! Rf8! 3.Ng6+ Kg8! (bad is Qxg6 for Qxf8#) and now white position is very bad.
Better is exchange R+N for Q.
It is not simply Q for R+N it is checkmate also
1. Rh6! Qf7
2. Ng6+ Qxg6
3. Rxg6 hxg6
4. Qd6! Bb7
5. Qxg6 Rgf8 (is anywhere else better?)
6. Re1 Rad8 (or anything else)
7. Re7 and mate
ra7 is there
rubypanther said… “It is not simply Q for R+N it is checkmate also
1. Rh6! Qf7
2. Ng6+ Qxg6
3. Rxg6 hxg6
4. Qd6! Bb7″
Here 4…Kh7 is stronger, as it defends the hanging g-pawn on g6.
“4….Bb7
5. Qxg6 Rgf8 (is anywhere else better?)
6. Re1 Rad8 (or anything else)
7. Re7 and mate”
No, even in this line, after 6 Re1 Rf6! defends, attacking the queen. No mate in sight. The queen can retreat to g5 or h5 or white can play Re8+ and exchange rooks. In all of these, white looks a little better, but I don’t see a mate or clear win with any of them.