White to move. How should White proceed?
Level of difficulty: 2 out of 4
Chess Daily News from Susan Polgar
Middlegame tactic
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White to move. How should White proceed?
Level of difficulty: 2 out of 4
Rc7 and black is in zugzwang.
Wow, that really is a beautiful zugwzang! I did not see this myself, but suddenly it becomes obvious how painfully restricted blacks options are. Very nice.
Within a second i thouhgt Rc7. That’s my talent. I did not see the zugzwang. That’s my problem.
Simple one , rc7 is a crushing move with blacks’s weak dark sqaures with some kind of zug . nice
Rc7 leaves black with a very passive position.
first I was looking for some sort of combination to win material or to mate. Win material was the right thread since after 1. Rc7 , any move by black forces him to make a material concession. No good moves for black. the black pawns cannot advance without being captured, the black Rook too since the white f3 bishop is covering the a8-h1 diagonal disallowing the b8 rook the mobility to the only two squares he can move to those are a8 and b7. This rook’s mobility is such miserable because of the c8 Bishop who only has 3 squares to move to but alas all of those squares are controlled by White. i.e 1..Bb7 2. Rxb7 and White is a piece up. The knight on e7 is also tied to its square because his job there is to protect the c8 Bishop. So, 1..Nd5 will bring 2. Bxd5 exd5 3. Rxc8 RxR 4. NxR and the b6 pawn falls too. Last but not least, the black king is tied to the defense of the e7 Knight. The only 3 squares he can move to leave the above mentioned Knight undefended.
Great puzzle . Very instructive.
Cheers
Abie