White to move. What is the best continuation for White?
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Not so obvious chess tactic
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White to move. What is the best continuation for White?
not so obvious?
you mean it doesn’t start with a check?
Re2 ….
Qh8…
looks nice, maybe there is better, how do i show the postition while I write my comment?
obviously I meant d2, but cant remember which square it is for the 30 secs it took to write the post
Rd2 Qf8
Qg4 wins
Rg2 if black takes the c3 pawn the take knight,if he tries to save the knight take the bishop.
-A huge fan.
Anon_1:18 said…
“Rd2 Qf8
Qg4 wins”
Looks good to me. 1 Rd2 looks right, with Qh8 coming next; and after …Qf8 (only move protecting from Qh8+) 2 Qg4 forces …f5, and then:
1 (Rd2) (Qf8)
2 (Qg4) f5
3 PxP QxP
4 Qh4 again, threatening Qh8+ again. And if
4 … Qf8 again, then
5 Qh7! and black is toast.
Actually, seeing the end of this variation, in retrospect white could also just play Qh7 right away; though it’s not as devastating with the f-pawn still in place, it wins just the same:
1 (Rd2) (Qf8)
2 Qh7 with the immediate threat of Bh6, and black really has no moves and is lost in this variation as well.
P.S. after:
1 (Rd2) (Qf8)
2 Qh7 threatening Bh6, black can make a space for his queen (else the queen is lost after Bh6 Qe7?, Qh8+ Qf8, QxQ++) with
2 … c4
3 Bh6 Qc5 saving the queen, but no matter, as black gets mated anyway:
4 Qh8+ Ke7
5 Bg5+ f6
6 Qxf6+ Ke8
7 Qe6+ Kf8
8 Bh6++
Tvtom, I read your solution without looking at the details and your Qh7 idea looks winning and seems right. However I can hardly resist posting the line I had come up with. Obviously your line is more efficient and leads to a quicker end of things But still, can the following line be also a winning line?
1.Rd2 Qf8
2.Qg4 f5
3.Qd1
play can continue but not must:
3. …..Kf7 there are other moves but I have not seen a saving move for Black.
4. Rd7+ Kg8
5. Qd5+ kh8
6. Rf7 followed by Bf6 and black is devastated.
egaion asked…
“But still, can the following line be also a winning line?
1.Rd2 Qf8
2.Qg4 f5
3.Qd1
play can continue but not must:
3. …..Kf7 there are other moves but I have not seen a saving move for Black.”
Ok, well since the bish in the corner is attacked with Qd1, the most obvious try is to save the bish, economically rescuing a threatened piece while making a counter-threat with:
3 … BxP! and now if
4 Rd8+ RxR
5 QxR+ Kf7
6 Qf6+ Kg8
7 Qxg6+ Qg7
8 Qe8+ Kh7
9 Qh5+ Kg8 and white only has perpetual checks. So 4 Rd8+ can’t be right. How about:
3 (Qd1) (BxP)
4 Rd7 Bd4!! –ouch– cutting off the rook from queen: suddenly black’s worthless bish sulking in the corner is now active and has severed white’s supply lines, and black looks better.
So neither Rd8 nor Rd7? work after …BxP! Maybe there’s a way to save your line, but getting the queen to h7 instead, either immediately or after first bouncing to g4 and back to h4 after …f5 and the pawn exchange, prevents black from activating the bish and bringing it back into play.
So I’ve now got a third iteration for the best line in this puzzle.
I. was
1 Rd2 Qf8
2 Qg4 f5
3 PxP QxP
4 Qh4 Qf8
5 Qh7!
II. playing Qh7 earlier:
1 Rd2 Qf8
2 Qh7! c4
3 Bh6 Qc5
4 Qh8+ Ke7
5 Bg5+ f6
6 Qxf6+ Ke8
7 Qe6+ Kf8
8 Bh6++
But given how …BxP! seems to bust the variation with Qg4 and Qd1, black’s strongest defense is probably to throw in this move in the Qh7 line as well. Thus, we get:
III.
1 Rd2 Qf8
2 Qh7! BxP!
3 Rd5 Nb7
4 Bh6 Qd6 (can’t find anything better)
5 Qg8+ Kd7 (a nice zwischenzug)
6 Qxf7+ Kc6
7 RxQ+ NxQ
8 Qxg6 and black has escaped mate, but white has a queen and passed pawn for rook and knight, which is a won endgame.
1.Rd2 Qf8 (if not 2.Qh8++)
2.Bf6 and I will kill you with 3.Qg4.
It is very late for me and I am tired,but what can you do?
Can anyone give me a path for black?
Jose A Delgado said…
“1.Rd2 Qf8 (if not 2.Qh8++)
2.Bf6 and I will kill you with 3.Qg4.
It is very late for me and I am tired, but what can you do? Can anyone give me a path for black?”
Sure. I looked at that line yesterday.
1 (Rd2) (Qf8)
2 Bf6 Nb7 (…Nc6 might even be better)
3 Qg4 Rc7 covers all the threats.
Black’s king is trapped and in trouble, and white looks better, but I think 2 Qh7 is still stronger.
I thought:
1. Qh8+! Qf8 (only move, otherwise
Rd2 and win the Q)
2. Qe5+ Kd7
3. Rd2+ Kc6
4. Be7!! Qe8
5. Qxc5+ Kb7
6. Qb4+
Looks good to me, win a lot of
materials.
Thanks for you answer tvtom,but with your line I move:
4.Qd1 Rc8 5.Rd7 Rb8 6.Qd5 and guess I am winning again sorry 😉
I think the same idea works against Nb7 and Nc6…your rook is defending two points,and cannot survive
just for clarity in all lines starting with Re2 Black’s better response is QxR+ because it forces white to retake with the bishop and giving Black time to escape the various mating lines.
Jose A Delgado said…
“Thanks for you answer tvtom, but with your line I move:
4.Qd1 Rc8 5.Rd7 Rb8 6.Qd5 and guess I am winning again sorry ;)”
Ok, so what if black doesn’t play 5…Rb8?? and plays instead something like …Qh6. Then what? Don’t be sorry, just ready to look at another try for black. 🙂 That is:
1 Rd2 Qf8
2 Bf6 Nb7
3 Qg4 Rc7
4 Qd1 Rc8
5 Rd7 Qh6! threatening to win the bish with …Qf4+ next; and I think again black stands better.
And Adrenaline101a said…
“just for clarity in all lines starting with Re2 Black’s better response is QxR+ because it forces white to retake with the bishop and giving Black time to escape the various mating lines.”
I don’t know if it is better, but it sure is an interesting try. But it gives the queen up without a fight — yet in the variation that I thought was the best play after …Qf8, white is up queen and passed pawn for rook and knight; so, if indeed my analysis is right and that’s the best black can get with …Qf8, then maybe you are right about this.
1 Rf2 QxR
2 BxQ Nxb3 and black has rook, knight, and pawn for the queen, which certainly is a better scenario than my above one for black, I admit.
Unless the bish in the corner is trapped and lost, in which case white is better. White can try to trap the bishop by continuing protection of the c3 pawn with
3 Be1 –keeping the a1 bishop stuck
Now black will have a hard time saving that bishop. I’m in a hurry and don’t have my board set up so maybe I’ll take a look tomorrow, especially if anyone posts continuations to this variation.
However, so far you do seem to have a point that 1…QxR is at least a reasonable alternative to 1…Qf8. Nice going.