Black to move. How should black proceed?
Chess Daily News from Susan Polgar
Practical tactic
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Black to move. How should black proceed?
Not a full solution but there are thickets of variations in this king hunt.
1 … e5
2. Q:e5 d1Q
3. R:d1 Q:f2+
4. Kh3 Q:h2+
5. Kg4 h5+
A) 6. Kg5 f6+
7. Q:f6 Q:g3+
8. Kf5 Rf2+
wins
B) 6. Kf3 Qg2+
7. Kf4 Rf2+
8. Kg5 f6+
wins
e5
White queen is over worked, e5 followed by d1 allows black to destroy white on f2
There is a nice Queen sacrifice on c7, but it works only if King takes the Queen. So we need to push the Black Queen away from supporting c7.
1. … d4!!
2. Qxd4
(There is nothing better to prevent loss of material)
2. … Qxc7+!!
3. Kxc7 e8=Q+
4. Re7 Rxe7+
5. Rxe7 Qxe7+ 0-1
If,
3. Ka6 Qxa7+
4. Kxa7 e8=Q+
and pretty much the same as above
0-1
If,
3. Ka6 Qxa7+
4. Kb5 c4+
and there is a forced mate in few moves in all the lines
1…e5
I thought something like
… e5
and the most obvious line runs:
Qxe5 d1=Q
Rxd1 Qxf2+
Kh3 Qxh2+
Kg4 f5+
Kf4 Rf2+
Kg5 Qg5#
I guess white can lose the exchange to survive with
Rxd2 exf4
but any decent player would win the rook and queen vs two rooks endgame that would follow.
1…e5 is devastating, the pawn is poisoned.
2. Q:e5 d1Q (a funny sort of line-clearing sacrifice) leads to a mating attack after 3. R:d1 Q:c7+ 4. Kh3 Q:h2+ 5. Kg4 f5+.
So white must content himself with heavy material loss.
It will probably be e5 Qxe5 to deflect Q from protection of f2.
After this I’m not sure what is better, either first d8=Q and then Qxf2+ giving a strong king attack, or the other way around, a temporary Q sack seems to gain a rook, but then white still has a+b pawns to balance the situation.
… e-5!
Qxe5 P-d8/Q
Rxd1 Qxf2+
with a winning attack
e5 Qxe5 (forced, else lose a piece)
Qxf2+ Kxf2 (forced, else white will have 2 queens)
d1=Q# (discovered)
Interesting position. My instinct is to try for a mating net by playing Rc1 in order to threaten both d1(Q) and Qf1+:
1. …..Rc1
2. Rd2 Qf1 (Qh1 3.Kh3 Qf1 4.Kg4)
3. Kf3 Qh1
And now white has two choices- Ke2 and Kg4. Let’s take them in order:
4. Ke2 Re1
5. Kd3 Qf1
6. Kd4
Or [6.Kc3 Qb5 7.Kd4 f5-+]; or [6.Kc2 Qb5 etc.-+]; or [6.Ke4 f5 7.Ke5 Qb5 8.Ke6 Ra1-+]. Continuing:
6. …..Ra1
Threatens Ra4, and there isn’t a really good defense as far as I can see. Black has in reserve the capture at b5, and the white king does not want to venture onto the c-file since this allows the other black rook to enter the action from c8. The best I can see is to try to protect b5 with Rb2, but this just loses the queen for a rook. The resulting position isn’t an easy win for black, but almost surely decisive with proper play. The option of moving the queen doesn’t really help either, but let’s look at it:
7. Qf3
Or [7.Qe5 Ra4 8.Kc3 Qc4 9.Kb2 Rb4 10.Ka1 Qc1 11.Ka2 Qb1 12.Ka3 Qb3#]. Continuing:
7. …..Qb5
8. Qc6
What else now? Continuing:
8. …..Ra4
9. Kc3 Ra3
10.Kd4
Or [10.Kc2 Qb3 11.Kc1 Ra1#]. Continuing:
10. ….Qc6
11.Rc6 Rd8-+
Finally, back at move 4, the white king could try to avoid getting pushed out onto the queenside, and out in the open, by playing to g4:
4. Kg4 Rc5!
And now black has a couple of threatening moves- Qxh2 and/or f5/h5. White could try a move like Rd1, and if black takes at h2 rather than putting the queen on g2, white might be able to hold the position by putting the king on f3 and giving up the queen for the rook- the black queen is a bit out of the action for 2 moves and the white pawns might provide enough counterplay- however black just plays 5. …Qg2 instead with the same threats as follow:
5. Qh6
Stops both h5 and Qxh2 for the moment:
5. …..Rh5! (f5? 6.Kh3 Qf1 7.Kh4)
6. Qh5
There is no better defense now:
6. …..gh5
7. Kh5 Qh2 (not sure if best)
8. Kg4 Qg2
And black surely has a decisive edge, but will have to play carefully to bring it home.
I think black wins with 1. …Rc1, but I really must be missing something here that is much shorter and clearer (why call it “tactic”?), but I am just not seeing it this morning.
1. … e5! (deflecting white Queen from guarding the f2 square) 2. Qxe5 d1Q 3. Rxd1 Qxf2+ 4. Kh3 (4. Kh1 5. Qxh2#) Qxh2+ 5. Kg4 f5+ 0-1
1. e5
2. Qxe5 d1=Q
3. Rxd1 Qxf2+
4. Kh3 Qxh2+
5. Kg4 f5+
Spoiler
e5! ( I think )
Sometimes it pays to take a break on a problem, and then come back to to it with a somewhate more flexible mind. How in the world did I miss 1. …e5 forking the queen and rook for so long this morning? It would be bad enough to simply dismiss it because I couldn’t see how to take advantage of 2.Qxe5, but I didn’t see the first move at all, and a pawn fork should stand out, even if it is actually not a good move. In any case:
1. …..e5!
2. Qe5 d1(Q)!
3. Rd1 Qf2
4. Kh3 Qh2
5. K4 f5 and white has to give up the queen just to avoid a short mate. Probably a better defense is to just concede the queen at the start:
1. …..e5
2. Rd2 ef4
I think Rd2 will win too, but this is clearer in my head, and I do not want to leave white’s queen on the board with those passed pawns still alive. Continuing:
3. Rc2 fe3
4. fe3 Qe3
And white will find it hard to both reconnect the rooks safely without losing the b-pawn. For example:
5. Rd2 Qe4
6. Kf2 Qf5
The best attempt at saving the b-pawn allows black time to bring the rook into action, and likely liquidate at least a pair of rooks:
5. Rdc6 Qe4
6. Kg1 Re8
7. R6c5 Qe1
8. Kg2 Re2
9. Re2 Qe2
10.Kh3
And, while not easy, the win from here probably isn’t extremely difficult.
Deflect the White queen from protecting the critical f2-square, and then checkmate White.
1. … e5 2. Qxe5 d1=Q 3. Rxd1 Qxf2+ 4. Kh3 Qxh2+ 5. Kg4 f5+ 6. Kg5 Qh5+ 7. Kf4 g5#
Anybody who is thinking
1. … e5 2. Qxe5 d1=Q
is missing the beauty of the problem!
1. … e5 2. Qxe5 Qxf2+! is the beauty and leaves Black a full rook up very quickly!
Detailed answer, I have already posted above.
Oh, I just realized that 2. d1=Q leads to a Queen up or forced mate, so even that is correct 🙂
I found the Queen sacrifice a lot cooler 🙂
Your first suggestion of
1. …..Rc1
is much more interesting, Yancey, and undoubtedly wins!