White to move. How can White save this game?
2r4r/pkNRnp2/1p3p2/5P2/5Q2/PP6/1KP1q3/2n5 w – – 0 1
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White to move. How can White save this game?
2r4r/pkNRnp2/1p3p2/5P2/5Q2/PP6/1KP1q3/2n5 w – – 0 1
1. Na6+
If 1. … Ka6 2. Qa5 mate
If 1. … Ka8 2. Nc7+
if 1. … Kc6 2. Qd6+ Kb5
3. Qb4+ leads to perpetual or mate
na6 is not correct
nb5 is more clear and it leads to a draw after kc6 qd6 if qa8 simply rxa7 wins
1. Nd5+ Ka6
2. Qa5#
1. … Ka8
2. Nxb6+ axb6
3. Qa4+ Qa6 (3. … Kb8 4. Qa7#)
4. Qxa6+ Kb8
5. Qa7#
1. … Rc7
2. Qxc7+ Ka6 (2. … Ka8 3. Qb7#)
3. Qxa7+ Kb5
4. Qxb6#
1. … Kc6
2. Qd6+ Kb5
3. a4+ Ka6
4. Nb4+ Ka5
5. Rxa7+ Qa6
6. Rxa6#
3. … Ka5
4. Rxa7+ Qa6
5. Qb4#
1.Nd5+
I)1….Ka6 2.Qa4 mate
II)1…Ka8 2.Nxb6+!
III)1…..Rc7 2.Qxc7+
IV)1….Kc6 2.Qd6+ Kb5 3.a4+ Ka6 4.Nb4+ Ka5 5.Rxa7+ Qa6 6.Rxa6 mate !
1.Nb5+
Nd5+ Kc6
Qd6+ Kb5
a4+ Ka6
Nb4+ Ka5
Rxa7+ Qa6
Rxa6++
Nd5+ Ka8
Nxb6 axb6
Qa4+ Kb8
Qa7++
i feel like im in a groove…everything is just coming to me very quickly..this was barely a challenge…my mind is in overdrive.. sometimes your just feeling it..
So many ways to discover a check, only one of them right. I think it’s d5.
1. Nd5+ (a) Kc6
2. Qd6+ Kb5
3. Nc3+ Ka6 or Ka5
4. Qa4#
1. … (b) Ka6
2. Qa4#
1. … (c) Ka8
2. Nxb6+ axb
3. Qa4+ Kb8
4. Qa7#
Mark
LOL! The first move I thought of, the obvious one, is a misdirection! Looking at this, it really, really seems like Nb5 has to win, but I can’t make it work at all in that regard:
1. Nb5
And it appears that black is in big, big trouble, and as I worked through the various possibilities in my head, I became more and more convinced that it was a killing move:
1. …..Rc7(Ka6 2.Qa4#; Ka8 2.Ra7#)
2. Rc7 Kb8(Ka6 3.Qa4#; Ka8 2.Ra7#)
3. Rc8
A nice double check motif! Continuing:
3. …..Kb7(Kc8 4.Qc7#)
4. Nd6 Ka6
5. Qa4#
A nice mate in 5, and all without my chess board. Just one damned problem with the entire thing- the one first move for black that looks literally impossible to hold actually is the way to hold!!
1. …..Kc6!!
Now, how in the hell can black survive here? I simply can’t find a win now, no matter what I tried:
2. Qd6
The problem is the hanging rook at d7. If white plays 2.Rd6, black need not cooperate with Kb5??: [2.Rd6 Kb7! (Kb5 3.Qa4 Kc5 4.Qb4#) and what now for white other than the repetition draw with returning the rook to d7? After 15 minutes, I was at loss how white wins with 2.Rd6]. Continuing:
2. …..Kb5 (only move)
3. Qb4
I tried every other move here. This is the only draw in this line, I think. On 3.a4, the black king hides at a6 and I could find no way to dislodge him in time to keep from having the position liquidated to an overwhelming material advantage for black. Every other move is distinctly worse almost right from the start.
3. …..Kc6 (Ka4, again Qa4#)
4. Qd6
Again, the only drawing move now. On 4.Rd6, the black king hides at b7 and white doesn’t even seem to have repetition draw any longer. White has to settle for the draw. Amazing that a king that exposed can’t be mated!
Continued in my next comment.
1.Nb5+ Ka8?
2.Rxa7#
1.Nb5+ Ka6?
2.Qa4#
1.Nb5+ Rc7
2.Rxc7+ Ka8(Ka6 see above)
3.Ra7#
1.Nb5+ Rc7
2.Rxc7+ Kb8
3.Rc8 dbl+ Kb7(Kxc8 4.Qc7#)
4.Qc7+ Ka6
5.Qxa7+ Kxb5
6.Qa4#
1.Nd5+!
If 1…Ka8, 2.Nxb6+! axb6 3.Qa4+ Qa6 4.Qxa6+ Kb8 and White has the choice of three mates in one;
If 1…Ka6, 2.Qa4#;
If 1…Kc6, 2.Qd6+ Kb5 3.a4+ Ka6 (3…Ka5 4.Rxa7+ Qa6 5.Qb4#) 4.Nb4+ Ka5 5.Rxa7+ Qa6 6.Rxa6#.
The first commenter’s suggested 1.Na6+ Ka8 2.Nc7+ is weak because of 2…Rxc7.
Now, with the obvious out of my head, it was easy to see the right move:
1. Nd5
I completely missed this move because I was way to focused on being able to capture at a7 with the rook, but white doesn’t need to do this in the most critical line:
1. …..Kc6 (alterns., see below)
2. Qd6 Kb5
Much what we saw earlier, only white retains the knight is all. Continuing:
3. a4
Really the only effective check. Continuing:
3. …..Ka6 (Ka5 4.Ra7! Qa6 5.Qb4#)
4. Nb4 Ka5
5. Ra7 Qa6
6. Ra6#
For me, the hardest mate to see here- again, knights baffle me endlessly.
At move 1, black is still mated with the following alternative moves:
1. …..Ka8 (Ka6 2.Qa4# once again)
2. Nb6
Busting up the black bulwark:
2. …..ab6
3. Qa4 with mate on one of the next two moves. Or
1. …..Rc7
2. Qc7
Here, Rc7 is mate, too, but longer, I think. Continuing:
2. …..Ka6 (Ka8 mate in 1)
3. Qa7 Kb5
4. Qb6#
Correct is 1. Nd5+, not Nb5+. Leads to mate in 6.
The key to such positions is to keep checking the King.
1.Nd5+ Ka6
2.Qa4#
…
1.Nd5+ Ka8
2.Nxb6+ with mate in couple moves.
1.Nd5+ Kc6!
2.Qd6+ Kb5
3.a4+ Ka6 (Ka5, Rxa7#)
4.Nb4+ (deep move)
4. … Ka5
5.Rxa7#
Best Regards
Susan,
I watched your speech on Texas Tech
It’s moving
Kudos to you from Brazil
1. Nd5! Kc6
1…Ka8< 2. Nxb6+ axb6 3. Qa4+-
1…Ka6?? 2. Qa4#
2. Qd6+ Kb5 3. a4+ Ka6
3… Ka5?? 4. Rxa7 Qa6 5. Qb4#
4.Nb4+ Ka5 5. Rxa7 Qa6 6. Rxa6 check and mate 🙂
Oops! I left out one resource
for black.
1.Nb5+ Kc6!
2.Qd6+ Kxb5
3.Qb4+ Kc6
4.Qd6+ Kb5
5.Qb4 etc.
and a draw by repitition! We
must not feel bad about not
finding a win here. After all,
Susan’s instruction asked: “How
can white save this game?”, implying
there”s no win here.
Yancey Ward, it doesn’t say there’s a win. At the start of your comment you state that Nb5 is “a misdirection”, then you apparently go back on that. You’re not a world class chessplayer showing how he came to certain moves, so nobody really cares how you got there or what you were “thinking”.
You are the one who “misdirect”ed people yourself and failed to even read the puzzle properly.
After 1 Na6+ Ka8!, 2 Nc7+ Rxc7, 3 Qxc7 Qe5+!, White’s attack is neutralized, and she’ll end up down a piece for a pawn.
1 Nb5+ will at best lead to a perpetual after 1 … Kc6!
White has a better square for the Knight:
1 Nd5+!
The Knight is ideally placed here, for reasons that will be apparent as we examine Black’s alternatives:
ONE:
1 … Ka8
2 Nxb6+!
One point of putting the Knight on d5. a8 is no longer a safe haven.
2 … bxa6
3 Qa4+ and mates in a few.
TWO
1 … Rc7
After 1 … Ka6, 2 Qa4#.
2 Qxc7+ Ka6
3 Qxa7+ Kb5
4 Qxb6#
THREE
1 … Kc6
2 Qd6+
The other advantage of having the Knight on d5; now Black can’t capture it, as he could if it were on b5.
2 … Kb5
3 a4+!
Nothing is gained from Qb4+ Kc6.
3 … Ka6
Or 3 … Ka5, 4 Rxa7+ and mate next.
4 Nb4+
And not 4 Rxa7+ Kxa7, 5 Qxb6+ Ka8, and White can do no better than perpetual check.
4 … Ka5
5 Rxa7+ and mate next.
An interesting oddity is that the word verification needed to make this post was “mates”.
1. Nd5+ !!
And mate is inevitable
I think both lines starting with Ne6+ wins as the knight controls some key escape squares from there
Mr. Zed,
Whatever! I misdirected no one but myself (and maybe you?)-that was my point. Did you think I wrote that the puzzle terms themselves misdirected me? I did not, you just can’t read, it appears. Nor did I even write that the puzzle asked for a win, only that I thought 1.Nb5 did win for a while. And, as it turns out, there is a win, but with a different move.
The things some people get hung upon is mysterious to me. Do I annoy you the way I seem to annoy Wolverine? Not a single person forces you to read anything I write here.