White to move. Is this a win, draw, or loss for White? No computer analysis please. This is another good one 🙂
6k1/7p/7b/p4Nq1/1B6/4R3/2P3P1/5K2 w – – 0 1
Troitzky 1898
Chess Daily News from Susan Polgar
Saturday brain teaser
wow! it took me about fifteen minutes!
1Re8+ Kf7
2Nd6+ wins! 🙂
1.Rg3 leads to a draw, so White is not lost; maybe there is something better…
1.Rg3 wins! The threat is Nxh6 and Black cannot avoid material losses.
This would have been a tougher puzzle if Troitzky could have disguised the first move better. I went into this being sure that 1.Rg3 couldn’t possibly be the solution since it was simply too obvious a first move, but then I noticed a potential knight fork:
1. Rg3 Qg3 (alternatives below)
2. Nh6!!
Of course, my very first thought was 2.Ng3, but this is likely a draw after black takes at b4, but then I noticed that the black king has to go to h8 on the next move due to a potential knight fork. The rest wasn’t that hard to find (it helps to have a knowledge of the composer):
2. …..Kh8 (Kg7 3.Nf5+-)
3. Bd6!!
Very Troitzky-like. The bishop is immune to capture at d6 since Nf7 again forks the queen and king leaving white up an entire piece. White is threatening 4.Be5# in addition to 4.BxQ. Black has no checks on the white king. He can move the queen to guard the e5 square (from c3, e3, or g7), but even the capture at e5 is going to allow a deadly knight fork from f7 winning the game for white.
Back at move 1, black can do no better by declining the capture at g3:
1. …..Kf7
2. Rg5 Bg5
3. Ba5+-
Or:
1. …..Qg6
2. Rg6 hg6
3. Nh6+-
Or:
1. …..ab4
2. Nh6! Kg7
3. Rg5+-
I get the feeling this must be a repeat I have seen before since I am lousy at knight fork maneuvers and these came a bit too easily to me.
Susan, this is indeed beautiful:
1. Rg3! Qxg3
2. Nxh6+! Kh8
Not 2. Nxg3 axb4 with draw.
2. … Kg7 3.Nf5+ and White stays a knight up.
3. Bd6!! A crazy move, but Black ist, surprisingly, completely helpless. Qxd6 fails to Nf7+, on the other hand, White threatens Be5 with Qg7 as the only response. But, if Black tries to have an eye on the key square e5…
3. … Qc3
4. Be5+! Qxe5
5.Nf7+ Wins the queen and the game easily.
The tip to solving any of Troitzky’s puzzles is to find the tease in it. Once there, think outside of the box to find the ridiculous yet brilliant move that solves the puzzle. In this case:
1. Rg3 Qxg3
2. Nxh6+ Kh8
3. Bd6!!
and Black has to give up the queen for the bishop after 4. Be5+ and 5. Nf7+. The Black queen has got no checks.
Puzzle-fanatic
This appears to be a composed problem that would not occur in over the board play. But Whites Bishop is under attack if White moves his Knight and gives check Black is abiligated to take the Knight with his Queen-White then takes the Queen with his/her Bishop and has a winning position
1. Rg3 Q:g3 2. N:h6+ is the key. 2…Kg7 loses the Q to 3. Nf5+, so the K must go to h8. Now 3. Bd6 and the Black Q must give herself for the B to prevent mate. And the N+2P’s vs 2 P’s ending is an easy win.
1. Rg3 ab 2. N:h6+ is also decisive.
I remember this problem.
Fantastic solution.
1. Rg3! Qxg3
2. Nxh6+ Kh8
( 2….. Kg7 3. Nf5++- )
3. Bd6!! Qg7
4. Be5!! Qxe5
5. Nf7++-
1-0
I put it through houdini… craaazzzzzyyyy stuff. I thought Houdini was going to do the obvious thing of capturing the queen.
rg3…nh6…bd6
Rg3 I’m not seeing as a draw at all.
That’s right Mr. Zed. I let Houdini work its magic too. A knight fork comes into play on three
different moves.
White looks winning.
1. Rg3 Qxg3
1. … axb4 2. Nxh6+ 1-0
2. Nxh6+ Kh8
2. … Kg7 3. Nf5+ 1-0
3. Bd6! 1-0
The knight and pawn ending is not a foregone conclusion as people (Yancey – especially as you say you have difficulty manoeuvring with knights!) are assuming, it has to be played right – so, people have not done enough work yet! (Though, White does win.)
Davey,
It probably does require a bit of care to win from that point since the knight cannot so easily win, or guard against the a-pawn from a distance:
1. Rg3 Qg3
2. Nh6 Kh8
3. Bd6 Qd6 (will come back to Qg7)
4. Nf7 Kg7
5. Nd6
And, now, what is the most tenacious defense for black? He has the outside passer, and the white king is outside the queening box at the moment, and black can keep the white king out of that box by advancing the pawn immediately:
5. …..a4
6. Nb5
I see no reason for any other move for white. Stops the a-pawn’s advance, doesn’t block the c-file immediately. Continuing:
6. …..Kf6
To get worthwhile counterplay, black must bring the king to the support of the a-pawn, and he must get into position to hold up white’s c-pawn. Continuing:
7. c4
For me, the easiest win is going to put the white knight on a3, put the c-pawn on c4 and force the black king to defend the kingside rook’s pawn. Let’s look at how this plays out:
7. …..Ke5
8. Ke2
Keeping options open. However, we can now identify black’s 3. …Qd6 as a slight error- by taking at d6 instead of giving up the queen at e5 in an alternate line, black has allowed white to put the knight on b5 instead of on c4. The black king cannot cross the barrier formed by the knight and c-pawn on d6-d4. Continuing:
8. …..h6
If black plays Ke4, white forks the king and a-pawn with Nc3. If black plays Kf4, white can just push the c-pawn: [8. …Kf4 9.c5 Ke5 10.c6! a3 (black must make the knight move to stop the c-pawn!) 11.c7! a2 12. c8Q a1Q 13.Qh8+ skewers the black king and newly born queen to win.] If the black king plays to f5, white can still push the c-pawn to force black to give up the a-pawn: [8. …Kf5 9.c5 Ke6 10.c6 h6 (or 10. …Ke7 11.Ke3 goes for h7; or 10. …a3 11.Na3 Kd6 12.Kf3 Kc6 13.Kf4 Kd6 14.Nc4 wins easily) 11.Kd3 h5 12.Kc4 h4 13.Kc5 and white will simply queen the c-pawn to win.]. Also, giving up ground with 8. …Ke6 can’t possibly help as white again just brings his king forward to support the passed c-pawn and/or win the a-pawn. Continuing from move 8 above:
9. Ke3 h5 (nothing better)
10.g3
Zugzwang kills black now. He can’t push the a-pawn without losing it for nothing. He can’t push the h-pawn without losing it and giving white a second passer. He can only give ground while keeping g3 under observation, but this is also clearly lost by simple counting:
10. ….Kf5
11.Kd4 Kg4
12.c5 Kg3
13.c6 h4
14.c7 h3
15.c8Q h2
16.Qb7 and the white queen will occupy h1 before the black king can support the pawn’s advance. Game over.
In my final comment, I will discuss the line where black gives up his queen at e5.
In my last comment, at Davey’s suggestion, I outlined the win for white after black gives up the queen at d6. In that line, white’s knight ends up on b5 where it and the c-pawn on c4 puts up a nasty barrier to the black king on d4-d6. If black gives up the queen at e5 or g7 instead, white’s knight can’t reach b5 as efficiently. From the top:
1. Rg3 Qg3
2. Nh6 Kh8
3. Bd6 Qg7
4. Be5 a4 (will return to Qe5)
I don’t think it matters whether black pushes this now or later. Continuing:
5. Bg7 Kg7
6. Nf5+ Kf6
7. Nd4 Ke5
8. Nb5
Now black has a choice of how to lose. He can’t play Kd5 or Ke4 since Nc3 forks the king and a-pawn. If he pushes the a-pawn, white just takes it and then pushes c4 on the next move. On any other move, white just brings his king forward to e2/f2 and forces the black king to give up ground either before or after he runs out of effective moves of the h-pawn.
Now, let’s look at one last line starting at move 4 for black:
4. …..Qe5
5. Nf7 Kg7
6. Ne5 a4
7. Nd3 a3 (Kf6 no better)
8. Nb4 Kf6 (h6/h5 no better)
9. Ke2 Ke5
10.Kd3 h6 (or give ground)
11.c4 h5 (or give ground)
12.c5 a2 (h4 13.Kc4 wins)
13.Na2 Kd5
14.Nc3 Kc5
15.Ke4 Kd6
16.Kf5 and white will either win the h-pawn with the king or win it by forcing black to advance it to be captured by white’s pawn, and the subsequen rook pawn ending is won with the knight on the board.