White to move. Which side is better? White has a Rook, Bishop, and 2 Pawns for a Queen. However, the a6 Pawn is weak. How should White proceed?
8/p6p/P4p2/2q1k1pP/4P1P1/1B2RK2/2P2P2/8 w – – 0 1
Horwitz, 1863
Chess Daily News from Susan Polgar
Sharp eyes
Bd5 then Rb3
Sorry posted too early. Bd5 then Rb3, followed by Rb7 to attack the a and h pawn. White should be able to advance the h pawn for Queen.
1.Rd3 threatens 2.Rd5
if the Queen moves a rook check and a discovered check will win the queen
if pawn f6-f5 rd5 wins again the queen
Sources : Horwitz, Schachzeitung, 1863, #LXXXI.
Cooked? Yes, thrice.
But Bd5 is not the solution.
sorry i havent found the win after 1.Rd3 Qe7 2.Rd5+ Ke6
if 3.Rb5+
3…Kd6 doesnt win lose the queen
so i have to further analyse the position
1. Rd3 with the unstoppable threat of Rd5+ forcing Black to Ke6 and a lethal discovered check.
xexe!
I would play Rd3 followed by Rd5+.
No anon 7:37. 1.Rd3 wins.
rd3
now i’ve found it
1.Rd3 threatens to win the queen
1…Qe7 seems to save the queen
but
2.Bg8! is the move!
now against the mate this is forced
2…f5
but now comes
3.Rd5+ Kf6
4.Rxf5+ Kg7
5.Rf7+
hurra! we love queens!
Rd3 (threatening Rd5+ and get the Q)
… Q any
Rd5+ Ke6 (forced)
R gets Q with a discovered check
There’s no place for the Q to hide.
what about 1.rd3 qe7 (only move?) 2. rd5+ ke6 3. h6 f5(only move?) 4. e5 (threathening rd1+ followed by re1+)4. -fg4 5. kg4 winning
1. Rd3 follwed by
2. Rd5+ Ke6 and white will win Black’s queen
1. Rd3 Qe7
2. Rd5+ Ke6
3. h6 and any queen move will lose
3. … f5
4. e5 fxg4+
5. Ke4 and any queen move will lose
1. Rd3
Black’s king cannot move. Next move White plays Rd5+ and Black has to respond with Ke6. White moves the rook to a square where it attacks the Black queen with a discovered check winning the queen.
Why not 1.Rd3 and black has no good way to parry Rd5.
1. Rd3 since white’s king can’t move, and 2. Rd5+ Ke6 (only move) 3. a rook move with dicovered check that gives 4. RxQ
I don’t think that Black can cope with the threat of 1. Rd3 followed by 2. Rd5
I think 1.Rd3! Now black is rather limited in his choice. Of course the threat is Rd5, but if the queen goes to a wrong square, white has 2.Rd5 Ke6 followed by a discovered check, winning the queen.
The only sensible move I could find in response to that was 1…Qe7. Now after 2.Rd5 there is nothing more than a perpetual. So:
1.Rd3 Qe7
2.Bg8! f5 (what else?)
3.Rd5 Kf6
4.Rxf5 Kg7
5.Rf7 Qxf7
6.Bxf7 Kxf7 and the resulting pawn endgame is an easy win for white.
Kind regards,
PdV
What about 1. Rd3!?
The simple threat 2. Rd5+ is not easy countered as most queen moves still lose her after 2. Rd5+, Ke6 and discoverd check. Only move (I see until now) is 1. -, Qe7! which allows 2. Rd5, Ke6 3. Rd7+??/Ke5+?? KxR.
But white can better play 3. h6! and this silent moves gives zugzwang (taking away black’s h6 and what is more important the move Qg7!).
As the queen can’t move and meanwhile stay in contact to her king (Qf7? or else) and black cannot play Kf7 4. Rd7+/Re5+ (+-) she needs to play 3. -, f5. After 4. gxf5/exf5 white’s position looks quite strong but again a silent move looks even stronger: 4. e5! (also taking away e5 for the white rook but still the queen can’t hide can she?) and sooner or later black must move his queen (or king to f7) and loses.
E.g. 4. -, fxg4+ 5. Kxg4 +- or 4. -, f4 5. Ke4 (Kg2 should win, too), f3 6. Kxf3 (and it is very important that Qb7 is not possible).
Probably there are some small mistakes in this line but I hope in the main it is correct. Have I overseen a strong black defense?
Best wishes from Germany
Jochen
(PS: These puzzles distract from diploma work very well. :-))
I think white is winning:
1.Rd3 Qe7 (otherwise Rd5+ and discovered check picking up queen) 2. Rd5+ Ke6 and now maybe 3. Ke3 h6 4. Kf3 f5 5. gf+ Kf6 6. e5+ Kg7 7. f6+ +-
Sorry, I do not understand the first two posts. What if black simply takes on c2 after 1.Bd5? My suggestion would be the simple 1.Rd3.
Rd3 looks very strong to me. How does black save her lady?
1.Rd3 followed by 2.Rd5 and next the Rook goes after the queen (discovered check)
Rd3 creates lot of problems for black
I think the black queen is lost after 1.Rd3. Threat is Rd5+ and any queen move is losing, for example 1…Qa3 2.Rd5+ Ke6 forced and then 3.Ra5+ win the queen.
hmmm. Rd3 wins the Q doesn’t it?
Reply to my own post: 1…Qe7 appears to save the queen.
1 Rd3! Queen can only save itself for 1 move by Qe7.
2. Rd5+ Ke6
3. Rd2+ and so on.
Rd3 … threat R-check and discovered-check from the B, with the R attacking the bQ
Re3 with the threat of Re5+ wins the queen, since there is a discovered check on the next move.
Strange, I looked at 1.Rd3 Qe7 2.Rd5 Ke6 3.Ke3 to create a zugzwang, but this doesn’t work because black has 3…h6 4.Kf3 Qh7! After rejecting this line I found 2.Bg8! but for some reason I never considered 3.h6 for white… A very nice move, that takes away both g7 and h7 for the queen compared to the aforementioned line.
As Jochen mentioned, it is crucial that black doesnt have the option of playing Qb7. I agree with him as well that this takes a lot of time away from doing other studies! 🙂
Anyway, both methods seem to work very well! 🙂
PdV
The anonymous commenter at 8:11 a.m. seems to have the best line since it wins the queen for a bishop.
Rd3 followed by the hard to find Bg8 is a forced win for white, it appears.
I prefer Jochen’s line to overenthusiastic Anon 8:11 and PdV’s ones. After the check by the white rook on f7 the king moves to h6 threatening stalemate!
Consul, there is no stalemate in the solustion of Anon @ 8:11
1. Rd3, Qe7
2. Bg8, f5
3. Rd5+, Kf6
4. Rxf5+,Kg7
5. Rf7+, Kh6
Now, instead of 6.Rxe7 stalemate, white should play
6. Rxh7+,Qxh7
7. Bxh7, Kxh7
and the resulting pawn endgame is an easy win for white.
consul,
the simple 6.Rxh7+ hinders stalemate
i’m sure you could have found it too if you wanted to
Yes, i was completely wrong!
Thank you for pointing it out!