White to move. How should White proceed?
Hint: This is quite a tricky puzzle.
8/5Ppk/7r/3b3p/7K/1B6/8/8 w – – 0 3
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Bc2+ Be4
Bxe4+ g6
f8(B) Kg8
Bxh6 and wins
cute
bc2 be4 be4 g6 f8b kg8 bh6
Bc2 Be4
Be4 g3
f8=B K any
Bh6+++
Bc2+ Be4
Bxe4+ g6
f8=B Kh8
Bxh6
promoting to queen leads to stalemate..this looks like it transposes into 2 bishops vs king end game.. it shouldnt be that hard to mate…
im going to work on the 2 bishops vs king mate seqeuence
Bc2+ Kh8
f8=Q+ Bg8
Bb3 Re6
Bxe6 Kh7
Bg8+ Kh6
Qf4+ Kg6
Qg5++
heres the varitaions if he backs up his king
Bc2+ Be4
Bxe4+ g6
f8=B Kh8
Bxh6 Kh7
Kg5 h4
Bg2 h3
Bxh3 Kh8
Kxg6 Kg8
Be6+ Kh8
Bg7
you cant fool the wolverine.. you can try but it isnt going to work..
Superficially, this looks easy.
But it is not.
Advancing the BP to queen likely only draws e.g. f8=Q, B*b3 2. Qf5+ Kh8 3. Qf8+ Bg8 and how does white win?
Secondly allowing the Black bishop to take the pawn does not allow the win (insufficient material).
Therefore the first move is forced:
1. Bc2+. Now Black can intercede the bishop which forces an underpromotion:
So 1. Bc2+ Be4 2. B*e4+ g6 (if Kh8 then f8+Q+) 3. Now f8=Q is stalemate so f8=B. Kg8 or h8 4.B*h6 and white whips off the two pawns by bringing in his K and combining with the bishops. And he checkmates with two bishops.
Psyche/anonymous
First to the logical elimination of moves. If Bxd5 then Rf6 guarantees black no worse than a draw since he can capture the last pawn anytime and he can play for more. f8=(Q) on the first moved followed by Bxb3 pits the queen against rook and bishop plus two pawns. My guess is white would struggle to draw that. Underpromoting on move 1 is met by Kg7 effectively. Thus the lines in question should start with Bc2+
1. Bc2+ Rg6?? Bxg6+ Kxg6 f8=(q) is terrible play by black
2. Bc2+ Kh8 f8=(Q)+ Bg8 Bb3! and there is no good defense left for g8
3. Bc2+ g6 f8=(Q) Be4 threatening stalemate Qf7+ Kh8 g5+ Kxg5 Rg6+ Kxh5. This is better as black has avoided checkmate but the queen and bishop versus a lone rook will win eventually. This line gave me a new idea which looks to be black’s best defense
4. Bc2+ Be4! Bxe4 g6 f8(q) here is stalemate, that’s the idea of the earlier Be4. Any non commital move by white and Kg7 will come. White must promote but not to a queen. Kg7 is a good defense against rook and knight but f8(b)! now Kh8 is forced and Bxh6. Now only is this two bishops against two pawns but the white king has an easy time getting involved,
It did take me an hour or so. My first major hurdle was breaking through against the g6 line. It took about as long to then get the bishop under promotion
From spain…
1)Bc3+,Be4
2)Be4+,g6
3)f8=B,Kg8
4)Bh6 +-
Greetings from Spain
From spain…
1)Bc3+,Be4
2)Be4+,g6
3)f8=B,Kg8
4)Bh6 +-
Greetings from Spain
First things first:
1. f8(Q) Bb3 is going to be a draw, at best (black might even win), so white must retain the bishop.
Also, I see no future in the underpromotion to knight with check on move one:
1. f8(N) Kg8
2. Bd5 Kf8 and black should win with ease.
Also, taking at d5 on the first move doesn’t seem all that promising to me:
1. Bd5 Rf6 (g5 2.Kg5 Rg6 3.Kf5=)
2. Kh5
Here, 2.Kg5 is met with h4. Continuing:
2. …..g6 (Rf5 3.Kg4 g6)
3. Kg5 Kg7 (Rf5 4.Kg4 Kg7)
4. Bc4 Rf7
5. Bf7 Kf7 is a draw well known to me. For my own curiosity, and to save myself some time and effort, I also looked up the position before black captures at f7, and the Nalimov tablebase confirms that was a draw, too. I will continue with what I consider a more promising beginning in my next comment.
here’s the main line:
1. Bc2+ Be4 (else 2. f8Q)
2. Bxe4+ g6
3. f8B Kg8/h8
4. Bxh6
greets, jan
In my previous comment, I eliminated the two promotions of f8(N) and f8(Q) as first moves for white to win (white loses with the first, probably draws with the second), while the capture at d5 on move 1 seems to be a clear draw with proper play since it gives black time to put the rook behind the f-pawn. Really, I have trouble seeing any other reasonable beginning but the check from c2:
1. Bc2
Black has, as replies, Kh8, Rg6, g6, and Be4. Now, Be4 only seems to leave black with the same first three choices after white takes at e4, so I will ignore that one until the end. Let’s take the other three in order:
1. …..Kh8
2. f8(Q)Bg8
3. Bb3 and this is going to be mate in 5 if black just sacrifices rook and the g-pawn- there is no defense against the queen and bishop.
Or, at move 1:
1. Bc2 Rg6
2. f8(Q)Bb3 (nothing holds)
3. Bb3 Rf6
4. Bc2 g6
5. Qf6 with mate to follow.
Or, at move 1:
1. Bc2 g6
2. f8(Q) and this is going to be mate in 4 or less, regardless of where black moves the bishop, I think since there is no defense to the coming Kg5 and the rook is toast as well as the king.
Finally, let’s deal with 1. …Be4. One should have noted in the preceding line that black had no legal moves other than bishop moves after white queened the pawn at move 2. Let’s proceed from the top, now:
1. Bc2 Be4!
2. Be4 g6
3. f8(Q) is stalemate.
So, white must try something else. The only something else I can see to try is an underpromotion at move 3. The underpromotion to a knight is not going to work since 3. …Kg7 will either win the knight or free black’s rook. An underpromotion to a rook is less seemingly bad, but still won’t win for white:
3. f8(R) Kg7
4. Rd8 Kf6 and there is no real doubt this is a draw. The key should be obvious by now, if you have followed me this far- Kg7 must be prevented, and the way to do that is to
3. f8(B)!
And black is in zugzwang-the rook at h6 is lost on either Kg8 or Kh8:
3. …..Kg8
4. Bh6 Kf7
5. Kg5 and both pawns fall, and the mate with the two bishops is fairly easy to enforce since the two bishops are easy, peasy to coordinate. Or
3. …..Kh8
4. Bh6 and black will be mated in the h8 corner since he can no longer escape it.
Really fantastic position.
1. Bc2+! Be4!
2. Bxe4+ g6!
( Expecting a stalemate)
3. f8=B!! Kg8
4. Bxh6 and the dual bishops can deliver mate.
1. Bc2+ Be4 2. B:e4+ g6 3. f8B! and wins. Neat. Usually, underpromotions are to knights.
I think white can move into a pretty straightforward win after
1.Bc2 g6
2.f8(Q) I don’t see a way for black to give up the bishop for stalemate before white has a chance reposition.
So if black tries 1…Bd3 then white has the nice little underpromotion
2.Bd3 g6
3.f8(B)…that’s nice, no stalemate and black is forced to leave his rook hanging and white still has enough to win.