White to move. How should white proceed?
Chess Daily News from Susan Polgar
TGIF Refresher
About Author
White to move. How should white proceed?
I remember this one. Pretty simple deflection of the black queen to a square on which she isn’t protected from the skewer through her king:
1. Bd5 Qd5
2. Qa2 Kc3
3. Qd5 Kb4
Now, I don’t know how easy it is to win this ending. White can win the h-pawn with 4.Qd2+ and 5.Qd3+ while retaining his own pawn. I don’t immediately see a way to win the bishop with a double attack, but I might be missing it.
Bd5+ Q:d5 Qa2+ K:c3 Q:d5
1 Bd5+ Q:d5; 2 Qa2+ +-
Bd5
Without looking further, white should win the queen for the bishop with the Bd5+ fork, considering there is a possible squewer(can’t recall how it was spelled) with Qa2. Though after that, black should have 5 pawns and a bishop against a queen and a pawn, should probably one should look further. I refuse to do so, assuming the pawns get picked off.
Oh, well, I think the obviously line would be 1. Bd5+ Qxd5 2. Qa2+ Kxc3 3. Qxd5 Bxh2 and 4. Qf3+ Kxb4 5. Qxh3 Bd6 and pawns will drop, a fortress will not hold with say the black king on b7 because the white king will come to b5, queen check at a6 and king come to c6.
1. Bd5, and if the Queen takes the Bishop, 2. Qa2+ wins.
I like 1. Bd5+, if 1… Qxd5 then 2. Qa2+
Bd5 qxd5
qa2+
1Bd5+ Qxd5
2Qa2+ Kxc3
3Qxd5 and wins.Unguarded black B will be lost soon.
Bd5
Easy, peasy: 1. Bd5+! 2. Qa2+! Bye, bye queenie…
Bd5+ Qxd5 Qa2+ skewering king and queen
Bd5: then Qa2
mustafiz
1Bd5 & 2Qa2 &skew.
BD5+
Unguarded B is bound to fall sooner or later.You have to go on giving check without allowing B to be interposed. A glimpse of what may happen
1Bd5+ Qxd5
2Qa2+ Kxc3
3Qxd5 Kxb4
4Qe4+ Now
(a) 4… Ka5 or Kc3 5Qe1+ wins B
(b) 4… Kb3 or Kb5 5Qb1+ wins B.
(c) 4….Ka3 5Qd3+ with next move. 6Qb1+ or 6Qe1+ winning B.
Not thought of replies other than 3… Kxb4.Possibly you have to think whether black K can hide behind b4 pawn without capturing it.
Prof Bhat,
Not quite that simple. Starting from your line:
4. Qe4 Kc5!
Yes, every other reply loses the bishop quickly except for this one. So, now, white has checks from e5, e7, and c2. He can move the king forward if he wishes on this move since the h2 pawn is safe for the moment as 5. …Bh2? allows Qc2+ bagging the cleric. White can also try a move like Qf4 that threatens Qc1. As you can see, the lines multiply like flies. Let’s look at the lines in a cursory manner starting at move 5:
5. Qc2 Kd5!
Of course, Kb5/b4 loses the bishop to Qb1, and Kd4/d6 loses the bishop to Qd1. However, Kd5 allows black to safely use the bishop as a shield if white plays 6.Qd1+. As white in this position, it is tempting to grab the c7 pawn, and it is tempting to grab the f7-pawn with Qb3 followed by Qf7. Of these two options (not the only ones, mind you), I like the f7 grab better:
6. Qb3 Kc5
Here, Ke4 loses to Qb1, Ke5 loses to Qg3, Kd6/d4 loses to Qd1. The other option of Kc6 looks like a transposition to me after 7.Qf3+ and 8.Qf7. Continuing:
7. Qf7
Taking advantage of the fact that 7. …Bh2 loses the bishop and the game to 8.Qf2+. Continuing:
7. …..c6
Protecting c7 with Kc6/d6 loses quickly to Qg6+. It might be better to bring the bishop to d4 immediately to get him in reach of his king, and give up the attack on the h2 pawn, but this just concedes the game in my opinion as white will then win g6 and h3 and the passed pawn makes the win fairly simple (and it is a win anyway without a passed h-pawn according to the Nalimov tablebase). Continuing:
8. Qg6 and black still can’t take at h2. Since the Nalimov tablebase tells me the ending is won minus the two h-pawns (and it looks like white will retain his), I don’t really need to go further in this to prove white will win.
So, yes, 4.Qe4 will win in my opinion, just takes some careful technique.