White to move. How should white proceed?
Source: ChessToday.net
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Tricky tactic
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White to move. How should white proceed?
Source: ChessToday.net
Qh8+ Kg5 Ne6+ fxe6 f4+ with mate
Too hard.
This was one was really good. I looked at it last night, and couldn’t see it in over 15 minutes of thinking about it, and only found it this morning by throwing everything and the kitchen sink at the problem:
1. Qh8
An obvious start, but just literally couldn’t see the value in white’s second move for the longest time:
1. …..Kg5
2. Ne6! Be6 (alternatives later)
3. f4! Qf4
If black plays Kg4, then 4.Qh3 is mate; and if black plays Kf5, white mates with 4.Qe5 followed by Qg5. Continuing:
4. gf4 Kf4
5. Qc3 and the rest is fairly simple.
At move 2, the alternatives to Be6 are no better:
2. …..fe6
3. f4! Qf4
Again, Kf5 and Kg4 lose as above. Continuing:
4. gf4 with an ending no materially different than above, but with even more difficult to guard kingside pawns.
Finally:
2. …..Kf5
3. Nd4! Qd4 (Kg5 4.Qh4#)
4. Qd4 c2
5. Qd3+-
Too much Vigor?
That’s really tricky!
1. Ne6! (threat: 2. Qh8#) fxe6 (forced)
2. Qh8+ Kg5
3. f4+! (my first thought when I considered 1. Ne6 was 2. Qh4+? but then f4 is defended and 3. Qf4+? is not mate!)
3. … Kf5
4. Qe5+ Kg5
5. Qg5#
Qf6 and mate in two?
Ne6,with soon mate
Even trickier than some might think.
A few people offered up 1-Ne6 as their solution, but this actually fails to:
1-… ; f6! (blocking the queen’s access to g7)
2- Qxf6 ; Qxe1+
Now the white king cannot escape by way of h3 (Kh3, Qxe6+ and the forced trading of queens is fatal to white) so white must allow a draw by perpetual checks along the 1st and 2nd ranks.
Yancey assuming you did this without computer, what caused you to reject Qh4+? There are many only moves although it leads to a draw.
I spent many hours on Qh4+
Lorfa, I assume you are talking about the following line:
1. Qh8 Kg5
2. Qh4 Kf5
I, too, spent quite a while on this line and it’s variations. I rejected it because I basically couldn’t find a continuation better than returning the queen to h8. If white checks with the queen from g4, the king retreats to f6 and I see no way to prevent the escape to g7 or e7. If white checks with the pawn from g4 (where I spent most of the time):
3. g4 Ke5! (Kf4?? 4.Qf6-5.Qe5#)
4. Qe7
I looked at everything here, this is best, I believe. Every other move allows Kd6 and the king gets out of the hole. Probably a lot of draws here due to the repetitive checks that white can deliver, but I can’t say for sure white even holds those other lines. Continuing:
4. …..Kd4
The block with Be6 is fatal: [4. …Be6 5.Nd3! Qd3 (5. …Ke4/d5 6.Qc5#) 6.ed3+-]. Continuing:
5. Nd3
Again, looked at everything, I think, and nothing better than this. Continuing:
5. …..Kc4 (this or Kd5 forced)
6. Qf7 Kb5
And, basically, at this point, I gave up on this line. I don’t think white is in danger of losing here, but with black’s c3 pawn, I think he has enough to force white to take the perpetual. I think, if there is a win in here for white, it involves finding a way to exchange off the queens while leaving the knight covering c1 (or blocking the pawn), but this is way beyond my calculating range, even with a board in hand (just too many variations to deal with).
Now, back at move 3, I mentioned returning the queen to h8. At the time, I was just thinking about black returning the king to g5. This is how I actually discovered the power of Ne6, even though I had looked briefly at the move early on the previous night before incorrectly abandoning it. Of course, black does no good returning the king to g5 as we now know, but white might be able to win this even if black doesn’t comply. I need to think about the line
3. Qh8 Bb1
4. Qg7 Qd7 I seem to have overlooked that the f-pawn is now pinned. I had marked this line as unclear in my notes. Maybe 3. …Be6 is better?
It was very seductive to me due to all the only moves, and the winning of two pawns:
1. Qh8+ Kg5 (only move)
2. Qh4+ Kf5 (only move)
3. f4+ Ke5 (only move, kxf4 qf6 ke3 qe5#)
4. Qe7+ Kd4 (only move:
4..Be6?? 5. Nd3+ Kd4 6. Qc5#, 4..Kxf4?? 5. Qf6+ Ke3 6. Qe5#)
5. Qxa7 Kc4 (only move, Ke5 repeats the position after Qe7+
6. Qxf7+
Unfortunately from here there is nothing, except for one idea that depends on black stepping on some wrong squares:
6…Kc5?! 7. Nd3+ Kc6??
8. Qxa2 winning (8…Qxa2 9. Nb4+, winning the queen and stopping the pawn.)
There are also lines where I can take the g pawn with check, so I’d be winning all of black’s kingside pawns. Obviously these matter little compared to the c pawn.
It might be that white can still win after Qxf7+. Chess engines see all kinds of crazy stuff after this. Houdini trends away from a draw with a +2 for white. I think it’s convinced that it can win the c pawn by force.
It’s a shame that it’s all worthless in light of 1. Ne6 (Or the wild computer suggestion of moving the king). That’s chess for you though 🙂