White to move. How should White proceed?
Source: ChessToday.net
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White to move. How should White proceed?
Source: ChessToday.net
1.Ng5 !
I’m going with Ng5.
If Rg8 then Nh7 mate
If Nxf6 then Ne6+ forking king and queen
If hxg5 then Qg6, Rxh5 Qg7+, Ke8 f7+, Ke7 f8=Q double check, Ke6 Qgf7 mate.
1.Ng5! threatens Ne6 mate.
1…hxg5;2.Qg6 forces mate
1…Nxf6 stops immediate mate but allows fork on e6 winning queen
Hmm.. my first comment didn’t take. My answer is Ng5
If… Rg8 then Nh7 mate
If… Nxf6 then Ne6+ forking king and queen.
Finally if …hxg5, Qg6 Rxh5, Qg7+ Ke8, f7+ Ke7, f8=Q double check Ke6, Qgf7 mate.
1. Nc5! clears the way for the White Queen to jump to g6. I don’t see a way for Black to prevent mate without heavy material losses.
Nd6
Ng5 looks best to me.
1. Nc5! is very forcing because it threatens a fork on e6. After
1. … Bxc5
2. Qg6 black seems to have no good defence against check on f7 or g7.
2. … Qe8
3. Qg7# for example.
1.Nd6! leads to mate soon
Nd6 wins…I think Nc5 fails
1. Ng5 is threatening Ne6+ followed by f7# as well as Qg6 followed by Qf7#. i don’t see how black can meet both threats without heavy material losses. greets, jan
As all others said before, it is Nc5.
It is almot clear, that White has to free the Queen’s path to g6, and Nc5 is the most forcing way, as it threads the fork on e6 as well as to capture the Bishop on b7. The well defended f6 and the Bishop on h5 paralyse Black’s position.
My first thoughts were 1.Nd6 or 1.Nc5 but then I spotted 1.Ng5! with ideas of 2.Qg6 or 2.Ne6+ and it seems to win outright: 1…hxg5 loses to 2.Qg6.
I am not sure, but I think
1. Ng5 will be fine, without winning so clearly
1. Nc5 probably is not easy too
And so my suggestion is Nd6 which wins the bishop, as White has to prepare a defence against Qg6. The best way for Black to increase space and manouverability of his pieces is Nc5, after White’s Nd6 White answers dxc5 and wins a piece again.
I give three lines
1. Nc5? Nxc5
2. Qg6 Qd7 and now White has no mate attack
1. Ng5 Nc5
2. dxc5 hxg5
3. Qg6 Qd7 with a similar outcome
1. Nd6 Nc5
2. dxc5 Bc6 and White has won one piece and coninues to have attack against the vulnerable black kingside.
I had a posting in which I prefered 1. Nd6 as I saw that Black has the resource of playing Nc5.
BUT: Now I go again for Ng5 with the following line
1. Ng5! Nc5
2. Nh7+! Rxh7 (Kg8, 3. Qg6 mate)
3. Qxh7 and now the mate threads on g7 and g8 are deciding