White to move. How should white proceed?
Source: ChessToday.net
Chess Daily News from Susan Polgar
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White to move. How should white proceed?
Source: ChessToday.net
Not easy to see the first move, at least for me it wasn’t. I first played with 1.Qh8 and 1.Bd1, but neither is good. However, while working through 1.Bd1 I realized I was being too cute with my plan, and that I should just open the line for the bishop immediately since it doesn’t matter whether or not black takes at f4- it is the mate at g5 with the queen that I missed the first time through, the simplest things sometimes are the hardest to spot:
1. f4! Qf4
White is threatening Qg5#, and the king has no escape on his own, and black must capture at f4, and capturing with the bishop is worse: [1. …Bf4 2.Bd1 Kh6 3.Qh8 Kg5 4.h4#]. Continuing:
2. Bd1 Kh6
3. Qh8 Kg5
4. h4 Qh4 (the point of 1. ..Qf4)
5. Qd8 and black will lose his queen to the skewer.
I don’t see a good answer to 1.f4, threatening 2.Bd1#. Phil
1. f4 (threaten mate and also open the diagonal for the white bishop.)
Qh8+, Kg5
h4+, Kf4
Qb8+, Ke4
Qe5+, white wins
f4 wins the threats are qg5 and bd1
1. f4
if
1….. Qxf4
2. Qh8+ Kg5
3. h4+ Qxh4
4. Qd8+ Kh5
5. Bd1+
wins the queen
if
1. … Bxf4
2. Qh8+ Kg5
3. h4+ Kg4
4. Bd1#
Heh. Nice one. 1. f4!! blocks the bishop’s view of g5/h6, threatening Qg5#/Qh8#. Black has to take the pawn to stay in the game (he has no checks).
1. f4!! Qxf4 (1… Bxf4? 2. Bd1+ Kh6 3. Qh8+ Kg5 3. h4#)
2. Bd1+ Kh6
3. Qh8+ Kg5
4. h4+ Qxh4
5. Qd8+ and the black queen is dead.
1. f4 forces Black to address the Qg5# threat and opens the d1-h5 diagonal for White’s bishop. Black can do nothing to prevent mate except lose a lot of material. 1. … Qxf4 2. Bd1+ Kh6 3. Qh8+ Kg5 4. h4+ Qxh4 5. Qd8+ Kf4 6. Qxh4+. (1. Qh8+ is thwarted by 1. … Bh6.)
f4 is winning. Threaten Bd1 and Qh8 both.
Mustafiz
1.h4+ (Qg5#) Qxf4(Bxf4) 2.Bd1+ Kh6 3.Qh8#
1 f4 with idea of 2 Bd1+ and 3 Qh8#
f4! for white (forced mate in Bd1+ next!) no more solution for Black
ched8 cabe
1. f4 .. Qxf4 (or Bxf4 but with mate…)
2. Bf1+ .. Kh6
3. Qh8+ .. Kg5
4. h4+ (here would be mate if 1 .. Bxf4)
.. Qxh4
5. Qd8+ .. Kf4
6. Qxh4+
eventually snatching all black pawns.
First I thought of a perpetual: Qh8 – Qd8 etc. that black doesn’t come out of (Kf4? Qh4). But as usual, I expect something better to exist, I suggest something with:
1. Be4 fxe4 (otherwise f4 Bxf4 Bf3+)
2. f4 Bxf4 (otherwise Qg5 or Qh8 mates)
3. h4
but this is not quite clear to me, though….
What a strange solution I gave in my first post:-)
Be4 doesn’t seem correct here, better looks:
1. f4!
This sack is magnetic due to the threat Qg5#, and black has no checks either.
1. … Qxf4
2. Bd1+ Kh6
3. Qh8+ Kg5
4. h4+ Qxh4
5. Qd8+ (the difficult one to see)
catches the queen!
1. f4, threatening both
2. Qg5#,
as well as
2. Bd1+ with
3. Qh8+ and
4. h4#
The threat of 1. f4 is actually not double, but triple: 2. Qg5#, 2. Qh8#, 2. Bd1+.
f4! Black cannot prevent the mate
1. f4 – Dxf4
2. Ld1+ – Kh6
3. Dh8+ – Kg5
4. h4+ – Dxh4
5. Dd8+ – Kh6
6. Dxh4
Hi Susan Polgar,
Well,okay puzzle.
White wins the game[ Variations exist ]
Example one
===========
1.Bd1 f4
2.h4 Q*h4
3.f4+ Kh6/Qg4
4.Qh8++ Mate
Example Two
===========
1.Bd1 Qf4
2.h4 Bc3
3.Qh8+ Qh6
4.f4+ K*h4
5.Q*Qh6++ Mate
By
Venky [ India – Chennai ]
I must be confused….but I only see f4….everything starts with f4.
I tried making Bd1 work but couldn’t. The best I can see is
1. Qh8+, Kg5
2. h4+, Qxh4
3. Qd8+, Kh5
4. Qxd2
1. Qh8+, Kg5
2. h4+, Kf4
3. Qb8+, Ke3
4. Qe5#,
Rather difficult since you actually has to see the skewer on move 5, without this it runs into sand. But the 4 moves leading up to it are pretty simple though, the skewer became visible because I “wished strongly enough” that those moves should bring something…