Black to move. How should Black proceed?
Source: ChessToday.net
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Wroclaw chess tactic
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Black to move. How should Black proceed?
Source: ChessToday.net
1…Nf8! 0-1
I would like to drive the queen off that diagonal so I could threaten white’s back rank. The most promising move at a glance is Nb6:
1. ….Nb6
2. Qd8 Rd8
3. Ne6 and this looks completely losing for black. Clearly this knight move sucks.
1. ….Nc5
2. Qd8 Rd8
3. Ne6 Ne6
4. Be3 and this is nothing special if the idea is for black to have an advantage. White is up a pawn, has the better, more compact pawn structure, and has a bit of initiative. I would much prefer playing white here.
1. ….Nf8
Lol. With this move looking back at me on my board, I see now why it is the winner (and I was just going through the motions after my favored Nb6 was such a blunder). 2. Qd8 is no longer possible for white:
2. Qd8 Re1 followed by mate on the next black move. The key, of course is that the rook at e8 isn’t pinned any longer by the queen- the f8 knight is intervening. So, after Nf8 what should white do? The queen is hanging, and she cannot leave the a2-g7 diagonal. She could take at e6, but that material loss is decisive anyway. I see only one other alternative:
2. Qb3 Qd4 and the other shoe drops- the knight is hanging like a ripe orange.
This looks good enough- black is up a rook for a pawn overall. It might continue a bit like this:
3. Be3 Qe5 (pin the bishop 1 move )
4. h3 a6 and black has consolidated his queenside pawns and will win easily.
Thanks Susan for another headbreaker! I swear these are not tactics as much as they are problems…you could spend days on these things.
So, I don’t see any clear winning lines. In fact, I’m not sure if it’s even possible for black to draw.
I found two tactical shots that looked really promising, but I found a move for white in both lines that holds.
#1:
1..Nxf2 2.Kxf2 Qh6 3.Kg1 Now what?
#2:
1..Nxf2 2.Kxf2 xe3+ 3.Ke2! This is the move that stops black in his tracks. Other moves and black wins.
I analyzed a bunch of other lines, but no dice.
The most promising line for black might be starting with 1..Ne5.
Then it looks very complicated. One idea for black might be,
1..Ne5 2.Qe4 d3 (trying to hang on to his passer, and trying to make life difficult for white.
Nf8
please ignore my analysis above. This is for the previously-posted diagram.
knight to f8
Everything is pinned!!!
The rook on e6, the knight on d7, and also the rook on
e8 if Black tries the deflection sacrifice:
1… Qa8
2. Qxa8
and if
2… Re1+
3. Rxe1 and Black can’t play the back rank mate
3… Rxe1# since that is an illegal
move, the rook on e8 being
pinned.
Ah, but the move 1… Nf8 serves that same purpose
to deflect the White queen, and it works a whole
lot better.
After:
1… Nf8 if 2. Qxd8 then 3. Re1+ 4. Rxe1 Rxe1#
So White has to try to find something better than 2. Qxd8.
Have to move the queen, and best to keep the White
rook pinned, so that Black cannot play 2… Re1+. But
the only valid try for that, 2. Qb3, hangs the White knight
on d4.
so:
1… Nf8
2. Qb3 Qxd4
3. Be3 and White is playing a rook down.
WQ is overloaded. 1.. Nf8 seems to win, forcing the WQ to move and N at f8 prevents check if 2. QxQ. R-e1+ with mate coming.
1… Nc5
Cauce natural…
Nf8 wins. If the queen moves then Qxd4 then Re1 will follow, if the white queen takes the black queen then Re1.
1. … Nf8
2. Qd8: Re1+
mate next
1… Nf8 wins material, white has to give up his queen or be mated after:
2. Qxd8 Re1+!!
3. Rxe1 Rxe1+ mate!
1…Nf8! winning
Nf8 and White loses on the back rank.
Hi, Victor.
1… Nc5 can be met by
2. Qxd8 and then if
2… Re1+
3. Rxe1 then Rxd1# is an illegal
move. The Black rook is pinned by the White queen.
1… Nc5 is at best only good for a draw, I think.
Lucymarie
1. …. Nf8 wins.
This is a good problem for deductive logic rather than just brute force calculation.
It is easy to see that if black can un-pin the rook then he has a back rank mate. But Nc5 fails to Qxd8 and the other rook is now pinned, so the back rank mate fails. Like wise Qa8 fails to Qxa8 for the same reason.
So we need a way of distracting the white queen without leaving the R on e8 pinned. Nf8 obviously un-pins the rook.
So Nf8, Qxd8, Re1, Rxe1, Rxe1 mate
And also the Q has no squares to defend the N, so any Q move is met by Qxd4
Nf8
Now Qxd8 don’t work because Re1+
and if queen moves to avoid Re1+, then Qxd4!
black cant save this match.
nf8 threatening mate even if white plays qxq wins
The only thing that prevents the mate on the ground line is the pinning of the black rock by the queen. So moving the knight is natural. But moving to c5 for example is followed by Qxd8 and Re8 is pinned which prevents the mate again. So Nf8 seems the solution: Qxd8 is followed by Re1 with mate and there is no way to keep the queen and to prevent the mate at the same time.
1. .. Nf8
is the winning move!
RMD
1… Nf8 does the job since after 2. Qd8 Re1 and mate coming (Re8 is not pinned).
To avoid that, W loses the Nd4.
Black’s Re6 is in a bad way, pinned and attacked by the white knight. But white has his problems, too – his Q is unprotected, and if it releases the pin on the Re6 then Re1+ mates next move.
If black moves his N, his Q attacks whites Q. White could play 2. Q:d8, pinning the Re8 on the rank, BUT NOT IF BLACK HAS PLAYED 1…Nf8. Since that move also defends the Re6, it must be the solution.
White has the following options:
2. Q:d8 Re1+ and mate
2. N:e6 Q:d5
2. Qc4 Q:d4 and white can’t afford to recapture
2. Qb3 Q:d4 and white can’t recapture at all.
2. Q:e6 N:e6 with a colossal material advantage
Ne8