White to move. How should white proceed?
Source: ChessToday.net
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Cappelle chess tactic
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White to move. How should white proceed?
Source: ChessToday.net
rf8 check, k cuts rook forced. g6 cuts h7 and makes queen in next move. wins
p.p+
p.p+
p.p+
1 Cc6
2 Te1
1. Rf8 Kf8 2. gh7 and white Queens.
I had a couple of lines with Ba3 as the first or second move and then it hit me
Rf8+ Kxf8 gxh7 the queen is unavoidable since there’s two pieces on the 8th rank. Ke7 g8=(q). White was a piece down and gave up the rook so I don’t think it’s over but after Kf6 Qh5 things are looking up for white. Other moves seem even worse for black
What about
1. Rf8 Kxf8
2. gxh7 & black cannot stop the
pawn from queening, it appears.
Ba3 threatens mate, and doesn’t black have to lose a piece to stop it?
Rf8+ and after the forced Kxf8 the pawn will promote: xh7
I have to say that I don’t see anything overpowering here. I think Bd4 is ok since white can pin and win the piece back with Rad1 since black must deal with weak back rank:
1. Bd4 Bd4 (anything better?)
2. Rad1 hg6
Here, black could try either Ne7 (Nd6 and black will have to move the horse again after Rd4), or, possibly e3 followed by either hg6 or Ne7, but I just don’t like those.
3. Rd4 Ne7
Black really has no choice but activate his pieces. As things stand, the e-pawn is safe for the moment since Re4 is met by Bd5 pinning the rook to the king. If he doesn’t play the knight out, white is going to tie him in knots with Rd8. Also, from e7, the knight prevents white from playing Ng6. Continuing:
4. Kg1
Threatening Re4, now. Continuing:
4. …..e3
I have no idea what is best for black here. Bf5 might be better, but this will allow white to double his rooks on the d-file without delay and possibly attack the king with Nf7 and doubling the rooks on the 8th rank. Since I am not all that happy with the first move of white, anyway, I am not going to spend a lot of time trying to probe this line more deeply. Here, e3 just looks more active to me, and I think black needs to be active to hold. Continuing:
5. a3 Bb3
6. Re4 Nd5
7. Ng6 e2
8. Re1
Not Re2 due to Bc4 skewer. Continuing:
8. …..Bd1
9. Kf2 Nc3
10.Re3 Nd5
11.Rd3 Nf6
12.Nf4 Ba4
13.Ne2 and white does have the advantage, but only with the exchange he had right from the start. I am going to go back and see if I can figure out what I am missing in the starting position.
Rf8+ Kxf8
gxh7 Bg8
Ng6+ Kf7
h8=Q
that was about 20 seconds .. is this a blitz game..
Sheesh! Of course, 1.Rf8 wins immediately by drawing the black king away from h8. The most hilarious thing isn’t that I missed this, but I actually missed gh7 for about 5 minutes after first starting to look at 1.Rf8+ by looking for mating combinations of Ba3 and Raf1 check.
1. Rf8 Kf8
2. gh7 and the pawn will queen without delay.
I am totally brain dead today.
Push the rook to f8, check. King has to take the rook, then take the pawn at h7. No way to stop getting the queen. Sorry I don’t know my algebraic chess notations well enough.
1. Rf8 Kf8
2. gh
This looks interesting. Not sure how Black can stop the pawn at this point.
Perhaps 1. Rf8+, followed by 2. gh7:, and promoting. I don’t see anything better.
What about 1. Rf8+ Kf8 2. gxh7 winning
1. Rf8+ kxf8
2. gxh7! 1-0
1.Rf8 Kf8 2.gh7
Rf8+
Rf8+
Doesn’t the simple 1.Rf8+ KxR 2.Pxh7 wins?
Well, I guess black still has a rook and minor piece for the queen and white has still some work to do, but I don’t think that would be too difficult to convert into a winning game.
“I am totally brain dead today.”
Don’t worry about it, you seem your usual self to me.
Heh – I think everyone is brain-dead today – there were 2 different people that said white was a piece down going in, and he’s actually UP an exchange (for a pawn).
*laugh*