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Very nice little puzzle. At first, I overlooked the pin on the rook, and tried Re7. Took me a couple of minutes before I realized the queen was hanging at g4. But when I saw that, the rest was easy:
1. Re8! Re8
If 1. …Ke8, then 2.Qg8 is mate; if 1. …Qe8, then 2.Qg7 is mate; and if 1. …Kf7, then 2.Qg7 followed by 3.Qg8 is mate. Continuing:
2. Qd7 Bg1
One last trick to overcome. If black tries Re6, white just captures with the d-pawn and still threatens mate on the next move. And if the rook is moved to d8/c8 etc. Qe7 followed by Qg7 is mate. Here, white need only not allow the queening of the b-pawn with check, and the mate can’t be stopped by black:
3. Kg2 and mate in 2 more moves follows.
1. Re8+
if
1. KxR
2. Qg8 #
if
1. QxR
2. Qg7 #
if
1. RxR
2. QxQ
vologra1.Re8+ and 1…Qxe8 2.Qg7#,1…Kxe8 2.Qg8#,1…Rxe8 2.Qxd7 Bg7+ 3.Kg2 Re7 what else? 4.Qxe7+ Kg8 5.Qg7#
1. Re8+
1. … Qxe8
2. Qg7#
1. Kxe8
2. Qg8#
1. … Kf7
2. Qg7+ Kxe8
3. Qg8#
1. … Rxe8
2. Qxd7, threatening Qg7#.
I can do it, so it must be easy.
1. Re8+ (a) KxR
2. Qg8#
1. … (b) QxR
2. Qg7#
1. … (c) RxR
2. QxQ Bg1+
3. Kb2 b1/Q
4. Qg7#
Mark
Re8+ Rxe8
Qxd7
1. Re8+ Qe8 2.Qg7#; 1. Re8+ Re8 2. Qd7 +-; 1.Re8+ Ke8 2. Qg8#
Loose pieces drop off.
Here, the Queen d7 is the future victim. Too big a target and the answer is obvious. One with check.
Here we go:
1. Re8+ and the Queen is lost!
if 1… Kxe8 2. Qg8#
1… Kf7 achieves nothing because
2. Qg7+ Kxe8 and again
3. Qg8#
1… Qxe8
2.Qg7#
1… Rxe8 is more resilient, but not far more!
2. Qxd7
Black has more or less a material plus (considering the behemoth pawn on b2) but can’t cope with a big mate threat on g7. In fact, he can’t do anything! Even the whimsical
2…Bg1+ can be met by three king moves:
3. Kh1, 3. Kg2 or 3. Kh3, all three meaning curtains!
Not subtle, short variations but many variations (4)
The facebook generation will say “like!”.
I just say “checkmate in a very little number of moves”…
1. Re8+ discovers on the queen, so black has to play 1…Qxe8, allowing 2. Qg7#.
Black’s b-pawn looks very dangerous, but white will not let black promote. White wins in all variations starting with
1.Re8+ Qxe8
2.qg7#
1.Re8+ Kxe8
2.Qg8#
1.Re8+ Kf7
2.Qg7+ Kxe8(only move)
3.Qg8#
1.Re8+ Rxe8
2.Qxd7 (threatening Qg7#)
if the rook tries to move along the rank to create an escape square for the king, the queen will just check to move the king to a mating square. One example is:
2. …Rb8
3.Qe7+ Kg8
4.Qg7#
Black could try a desperation tactic by moving the rook to e6 hopefully to induce the queen to take the rook and then move the bishop to c5 to restrict the queens checking opportunities; perhaps gaining time to promote the b-pawn and/or to walk the king up the f,g,& h files to safety. Of course white does not have to cooperate by capturing the rook at e6. One nice looking variation is:
1.Re8+ Rxe8
2.Qxd7 Re6
3.Qg7+ Ke8
4.f7+ Kd7(Ke7, 5.f8=Q#)
5.f8=Q+ Re7
6.Qgxe7#
That was just a good looking variation.Faster and more to the point:
1.Re8+ Rxe8
2.Qxd7 Re6
3.dxe6 and mate next move at f7 or g7 if the king tries to move towards the corner.
Re8+
Re8+
Re8+