White to move. How should White proceed?
8/6pp/6P1/p5P1/k1p5/5p2/1PK1P3/5B1b w – – 0 1
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1. gxh7! fxe2
( 1… f2 h8=Q +- )
2. Bxe2 Be4+ 3. Kc3! Bxh7 4. Bg4! Be4 5. Bd7#
Marcelo
1. gxh7! fxe2
( 1… f2 h8=Q +- )
2. Bxe2 Be4+ 3. Kc3! Bxh7 4. Bg4! Be4 5. Bd7 Bc6 6. Bxc6#
Marcelo
After 1. gh fe 2. B:e2 Be4+ Kc3 B:h7 Black has stopped the pawn promotion threats.
But 4. Bh5! threatens Be8#
Black has two reasonable defenses:
4…g6 5. Bf3 threatens mate again, this time on c6. Now Black must play 5… Kb5, but White concludes the game with 6. Bd5 Kc5 7. B:c4 Kd6 8. Kd4 Ke7 9. Ke5 Kf8 10. Kf6 Bg8 11. B:g8 K:g8 12. K:g6 and wins.
4…Kb5 gets off the mate threat, but 5. Be8+ Kc5 6. g6 Bg8 7. Bf7 wins, as does 6…B:g6 7. B:g6.
1. gxh7! fxe2
( 1… f2 h8=Q +- )
2. Bxe2 Be4+ 3. Kc3! Bxh7 4. Bh5! g6 5. Bg4 Kb5
6. Be6 Kc5 7. Bxc4 Kd6 9. Kd4
( 10… Kc6 11. Ke5 Kc5 12. Bf7 Kc6 13 Kf6 Kd6 14. Kg7 traps the bishop +-)
( 10… Ke6 11. Kc5 Kd7 12. Kb5 Kc7 13. Kxa5 Kb7 and white can either promote pawn or trap black’s bishop +- )
Marcelo
gxh7
Obvious is gxh7 which loses after fxe in view of the threat Bxe4 forking king and pawn.
I can’t analyse it through in a noisy cafe bye e4 looks a move followed by Bxc4 and I think the e pawn will queen as White can always give the bishop for the f pawn when, (or if), necessary.
Very interesting even though non-realistic.
1.gxh7 fxe2 Black has no time to retain f pawn by f2 as white would queen.
2.Bxe2 Be4+
3.Kc3 Bxh7
4.Bh5 This is the key move in the solution.It threatens 5.Be8# and restrains black from freeing his bishop.
4….Kb5
5.Be8+ Kb6 desperately laying a trap tempting white to capture at c4 by white K.
6.g6
6.Kxc4 Bg8+ and B gets freed.
6…. Bxg6
6…. Bg8 7.Bf7 is killing
7.Bxg6 Kc5
8.Bf7 g5
9.Bxc4 g4
10.Bf1 g3
10… a4 11.Be2 g3 12.Bf1 and black is in zugzwang
11.Kb3 Kc6
12.Ka4 Kb6
13.b3! Now black has to give up RP.
Alternate move 4….. g6 I have deliberately left out as this comment would tend to drag too long.
Alternative is
1.gxh7 fxe2
2.Bxe2 Be4+
3.Kc3 Bxh7
4.Bh5 Now alternative for black is
4… g6
5.Bg4 Kb5
6.Be6 Kb6
7.Kxc4
Black can not stop white from reaching f6 and then g7..At the most he can move his K to f8 and play Bg8 and exchange bishops but will lose g pawn and white wins easily.
Definitely tricky!! Let’s discuss the obvious beginning for white-gxh7:
1. gh7 fe2 (no other move)
2. Be2
If white doesn’t take the pawn, he is going to be down a bishop. Continuing:
2. ……Be4
3. Kc3 Bh7
I think, to gain an edge, white is basically forced into this line, and all of black’s moves are the only option. So, from here, what does white do? White can take at c4 with either the king or bishop, but these are clearly going to draw:
4. Kc4 Bg8! (only move to hold)
5. Kc3
Or lose the b-pawn to black’s Kb3. Continuing:
5. ……Be6
I think any safe move along the a2/g8 diagonal is ok for black here. He shouldn’t put the pawn on g6, though I am not at all certain white wins the ending, but leads to a more difficult defense. Now, what for white here? He try exchanging bishops, but black doesn’t have to cooperate?
6. Bc4 Bf5
Any safe move along the h3/c8 diagonal looks ok to my eye. The exchange at c4 is bad here: [6. …Bc4?? 7.Kc4 g6 8.b3! Ka3 9.Kc3! Ka2 (or 9. …a4 10.ba4 Ka4 11.Kd4+-) 10.b4 a4 (or 10. …ab4 11.Kb4+-) 11.b5 a3 12.b6 is going to lead to mate]. Continuing:
7. b3 Ka3
8. Bf7 Be4
9. Kc4 Bc2
10.Kb5?? Bb3
11.Bb3
If 11.g6, then a4 wins for black. Continuing:
11. …..Kb3
12.Ka5 Kc4
And, I think this is won for black now, but it doesn’t matter for the purposes of this puzzle, which I assume is white to move and win.
After white’s 4th move, I don’t see any way for white to win, and it won’t matter if white captures with the bishop at move 4:
4. Bc4 Bf5
5. b3 Ka3 with a similar position to that seen above. White can’t really go for the a-pawn, and he can’t leave the b-pawn without losing it. And how do you make progress without pushing b3 at move 5?
So, white needs another plan at move 4, and there really is only one plausible plan here. I will cover it in my next comment.
In my previous comment, I started with the obvious- a move which basically forced if white is to have any chance of winning:
1. gh7 fe2
2. Be2 Be4
3. Kc3 Bh7
And I think I showed that white really can’t win by taking at c4 at move 4 as long at black keeps the bishops on the board. I didn’t, obviously, cover all the variations in those lines, but if anyone can offer a plausible winning strategy after 4.Bc4/4.Kc4 that I didn’t cover in the previous comment, I would be happy to address it. So, what can white try here? I see only one move that positionally alters the landscape:
4. Bh5
The threat, of course, is Be8#. Below, later, I will discuss why the other moves like Bg4, for example, threatening the same kind of mate are less effective, but it should be obvious why in what follows:
4. ……Kb5
The only other plausible defense is g6: [4. …g6 5.Bg4 Kb5 6.Be6! Kc6 7.Bc4 Kc5 8.Bb3 Kd6 9.Kd4! Ke7 10.Ke5 Kf8 11.Kf6 and white will just win the g-pawn too along with the game]. Continuing:
5. Be8! Kb6
Trying to protect the c-pawn is hopeless due to the threat on the bishop: [5. …Kc5 6.g6! Bg6 (or 6. …Bg8 Bf7+-) 7.Bg6 and the resulting ending is lost since white has time to win at c4 and either force the black king away, or force black to put the remaining pawns on white squares for them to be captured- see below the details]. Continuing:
6. g6! Bg6 (again, Bg8 7.Bf7+-)
7. Bg6 Kc5
8. Bf7 g5
9. Bc4 g4
10.Be2 g3
11.Bf3 Kb5
Or [11. …a4 12.Bg2 Kb5 13.Bh3 Kc5 14.Bf1 and black must either lose a pawn by advancement, or he must give way to the white king’s penetration to b4]. Continuing:
12.Kb3 Kc5
13.Ka4 Kc4 (what better?)
14.Bg2 Kd3
15.Ka5 and black cannot win the b-pawn since white can advance it forward to b4 to protect it.
And, the last loose thread- why Bh5 instead of Bg4 at move 4? The key is the threat of g6 followed by Bf7 if black retreats the bishop to g8 or even takes at g6. Only 4.Bh5 puts the white bishop on the proper diagonal to protect the pawn’s advance. For illustration:
4. Bg4? Kb5!
5. Bd7 Kc5 and now g6 is no longer possible as a threat.