White to move. How should White proceed?
Kubbel, 1944, presented by Andreas
8/6pp/6P1/p5P1/k1p5/5p2/1PK1P3/5B1b w – – 0 1
Chess Daily News from Susan Polgar
A very tricky one
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A very tricky one? I see what appears to be a fairly easy and straight-forward, brute force win, although it would take some time:
1. gxh7 fxe2
2. Bxe2 Be4+
3. Kc3 Bxh7
4. Bxc4
and the threat of 5. b3 mate seems to force
4. … Bc2
5. Kxc2
after which White is a piece up and can stroll to the king side, win the g pawn, and promote his own.
So either I’m missing something really basic, or there’s a faster and more elegant solution.
5. b3 is note mate.
gh fe Bxe2 Be4+ Kc3 Bxh7 Bh5! g6 Bf3! Kb5 Bd5 Kc5 Bxc4 white wins
To bob:
”and the threat of 5. b3 mate”
5.b3 is NOT mate and also
4….Bc2 is not forced.
Black can play 4.Be4 and position is equal.
gh fe Bxe2 Be4+ Kc3 Bxh7 Bh5! g6 Bf3! Kb5 Bd5 Kc5 Bxc4 white wins
That looks convincing, but why the “!” for Bf3? Isn’t:
1.gxh7 fxe2
2.Bxe2 Be4+
3.Kc3 Bxh7
4.Bh5 g6
5.Bg4 (instead of 5.Bf3)
… just as good?
Theres no real difference… but i annotated very quickly…sry for that.
Sorry, but maybe I a missing something. How does this win for white? For example, why does black have to play 4…g6 to avoid mate, he could also just move his king to b5.
4. Bh5 Kb5
5. Be8+ Ka6 (or b6 or c5)
6. g6 and the bishop is lost
4. Bh5 Kb5
5. Be8+ Ka6 (or b6 or c5)
6. g6 and the bishop is lost
Tagging along here — Black might continue:
1.gxh7 fxe2
2.Bxe2 Be4+
3.Kc3 Bxh7
4.Bh5 Kb5
5.Be8+ Kc5
6.g6 Bg8
7.Bf7
… and White either wins the bishop or promotes.
j’adore les echecs
Hmmm, latest puzzles are too hard for my comp…
1. Kc3!! Bg2 (or 1… fxe2 2. Bxe2 Bd5 [ 2… Be4 3. Bg4!, when black has to move his bishop to d5 anyways to avoid 4. Bd7#] 3. gxh7 when white wins easily) 2. exf3! Bxf1 3. gxh7 and again white wins easily.
Also, in the 1… Bg2 2. exf3! line, if black plays 2… Bxf3, white simply plays 3. Bh3 when Black must move his bishop to c6 (I mentioned black moving his bishop to d5 in other variations to avoid mate, but that was a mistake on my part. The correct square is c6) instead of e4, which would, of course, prevent white from getting a queen in order to avoid 4. Bd7#, putting the game to an immediate end.
1. Kc3!! Bg2 (or 1… fxe2
1.Kc3? hxg6! and that whole delicate mechanism with the g- and h-pawns and Black’s bishop falls apart. In fact Black emerges with an extra, although doubled and useless, pawn.
I let Rybka analyse this position for 80 seconds, and this is the result:
Analysis by Rybka 2.3.2a MP:
1.gxh7 fxe2 2.Bxe2 Be4+ 3.Kc3 Bxh7 4.Bh5 g6 5.Bf3 Kb5 6.Bd5 Kc5 7.Bxc4 a4
+- (1.76) Depth: 29 00:01:20 50246kN, tb=986
Someone suggested that Kc3 is the best move. It isn’t. After Kc3 Rybka says it’s a draw:
Analysis by Rybka 2.3.2a MP:
= (0.00): 1.Kc3 hxg6 2.exf3 Bxf3 3.Bxc4 Be4 4.Be2 Bb1 5.Bf1 Be4 6.Be2 Bb1 7.Bf1 Be4
“Kubbel, ** 1984 **, presented by Andreas”
Karl (Leonid) Kubbel died during Nazi blockade of Leningrad (1941-1944)
It is *Kubbel, 1944* labeled beneath the diagram.
** It is *Kubbel, 1944* labeled beneath the diagram. **
I copied and pasted (inserting **). This means that the caption has been corrected after my post. But… more precisely, Kubbel died in April 1942 the worst time in Leningrad during the war. So 1944 is also off.