White to move. How should White proceed? Can White save this game?
Chess Daily News from Susan Polgar
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White to move. How should White proceed? Can White save this game?
White can win the game! 1. Nh7+ is sufficient. If black moves the king, Bc6 is mate, so black must play 1… Rxh7. Now 2. Qd8+ Kg7 3. f7+ eventuates mate, for if the black king goes to g6 there follows Be4+, if to h6 there follows Qd2+, and if to h5 g4+, and whichever of these is last is mate.
1.Nh7 RxN (1…Ke8 2.Lc6#) 2.Qd8+ Kg7 3.f6+ Kg6 (3…Kh6 4.Qd2+ Kg6/h5 5.Qg5#) 4.Le4+ Kh5 (4…Kh6 5.Qd2+ Kh5 6.Qg5#) 5.g4+ Kh6 6.Qd2# almost every white piece participates in mating, thats teamwork
Anon said…
“1.Nh7 RxN (1…Ke8 2.Lc6#) 2.Qd8+ Kg7 3.f6+ Kg6 (3…Kh6 4.Qd2+ Kg6/h5 5.Qg5#) 4.Le4+ Kh5 (4…Kh6 5.Qd2+ Kh5 6.Qg5#) 5.g4+ Kh6 6.Qd2# almost every white piece participates in mating, thats teamwork”
Nice job. I immediately figured it had to be either Nd7+ or Nh7+, and Nd7+ looked better at first, but after finding nothing tried Nh7+ — since it’s mate with the bish if the rook doesn’t capture the knight, I looked to see if taking the h7 square away from the king was enough for mate and sure enough it was.
I got all of that except I missed the ‘backwards’ move Qd2+ (I have a blindspot with retreating moves that attack and often overlook them) but mine still works just as well:
1 Nh7+ Rxh7
2 Qd8+ Kg7
3 f6+ Kg6
4 Be4+ Kh6
5 Qf8+ Kh5
6 g4++