Susan Polgar
September 5, 2008
Chess Improvement, Chess Puzzles, Daily News, Major Tournaments
8 Comments
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1. Rf6 Qf6 2.Qh7 Kf8 3.La3+ d6 4.Ke4 Qg6 5.Bd6 Se7 6.Qh8#
Üdvözlet Nemetorszagbol
Anonymous: Interesting move by white: 4. Ke4? Are you quite sure about that? Did you copy it from the game, missing something?
(cleaning up and Anglicizing the notation)
1.Rxf6 Qxf6 2.Qh7+ Kf8 3.Ba3+ d6 4.Ne4 Qg6 5.Bxd6+ Ne7 6.Qh8#
Is that really how the game went? 3.Ba3+ looks like a sloppy transposition — 3…Nb4 clears the diagonal for the bishop on b7, and now when White plays Ne4, Black can simply exchange it. Better was an immediate 3.Ne4.
After 1. Rxf6, black is losing. After 1 … Qxf6 2. Qh7+ Kf8 3 Ne4 prepares 4. Ba3.
3. … d6 is no longer a defense.
Black of course losing the queen.
Gegga
Interestingly, there’s another line that almost works:
1. f4 (hxg5 2. hxg5 Nh5 –other responses lose a pawn immediately — 3. Rxh5 g6 4. Rxg6 Qxg6+ 5. Kf8 Rh8+ 6. Ke7 Qg7+ 7. Ke6 Rh6+ 8. Kf5 Qg6++)
1…Qe7 is the only way to defend the e-pawn; 1…exf4 loses to 2. Rxf6 gxf6 3. Qh7+ Kf8 4. Qh8+ Ke7 Bxf6+ winning the queen
2. Rxc6 Bxc6 (…g6 drops knight on f6)
3. fxe4 g6 (the only way to avert a Qh7+ after the knight on f6 is gone)
Here’s the problem: the idea is after exf6 (not Qxf6;…Qxf6 exf6 hxg5 hxg5 Rxe3 and white is down a pawn for his trouble) gxf5 fxe7 prevents …hxg5 because of Rh8.
But Black would counter Qxe3+ and win the white queen. So sad.
Complete game here: http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1315455
17.Rxf6 1-0
There’s no need to try and improve on the winning line already given:
1.Rxf6 Qxf6
2.Qh7+ Kf8
3.Ba3+ d6
4.Ne4 Qg6
5.Bxd6+ Ne7
6.Qh8#
Of course black can throw in a knight like 3.. Nb4, and stall the mate, but it’s all misery for black and not worth mentioning.
Of course black can throw in a knight like 3.. Nb4, and stall the mate, but it’s all misery for black and not worth mentioning.
After 3.Ba3+(?) Nb4 4.Bxb4+ d6, Black has done quite a bit more than simply “stall the mate.” I agree that 5.Ne4 Bxe4 6.Qxe4 is much better for White, but there’s still a lot of work to be done. The immediate 3.Ne4! would have been much crisper, and immediately decisive.