White to move. How should white proceed?
Daily Chess Improvement: Attacking Chess Tactic!
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White to move. How should white proceed?
1. Rxh6+ Qxh6
2. f6+ Bxe4
3. Qg7#
1. Rxh6+ Qxh6
2. f5-f6+ Bxe4
3. Qg7 mate
Hello! Rxh6! Qxh6, Pf6 dc BxB, Qg7 Mate! Sleeping rooks!
Puzzle for Alena:
8/6RK/P6p/8/7p/8/2k5/7r w white to move and win.
1. Rg2+ Kb3
2. Ra2 Rc1
3. a7 Kxa2
4. a8=Q+ Kb2
It’s a difficult position and I will solve it later. It requires a solid endgame technique.
5. Qb7+ Ka3
6. Qe7+ Kb3
7. Qxh4 Rc4
8. Qxh6 Rc7+
9. Kg8
I have reached the winning ending but frankly speaking I don’t know how to win the ending. I know I must reach the Philidor position but I don’t understand how to do it. Can you explain it, please?
This is nothing more than a standard Q vs R ending. From move 9, black can, of course continue to harass with a check from c8 and c7 forcing white to walk the king over to d7 to stop it:
9. ………….Rc8
10.Kf7 Rc7
11.Ke8 Rc8
12.Kd7 Rc3
Most any other move than Rc3 or Rc4 is likely to loser quicker for black. Now, white wants to keep the black king from escaping back into the middle of the board. With the rook on c3, I would just bring the king down the d-file…..
13.Kd6 Kc4 (or, Rd3+ 14.Kc5)
14.Qh4
Taking immediate advantage of the white king’s position to push the black king to closer to the edge, or to allow the white king to come to d5
14. …………Kd3
15.Kd5 Ke2 (black has to give ground regardless here because he has no attacks)
16.Qe4 Kd2 (nothing better)
17.Kd4
A theme you should remember from the last time we discussed this ending- white has double control of the d3 square, so a check from the rook isn’t possible. Also, the rook is under attack, so the black king cannot move here. If the rook moves anywhere other than a3 or b3, on the third rank, it will be lost to a double attack. If black plays Rc2, he just hinders his defense by conceding the third rank immediately. So let’s look at Rb3
17. ………….Rb3 (Ra3 no better or worse)
18.Qg2 Ke1
If black plays Kc1, he is just getting closer to the corner quicker, which he doesn’t want. If Kd1, however, white wins quicker too by playing 19.Qf2- rest left as an exercise. Continuing:
19.Qc2
Keeping the black king on the 2nd rank for the moment, while forcing black to move the rook. The check from b4 loses really quickly as does Ra3 (left as an exercise). I am also going to leave as exercises all the moves on the b-file- they are a bit longer than Rb4, but much shorter than what follows. The stingiest defenses are keeping control of the 3rd rank as long as possible for black…
19. …………..Rf3
20.Ke4
This prevents the check from f4 and keeps narrowing black’s control of the 3rd rank…
20. ………….Rg3
21.Qc5
If I remember correctly, we did cover this sort of maneuver the last time. This move keeps control of f2 directly, and controls d2 indirectly by threatening Qf2+. I will cover the other aspects in just a moment, however, I want to show why white shouldn’t continue to harass the rook with the king: [21.Kf4?! Rh3 22.Kg4 Re3 and the white king has wandered away too far and must simply reverse course to make progress]. Continuing from 21.Qc5 above:
21. …………..Ke2
There is nothing better here for black- the check from g4 loses much more quickly to 22.Kf3, if black plays 21. ….Kf1, then white can play 22.Kf4 effectively (left as an important exercise). Continuing from 21. …..Ke2 above:
22.Qh5 Kf2
Of course, Kd2 loses to Qh2+ and Ke1 loses to Qh4 pinning and winning the rook after Kf4, while Kf1 just returns the king the first rank from which he will never leave again. Continuing:
23.Qh2 Rg2 (forced)
24.Qf4 Kg1 (Ke2 25.Qf3; or Ke1 25.Kd3!)
25.Ke3
White has finally taken the third rank from black. The best black can do is to relocate the rook to the queenside to threaten harassing checks…..
25. ………….Rb2 (Rc2 and Ra2 are a bit shorter for white, but I leave as exercises for you)
26. Qg3 Kf1
27.Qf3 Kg1
28.Qd1 Kg2
29.Qd5 Kg1 (Kg3 and Kh3 are left as exercises)
30.Kf3
And I hope the point of 29.Qd5 is apparent here- it both threatened various double attacks and mate threats on the black king whether he was on the first rank or the h-file in the various lines after 29.Qd5, while also preventing that check from b3 after white has played his 30th move. And finally, it prevents 30. ….Rf2 because after 31.Kg3, white double controls g2. Black must now reconnect the rook and the king…..
30. ………….Rg2
31.Qd1 Kh2
32.Qe1
Again, double controlling the rook’s only checking square between the kings. Now the rook must leave the king or lose even quicker…
32. ………….Ra2
33.Qg3 Kh1 (cornered now)
34.Qg8
Forcing black to move the rook and taking control of a2. If black checks from a3, white puts the king on f2 and black has no further check, but the rook can’t leave the 2nd rank either, so best is
34. …………Rh2 (or Rd2)
35.Qe6
Controlling the h3 square and theatening Qe1#. This forces the rook away again…
35. …………Rc2
36.Qh6 Kg1
37.Qg6 and it is over.
Like I wrote to you before. The best way to master this ending to play it over and over against a good chess engine. When I first decided to master this ending, I must have played it against my Chessmaster 5000 program a hundred times or more until I could win it in less than about 2-3 minutes tops. Most online opponents will make your work easier anyway, so if you can beat the machine in 2 minutes, you could probably wins this against a human in less than 1. You just have to remember the various themes about control of the checking squares for the rook and how to drive the king to the edge then the corner. The hardest part for a lot of players are the 21st and 29th moves for white where the queen takes some distance from her king, but I hope the point of those moves is at least understandable.
Thank you very much for your explanation. As you wrote we discussed the ending but I couldn’t find it in my records. Can you give me the link to this discussion, please?
I’m looking forward to your next puzzles.
Link
Second puzzle for Alena:
5r2/8/R3n1PP/5k2/4p3/6K1/5P2/8 w white to move and win.
Both of these puzzles have important endgame themes in them.
1. g7 Nxg7
2. hxg7 Rc8
3. Kh4 Rg8
4. Ra7 Kg6
5. Kg4 Kh7
6. Rf7 Kg6
7. Rf5 e3
8. fxe3 Rb8
9. g8=Q+ Rxg8
10. Rg5+ Kf7
11. Rxg8 Kxg8
12. Kf5 Kf7
13. e4 Ke8
14. Kf6 Kd8
15. e5 Ke8
16. Ke6
It’s a winning position for white
Nicely done. Most people, when this was first posted here 6 years ago got lost in the lines where white sacrifices the rook for the knight at the first move, but the black king is too close to the connected passed pawns for it to win for white. Recognizing that the resulting K+P ending is won if white can win the knight for a pawn and exchange the rooks for the other one advanced white pawn is some advanced endgame thinking. You should also convince yourself that the 1.h7 doesn’t win for white.