White to move. How should white proceed?
Source: ChessToday.net
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White to move. How should white proceed?
Source: ChessToday.net
I saw the main idea almost instantly- Qh5 forcing gxh5 and the mate on g-file with the rook. The only real issue was when and how to get rid of black’s knight covering the g3 square- take with the bishop or the knight at e4. Pretty sure the capture with the knight is more forcing since it then attacks the black queen forcing black to recapture at e4 or move the queen. So I would probably play 1.Ne4 first, though I don’t think 1.Be4 is necessarily really all that worse. I could see maybe a later Rxh7 being effective in the 1.Be4 line (the g-pawn would be pinned to the black king if the black king recaptured at h7 allowing Qh5 with check to be played) if black has replied with 1. ….f6 attacking the white queen’s bishop- but that line is not nearly as clear to me without a deeper look. So
1. Ne4 de4 (what else could be better?)
2. Qh5 Qe3
I don’t see any other move here- if black doesn’t misdirect the rook or sacrifice for it, it is all but certain there is mate here in less than 6 or 7 moves. Continuing:
3. Re3 Bc5 (f6 loses more material, and gxh5 is still mate coming)
4. Qh3 and white’s edge is decisive.
Yancey, after
2. Qh5 Qe3
why can’t White play
3. Qxh7 mate?
Qe3 is with check.
Yes, I see.
You should play b4 before Qh5.
Said James trying to be clever and putting his reply to Yancey’s comment in the wrong place.
2. b4 ed3 3. cd3 Qc6 4. Ra2 (Qh5 5. Qg2#) f6 blocks the mate.
3. Qh5 works, but you might as well play 2. Qh5 anyways
Yes 2.Qh5 is better, I was too reluctant to admit that I’d missed the critical line.
The truth is it never even occurred to me last night, however, I don’t see how this is better for white- Karthik is correct, black can play 2 …..ed3 3.Qh5 Qe3 in the line, but he can also take at e5 removing the mating threat on the g-file:
1. Ne4 de4
2. b4!? Qe5
3. fe5 ed3
4. cd3
This of course still wins for white, but isn’t materially better than the 2.Qh5 line.
I never really took a good look at it last night, but could see some potential value in the alternative capture at move 1:
1. Be4 f6!
And I thought about the idea of 2.Rh7 here:
2. Rh7 Kh7??
3. Qh5!
The g-pawn is pinned by the bishop on e4 now, no matter what black does after this, it is mate coming. So, at move 2, black must try……
2. ………..de4 (maybe Rf7 is better, but I don’t see it clearly)
3. b4!
Borrowing James’ idea for the alternate line- the queen can’t retreat without giving up the bishop at e7:
3. ………..Qc8?!
4. Re7 fe5?
5. Qg4! Rf6
6. Qg5 Qf8
7. Rb7
However, even though this line is clearly decisive for white, I still favor the 1.Ne4 line simply because there are numerous sidelines in the 1.Be4 line that I haven’t looked at- it is simply more complicated than the 1.Ne4 line in almost every respect.
I think 1. Bxe4 wins at least the knight. Black can’t answer with 1….. f6 due to 2. Bd4 and then saves white square bishop. And the rest is easy. If black 1….dxe4, then 2. Qh5 and the mate is aproaching inevitably.