White to move. Find the best continuation.
Daily Chess Improvement: Find the best continuation!
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White to move. Find the best continuation.
AN OVERWHELMING DISCOVERY FOR A WEAK PLAYER LIKE ME.
Come on, Chakravarty ,
It is a simple problem.Go at it.
Mate in 2
1 Nc6+ bxc6
2 Bc5++
White to move and win…
8/k7/P2b2P1/KP1Pn2P/4R3/8/6np/8 w – – 0 1
Being intimately familiar with this very famous puzzle, I will wait to see what other have to say before commenting.
Yes, this one of my favorites. White has to make some bold moves or else lose it all completely.
Very interesting position. Win seems to be there but there are some loose ends. They have to be tightened.
Think about deflection via sacrifice…
1.b6+ Ka8
2.Re1 (very hard to find.This forestalls post dated checks from a1 by future black Q to be born at h1)
2….. Nxe1
3.g7 h1=Q
4.g8=Q+ Bb8
5.a7 Nc6+ tries to trouble K encouraging clearing 5th rank for black Q to operate.
6.dxc6 Qxh5+
7.Qg5 Bolt out of blue.deflects Q accessing e1 when white K goes to a6.
7….. Qxg5+
8.Ka6 Bxa7 This clears b8 for flight which will be blocked by white’s next move. Unfotunately for black his Q can not pin b6 P because of white P at c6 creation of black’s own folly.
9.c7 Qa5+ what else ?
10.Kxa5 Bxb6+
11.Kxb6 Thank you good knight! You have saved me from stalemate.
11….. Nd3
12.c8=Q# Good night,black!
This may not be the best but just eye popping.
You may have looked at it, but you might take a look at the line 3. …..Nc4+. You mention this move as a variation at move 5 in the main line.
I will only say the ending is more, shall we say, prosaic than the main line you gave above with the stunning combo of 7.Qg5 and 8.Ka6. However, it is a hole in the main line that has to be addressed.
And also, looking back through my notes on this puzzle, the line where black plays Nc4 at move 2, though those lines branch off in many ways subsequent to it, white appears to win many of those prosaically, too.
2…. Nc4+ 3.Kb5 White K has no access to a6 unlike in the case of 5….. Nc4+ . Now 3…. Nxe1 is similar to the main line before. 3…. Be5 Black tries to fish in troubled waters.Now 4.Kxc4 is totally lost to white and is a trap.The B guards g7 square and blocks R’s access to 8th rank and also tries to deflect white R as shown in next move.4.Rxe5 Nd6+ 4….. Nxe5 loses speedily after 5.g7.5.Kc6 h1=Q 6.Kxd6 Qh2 7.g7 Qg3 8.Kc6 Qc3+ 9.Kd7 Qh3+ 10.Re6 Qg4 11.g8=Q+ Qxg8 12.Re8+ Qxe8+ 13.Kxe8 and wins easily.
Yancey,
After learning author’s name I searched in wikipedia and found the following link
Leopold Mitrofanov
After studying the link (Not my own variation)
1.b6+ Ka8 2.Re1 Nc4+ 3.Kb5 Nxb6 4.g7 Ka7 5.Kc6 Be7
This line is given only for academic interest for those who have not clicked the link,as it refuted the original problem where black N was at f3 instead of g2. 6.Rxe7+ Ka6 7.g8=Q is replied by 7…. Nd4+ resulting in draw.I have not studied that properly
(5…Nxe1 6.g8=Q Kxa6 7.Qg7 Ka5 8.Qa1+ Na4 9.Qxe1+ Bb4 10.Qe2 Nc3 11.Qxh2)
6.Rxe7+ Kxa6 7.g8=Q h1=Q 8.Ra7+ Kxa7 9.Qg7+ Ka6 10.Qb2 Qg1 11.Qa3+ Na4 12.Qxa4#
12:03 a.m. comment inadvertently shows “P says” but it is mine. i did not click the suggestion after I typed “P”.
I have checked 1…. Kb8 trying to move to c8 but trying to get out of quicksand will draw black k more into quicksand.Also 5…. Nc4+ does not bite anything.
Congratulations! I can appreciate your genius. After 9. c7 black has no alternatives to stop mate. The best continuation for black would be 9…Qa5 10.Kxa5 Kb7 11.bxa7 and then black can decide which pawn gets promoted for the mate. The puzzle was created by Leopold Mitrofanov back in 1967 and was awarded 1st prize. I think it’s one of the greatest puzzles of all time, in my humble opinion…
Thank you John,
However my sacrifice 2.Re1 can not be termed deflection ;It can at best be called Road block sacrifice . It was found by chance. I tried 1.Rh4 but found N guarding the square ,I turned back and put it at e1,then only it dawned that the N capturing it blocks the path of Q. Later Q sacrifice is deflection ,o.k.
5… Nd7 dos not help.5….. Nd7 6.Qe6 Nc5 7.axb8=Q+(not 7.Qc6+ Nb7+ and black will start encashing checks Kxb8 8.Qe8+ Kb7 9.Qc6+ Kb8 10.Qc7+ Ka8 11.Qa7#
A nice composition, with half a dozen spectators on the right side of the board.
White starts the proceedings by sacrificing his knight at c6+. After the b pawn captures the knight, the bishop closes the deal at c5.