White to move. How should white proceed?
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White to move. How should white proceed?
1 BxN QxB
2 RxB
Should pick up at least a piece due to the risk of Qc8+ of black takes the rook.
It is more complicated than that, I think. I don’t think 3.Qc8 is the threat you think it is. I would be worried about 4. ….f3 in that line. It is late, and I don’t want to spend any time on this, but I think you are on the right track at the beginning:
1. Be4 Qe4
Not sure this is best for black without doing a bit more thinking. Maybe Bd4 or even Be3 is as good or better, but Qe4 seems reasonable to me, so I will go with it since all I want to do here is show that 2.Rxb7 is not good:
2. Rb7??
If white tries the other bishop capture, it seems even worse to me since black plays the simple 2. …Bc8!
2. …………Rb7!
3. Qc8?! Kg7
4. Qb7? f3!
And how does white not lose massive material here? I don’t see any perpetual checks against the black king- white must play g3 or g4 here just to prevent a quick mate:
5. g3 Qe2 and black will follow with Bd4 and f2. White is totally lost, in my opinion.
If I had to pick move at move 2 for white, I would look at 2.Qf3- if black exchanges queens, white can double the rooks on the b-file to win the pinned bishop on b7- or black can keep the queens on the board and give up the bishop at f2, but probably at the cost of the pawns on c4 and d5. By a pure material count, white would be ahead, though I could not say whether or not is should be decisive.
1. Be4 Qe4
2. Rb7 Rb7
3. Qc8! Kg7
4. Qb7 f3? because
5. Qb2+ Bd4
6 gxf3 … White is better
hmm sorry
4. … f3 !
I forgot c2 pawn, so 5. Qb2+ doesn’t save…
1.Be4 Qe4 2.Qf3 is neat.
if 2.Rb7??- Rb7 3.Qc8+ Kg7 4.Qb7 f3 black should win.
if 2.Rf2 Bc8.
1. Bxe4. Qxe4. 2. Rxb7. Rxb7. 3. Qc8+. Kg7. 4. Qxb7. f3 looks dangerous for W. The material seems equal except for W being a pawn up.
Better appears to be 1. Qf3!. f5. 2. Rxf2! Nxf2+. 3.. Qxf2. Again pieces are equal but B has no f3 attack. Discovered attack by BR on BB moving yields nothing. Eg., 3. ..Bxd5. 4. Rxc8! Qxc8. 5. cxd5. And W is a piece up for a win.
Black can try…1. Qf3. Nd2. 2. Qxf2!. Nxb1. 3. Rxb1. And B has no attack. If 2….Nxf1. 3. Qxf1! And W is better as B has no attack on f3/g2 and on b file. And another f pawn will soon fall. W has a protected passed d pawn which will clinch the issue.
K.V.
Actually, 1.Qf3 was my first idea last night when I looked at the problem, but it was late and I looked at the comments and saw Brian’s suggestion of 1.Be4, which immediately seemed better to me, so I abandoned 1.Qf3. I also had in mind 1. …Nd2 as the reply, and I think white definitely ends up better there after 2.Qf2. However, looking at it now, I see black has a better reply with 1. …..Ng3:
1. Qf3? Ng3!?
2. hg3 Bg3
And now black has a real threat on white- this might be more than enough compensation for the exchange he is down. The threats are Qe5 or Qd8 with the plan of Qh4+. I would have to look at this for a while- I might be missing something for white after 2. ….Bg3, but it isn’t obvious to me.
Yancy,
After 2……Bg3.
3. Qe4!.
A-3………Qxe4. 4. Bxe4.
A1-4……Re8. 5. Rxb7. Rxe4. 6. d6!. Rd4. (…f3. 7. gxh attacking Re4. Forcing …Rd4. 8. d7 and B has given up f pawn for nothing). 7. d7. And W should win.
A2-4…..f5. 5. Bf3. g5. 6. d6!. And B loses bishop, ?.g4. 7. Bxb7! (If 6….bxf3. 7. Rxb8+. And 8. gxf3)
B-3…..Qd8. 4. Rxf4! Giving back the exchange for a pawn and nullify attack…if Bxd5. 5. Rxb8!. Qxb8. 6. cxd5!. Bxf4. 7. g4! And white should prevail. (If 6…..Qxf4. 7. Qxf4. Bxf4. 8. Bxa6 should win easily for White.)
On 4. Rxf4. Bxf4. 5. Qxf4. And White has all play and Black is paralysed for a white win.
I don’t really have the time to look deeply at this, but I will agree that black can’t exchange the queens at e4, so Qd8 is probably better of the two options, but I do disagree about that ending on general principals- if played out to 7. g4, it looks might drawish to me simply because of the bishops of opposite color.
Otherwise, maybe 3. …..Qf8 with the idea of Qh6 is a better option even than 3. ….Qd8? It seems to me 4.Kg1 is forced, and after that the rook must move off of f1, but to where? I really need to look at this a bit more carefully.
I am not going to be able to sleep thinking about this, so……
1. Qf3 Ng3!
2. hg3 Bg3
3. Qe4
A separate question is this- is 3.Qe4 the best for white? Not sure, but I can at least sleep on that question and try to answer it tomorrow. My instincts tell me 3.Kg1 is probably right here just in preparation for the threats, but maybe it makes no difference. Continuing:
3. ………..Qf8!?
4. Kg1 Re8!
Now white has a real problem- enough of one that I completely doubt 4.Kg1 as even being good now. The queen can’t retreat due to the mate threat, so maybe white should have given the exchange back at move 4 with Rfe1? In any case, I think white must give up the queen for the rook and bishop in the line above…..
5. Rb7 Re4
6. Be4 Qh6
7. Rfb1 Qh2 (or f3 first)
8. Kf1 f3!
9. Bf3 Qh4
And black is materially worse at the moment, but has powerful initiative and should have ample compensation for the two rooks. I know I would not want to play white’s position here- the rooks are strong, but isolated from the king- I can’t even say for sure white doesn’t lose this decisively now, but I don’t see a quick mate here.
KV,
I guess my last word on this line would be this:
1. Qf3?! Ng3!
2. hg3 Bg3
3. Qe2!?
Better than 3.Qe4 since the idea of Qe2 is to bring the queen to g4 if black play 3. ….Qd8. However, I can’t really convince myself this position is even or in white’s favor. I have to believe black has more than adequate compensation for the material. I guess if one really wants an answer, it will have to be put into a powerful chess engine. It is beyond my ability to analyze.
How about
1. Bxe4 Qxe4 2. Qf3 Qxf3 (or the f2 Bishop falls) 3. gxf3
now the b7 bishop is vulnerable, so is the rook behind it
3. … Bd4 4. Rb3 Be5 5. Rfb1
I now see Yancey has this line in the last paragraph of his analysis, which I missed. To address his point about the pawn at c4 and d5
2. … Qxc4 3. Rxf2 Qxa4 4. Qxf4 Qe8 5. Qc7
now if black moves the rook, white plays Qxb7 (not Rxb7 Qe1+!). Else, Rf1 followed by Qxb7 seems to do the trick.
*Else, R2f1 followed by Rxb7 seems to do the trick.
I hadn’t really tried to think it through that far- indeed, last night I had in my mind that the d5 pawn was actually vulnerable forgetting that the bishop was still pinned to the rook. However, I think black has a better resource in that line other than 3. ….Qa4- unpin the rook with 3. …Re8- the bishop can’t be taken on white’s fourth move because of the mate threat on the back rank:
1. Be4 Qe4
2. Qf3 Qc4
3. Rf2
Still think this is the best way to capture at f2- 3.Qf2 allows black an easier disentanglement via 3. ….Qxd5- down material, but black has some modest chances at counterplay. Continuing:
3. ………….Re8
4. Qf4
Just guessing a at a best move here. I can’t see any other move here being better:
4. ………….Qd5
Maybe 4. ….Qxf4 is better, maybe not, I have no idea:
5. Rbf1
And, will end it here. White is up the exchange with some pressure on f7 and the black king. Not an easy win, however since black has some compensation in the control of that long diagonal from a8 to h1.
1.Bxe4 Qxe4 2.Rxf2 (using the threat of Rxb7 to prevent Qxc4) Re8 3.Qc3 Bc8 4.R2f1 and Black has to abandon line control in order to avoid exchanging down into a faster losing position.
1.Bxe4 Qxe4 2.Rxf2 Bc8! 3. Rxb8 Qe1+
I’m not sure when kabali’s comment appeared but I definitely didn’t see it before.
I missed 2….Bc8.