Daily Chess Improvement: New Year’s Eve Tactic!
White to move. How should White proceed?
2q3k1/5p2/4PQpp/p2p4/3P4/P2b2PB/5K1P/1r6 w – – 0 43
Furman, Semen Abramovich – Keres, Paul (Moscow, 1948)
Daily Chess Improvement: New Year’s Eve Chess Tactic
1. exf7+ Kh7
2. f8=N+ Kg8
3. Be6+ Qe6
4. Qxe6+ Kxf8
5. Qxd5 white should win
Yes, the underpromotion is key since white can’t play 2.f8(Q) because black is dying to play 2. ….Qc2 which starts a mate in 3, and white can’t play 2.Bxc8 since black wins with 2. ….Rf1+ skewering the king and queen.
Here is a puzzle for you:
1k6/1p1q4/1Pp5/p1Pp4/P2Pp1p1/2R1PpPp/2K2P1P/8 w – – 0 1
White to play and draw.
Yancey Ward, I have thought over your puzzle. As far as I can see the idea of this problem is to put the king onto g1 and get stalemated. But I can’t figure out how to do it.
I gave to it a last thought and I think I found the solution! The rook must be placed on h1 and the king moves between e1 and g1 depending on the queen position.
Well done!
Here is a puzzle for you:
2K5/8/R7/P5rk/8/8/8/8 w – –
White to play and win. I wasn’t able to solve it. Maybe you can.
A very good puzzle, but I am already familiar with this rook ending- my only real talent as a chess player are endings, and I have spent two decades studying them in detail. Alena, I would suggest that you e-mail Susan and have her post it as a puzzle on her blog for one of the next few days, and I will answer it in detail after some of the readers have had time chewed over it. If that hasn’t been done by tomorrow, I will answer here on this comment section below.
I just e-mailed Ms. Polgar your puzzle, so maybe she will post it tonight or later this week.
Though, as a clue, ask yourself how white wants/has to get the rook out from in front of the pawn, when does white want to do this, and what black wants to do to hinder white.
If you liked that rook ending, Alena, you might like this one too:
8/k7/8/8/8/7P/2r5/1R5K w – – 0 1
It was posted on this blog almost 6 years ago and is probably the toughest R+P vs R ending I have ever seen.
I have tried to solve it but I’m not a master of chess endgames.
There are varitions of course but my solution is
1. Kg1 Rc3
2. Kg2 Rc2+
3. Kf3 Rc3+
4. Kg4 Rc4+
5. Kf5 Rc2
6. h4 Rc5+
7. Ke6 Rh5
8. Rh1 Kb6
9. Kf6 Kb5
10. Kg6 Rc5
11. h5 Rc6+
12. Kf5 Rc5+
13. Ke4 Rc4+
14. Kd3 Rc7
15. h6 Rh7
16. Ke4 Kc4
17. Kf5 Kb4
18. Kg6 Rc7
19. h7 Rc6+
20. Kg5 Rc5+
21. Kg4 Rc4+
22. Kf5 Rc2
23. h8=Q Rc5+
24. Ke6 it’s a winning position for white
Here is link to the old posting. In the comments, you will find a detailed analysis by myself and other commenters:
https://chessdailynews.com/r-and-p-endgame-a-very-important-endgame-pattern/