Black to move. What is the most precise continuation for Black?
3r3k/7p/1P5p/B1P2B2/1P2pKP1/3q3P/1b1N1P2/N2R1R2 b – – 0 1
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1. … Rd5 2. Nc4 Qf3#
1. … Rd5 2. Nxe4 Be5#
1. … Rd5 2. Bxe4 Be5+ 3. Kf5 Bc7+ 4. Ke6 Qxe4+ 5. Kf6 Bd8+ 6. Kf7 Qe7#
1. … Rd5 2. Bxe4 Be5+ 3. Kf5 Bc7+ 4. Kf6 Qd4+ 5. Kf7 Qg7+ 6. Ke6 Qd7+ 7. Kf6 Bd8#
At first glance, I thought we had an echo of the Napolean puzzle from a few days back- draw the king out with a bishop check from e5, but this move simply gives up the bishop for nothing that I see since black can’t play Qd6- the white king can safely return to f4 and white’s edge far more than he needs to win. So, I figure the first move has to be either Rd5 or Re8 to make Be5+ a real threat. Let’s start with Rd5 since I just like the look of the rook on the fifth rank better than on the 8th:
1. ………….Rd5
Now Be5 threatens mate, and there is no way to guard the e5 square since the knight at e2 is preventing Qf3#. All white seems to be able to do is to vacate either the f5 square or the g4 square to make a hole for the king:
2. Be4 Be5 (probably forced now)
3. Kf5 Bh2 (or any bishop move along the h2/b8 diagonal should work)
4. Kf6
No better is 4.Ke6- black checks with the rook from e5 and the queen then checks from d7 or d8 depending on where the white king goes- the rest is a clean mate in 6 moves total.
4. …………..Qd4 and this is an easy mate the rest of the way for black. I can’t see any of the other bishop moves at move 2 being better, so we are left with moving the g-pawn.
1. …………..Rd5
2. g5 Be5
3. Kg4
And now what for black? The g3 square is guarded, and on Qe2+ or h5+, the white king seems perfectly safe on h4. So, I think black need to take g4 away with h5:
1. ……………Rd5
2. g5 h5!
And now white is again forced to move the bishop to free the f5 square, but we already know that ends in mate after 3. …..Be5+
So, I think black has a mate in 6 moves give or take a move or two after 1. ….Rd5. I guess the only question is, can black win quicker with 1. ….Re8. I can’t really see a difference other than white can add a move to whatever the mating line is with 2.Be6 first, but the lines should be very similar.
I spent some time trying to get 1…. Re8 to work and even if it’s possible 1…. Rd5 is a lot simpler.
The winning move is Rd1.
1.Re4 threatening Bd4#
1…. N moves 2.Qc6#
1…. Bb3 2.Bd4+ Kc4 3.Bg1+ Kd3 (3…. Kc3 4.Qe5+ Kc2 5.Qb2+ Kd3 6.Rd4#) 5.Rd4+ Kc3 (5… Kc2 6.Qe2+ Kc1 7.Qb2#) 6.Qe1+ Kc2 7.Qd2#
1…. Bxa2 2.Bd4+ Kc4 3.Bc3+
3…. Kc5 4.Bb4#
3…. Kxc3 4.Qe5+ Kc2 5.Re2+ Kd3 (5… Kb3 6.Rb2+ Kc4 7.Rc2+ Kb3 {7… Kd3 8.Rc3+ Kd2 9.Qd4+ Ke2 10.Qd3+ Kf2 11.Rc2+ Ke1 12.Qe2#} 8.Qc3+ Ka4 9.Qb4#) 6.Qe4+ Kc3 7.Rc2+ Kb3 8.Qb4#
3…. Kb3 4.Rb4+ Kxc3 (4…. Kxa3 5.Qxa6#) 5.Qe1+ Kd3 6.Qe4+ Kc3 7.Qd4+ Kc2 8.Rc2+ Kc1 9.Qd2#
1…. Bxd5 2.Bd4+ Kc4 3.Bg1+ Kd3 (3… Kc3 4.Qe5+) 4.Rd4+ Kc3 5.Qe1+ Kc2 6.Qd2#
Somebody else has probably already done the rest of the bishop moves better than me by now so I’m leaving them.
1…. b4 2.Rxc4+ Kxc4 3.Qe4+ Kb5 4.Qxb4#
My algebraic notation was the wrong way round, I failed to find the right response to 2.g5 but I enjoyed that anyway even if I annoyed everybody else.