White to move. How should White proceed?
Susan Polgar vs. Vasilios Kotronias (Corfu, 1990)
8/5r1k/1p1p3P/p1pP1p2/P1P3Np/KP5P/1B3pq1/1B2R3 w – – 0 1
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1. Bxf5+ Rxf5
2. Re7+ Rf7
3. Rxf7+ Kg6
4. Rg7+ Kf5
5. Ne3+ Ke4
6. Nxg2 f1=Q
7. h7 Qf8
8. h8=Q Qxh8
9. Re7+ Kf3
10. Bxh8 Kxg2
11. Re3 white wins
1.Bxf5+ Rxf5 (1… Kg8 2.Re8+ Rf8 3.h7+ Kf7 4.Rxf8+ Kxf8 5.h8=Q+ Qg8 6.Bg7+ Kf7 7.Bg6+ Kxg6 8.Qxg8 f1=Q 9.Bf8+ Kf6 (9… Kh5 10.Qg4#; 9… Kf5 10.Qf7+ and 11.Qxf1) 10.Qg7+ Kf5 11.Qf7+ and 12.Qxf1)
2.Re7+ Kg8 (2… Kg6 3.Rg7+ Kh5 4.h7 Rf8 5.Nf6+ Kh6 6.Ng8+ Rxg8 7.hxg8=Q Qxg7 8.Qxg7+ Kh5 9.Bf6 f1=Q 10.Qg5#)
3.h7+ Kf8
4.Rg7 Rh6 (4… Ke8 5.h8=Q+ Rf8 6.Qh5+ Kd8 7.Qxh4+ Kc8 8.Qe7 and will mate)
5.Rg8+ Ke7
6.Nxh6 f1=Q
7.Rxg2 Qxg2
8.h8=Q Qxh3
9.Qf6+ Kd7
10.Nf5 going for Black’s h pawn but accidentally threatening Qe7+ Kc8 Nxd6+ Kb8 Qb7#
I still had the knight on g4 in the first bracketed comment so Qg8 wasn’t possible, I made a couple of other illegal moves for Black in the main line, one lead to interesting complications which took ages to work out and I couldn’t find anything better than a draw with the other.
I meant other illegal moves which I corrected before posting.
Okay 4.Rh6 was also illegal and I’m giving up.
I wasn’t feeling very well and my imagination wasn’t working very enthusiastically so I tried to fix that by forcing it to work using a lot of willpower and there’s a certain amount of overlap between willpower and wishful thinking so to start with I was making modifications that made things more challenging and then when I was struggling to find the right move I made a mistake which made things easier. I should have asked why my imagination wasn’t working and I think it was mainly because I wasn’t being playful enough.
This fascinating game by the young Ms. Polgar can be found here: http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1084714
As you will note in the given position above, Ms. Polgar had sacrificed the queen for three minor pieces (a balanced trade, by the way) very early on, and later on sacrificed a rook for some strong initiative that regained the rook several moves later. I can’t vouch for the play on either side- most of it well beyond my ability, especially the midgame maneuvering Ms. Polgar engaged in walking the king to the queenside. However, I am pretty sure Kotronias erred badly on move 56 from the following position: 5r2/5r1k/1p1pP2P/p1pP1p2/P1P3Np/KP3p1P/1B1q4/1B4R1 b.
In any case, fortune often favors the bold, and Ms. Polgar was deadly bold in this game.
1.Bxf5+ Rxf5 2.Re7+ Kg6 3.Rg7 Kh5 4.h7 Rf8 5.Nf6 Kh6 6.Ng8+ and 7 h8Q
2 .. Kg8 3.h7+ Kf8 4.Ra7 Rh5 5.Bg7 Ke8 6.Bh6 and h8Q can not be prevented
This is a truly great one from Grandmaster Susan Polgar..I learned a lot and add a few things missed by the wild eyed eager beaver Polgar chess truth seekers…To James Attewell I hope you will never give up as this is how we learn through hide and seek, perseverance and falling flat on our face. Keep a – plugging away. We begin by realizing that we are NEVER ever going to get a rook presented from the heavens by the legendary Greek theory grandmaster Kotronius with 1.Bf5!! Rf5 2.Re7 Rf7* (Alena) .. Grandmaster Kotroniusj indeed actually played 2…Kg8* and incredibly resigned. This leaves the entire truth seeker crew really on the hook to find the win right now.. ‘ We want the simple move..the one that will give us the opponent’s resignation right now”- Capablanca And 2…Kg6* is also wild west as readers are about to find out. OK..here we go. The petite moves to gain time ALL WITH CHECKS are an absolute must after 2…Kg8*. Attewell correctly found that 3. Rg7?? blocks whites pieces horribly. Along comes the quite nifty TARAS2K who is having none of this and promptly plays the gung ho 3.h7!(tempo) Kf8 3.Ra7 and suddenly Bb2 -g7(TEMPO) will be coming with check and a total blockade on h6 -sealing the tomb and the pawn promotes. Just like that. Neat too is the Taras2k most unkind pursuit in (1BF5 RF5 2RE7) 2..Kg6* 3.Rg7 Kh5 4.h7! Rf8 5.Nf6*** Kh6 6.Ng8 wins. Take a close look at 5.Nf6*** Here I found for grandmaster Susan Polgar instead 5.Bc1!! with a shocking four absolutely forced checkmates in one, two or three moves in my written notes. If it were not for Attewell and Taras2k I would never even have looked at this much less learned anything. Get the picture? Believe me, this goes on all over the world. Jude Acers /New Orleans
I’m very pleased to get a mention from a chess legend 🙂
Okay Bishop hits chek, but waht about Knight hits check?