White to move. How should White proceed?
Chess Daily News from Susan Polgar
Do miracles exist?
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White to move. How should White proceed?
d6 Qxg7(lost in any case) d7+ Kd8 Nc6X
QxR+ and black is forced to take
…KxQ
Kd7+ and white has traded Q and N for Q and R
…Ke8
NxQ e7xNf6
d6 and black needs to dance the knight, white has the initiative, can drop Bc6+ if needed and is two moves from turning the d pawn into a queen
Also yes miracles do exist
1. d6 Qxd6
(If 1… Qxg7 then 2.d7+ Kd8 3. Nc6#)
2. Rxd6 exd6 3. Bc6+ Ke7
(If 3… Kd8 4.Nxf7+ Rxf7 5. Qxf7 Kc8 6. Qd7+ Kb8 7. Qd8+ Ka7 8. Qxc7+ Ka6 9. Qb7+ Ka5 10.Qb5#)
4. Nd7 Nd5 5. Qxf8+ Ke6 6. Qg7 f4 7. Nf8+ Ke7
(If 7… Kf5 8. g4+ Kxg4 9.
f3+ Kh5 (9… Kxh4 10. Qh6#) 10. Qxh7#)
8. Bxd5 f3+
(If 8… Kd8 9. Qxf7 Kc8 10.Qb7+ Kd8 11. Qd7#)
9. Kxf3 Kd8
(If 9… Ke8 10. Qxf7+ Kd8 11. Qd7#)
10. Qxf7 Kc8 11. Qb7+ Kd8 12. Qd7#
I love this position. Without the d pawn white is hopeless and d6 saves the day. Mate is undoubtedly coming soon one way or the other. Qxd6 is probably best followed by Rxd6, exd6, Bc6+, Ke7 and Nd7 is curtains after white checks on either f6 or f8 (taking the rook) black responds (best response is knocking over the king and shaking hands). Unbelievable chess magic (or yes, a miracle!) Thanks Susan
First I thought
1. Qxf8 Kxf8
2. Nd7+ Kg7 (forced)
3. Nxf6 Kxf6 (forced)
4. d6 exd6
5. Rxd6+ K(somewhere)
6. Pawn-grabbing and win …
if
3. … exf7 then d6 is easy win
4. d6 Ne6
5. d7 Nd8
6. And the just go pawn grabbing
*After aditionalthought I found d6! (if there was no a and b pawn then it is just QxR and win but those two pawns can cause some truble in the QxR line!)
D.K.
The problem with lines like:
1. Qxf8+ Kxf8
2. Nd7+ and
3. Nxf6.
is that black has the move b2 and there is just no good way to stop black from queening
1. d6 wins
1. … Rg8 2. dc Qe6 (2. … Rxg7 3. c8#; 2. … Be6 3. Qxg8) 3. Bc6+ [+-]
1. … Qxg7 2. d7+ Kd8 3. Nc6#
1. … Qxd6 2. Bc6+ [+-]
1. Qxf8+ suggested above is not so good: Kxf8 2. Nd7+ Kg7 3. Nxf6 Kxf6 and what? Now black can simply take d5 pawn. 4. d6 Kxd6 5. Rxd6+ Ke5 6. Rb6 a3 (6. Rd7 b2) looks like -+
I was considering
1. d6 Ne6
guarding f8 and d8, to complicate things. I think White is still OK, though.
2. d7+ Kd8
3. Nc6+
If 3. Qxf8+ Nxf8 4. Nc6+ Qxc6 muddies the waters with those dangerous advanced passed pawns.
3. … Kc7
4. Qxf8
and now I can’t find anything better for Black than
4. … Nxf8
5. d8=Q+ Kb7
6. Qb8+ Ka6
7. Rd7 Nxd7
only way to prevent 8. Ra7 mate
8. Be2+ Bc4
9. Bxc4 mate
But, since I’m analyzing without a board to actually move the pieces around, there may be something I’m missing.
After analyzing it with chessmaster I think d6 is a much better move. QxR does not follow through to mate as I thought it might.
“Do miracles exist?”
Hmmm…Offhand, I can think of three miracles: Susan, Judit, and Sofia.