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Bc6 for me gets atleast draw for white.
Black king hardly has a place to move. Both the rooks can be employed to give perpetual. Even win may be possible.
Susan,
it will be a very good idea to give solutions to all your puzzles may be after a day.
But they may remain puzzles for people like me forever.
Rb7 Kf7 (or mate follows from the second rook)
Rf8 check Ke7
rinse and repeat
sigh it took me too long for this one!
Anon_1:45 said…
“Rb8 Kf7 (or mate follows from the second rook)
Rf8 check Ke7
rinse and repeat
sigh it took me too long for this one!”
The mate threat from the two rooks forces black’s move and forces a draw, yes. There has to be a rook move that mates — it’s so close. 1 Bc6? looks like a good move, pinning in the king, but 1…Qf4+ is nasty, as after Qxe5, the attack is gone and white is in big trouble.
1 Rf6 is the only try for the win, as the rook is protected by the e-pawn and white’s threat is Rg7+ with the skewer of black’s king and rook. The only question is, can black escape the skewer, or can black give up the rook but take the bishop and then do something nasty?
Suppose black doesn’t take the bish:
1 Rf6 Rd7 seems like the best defense, bringing the rook close where the king protects it, so after Rg7 Kd8, the rook is protected and the king escapes. However, there’s an awfully powerful reply here:
2 Rgf8!! and there is no way to stop Rf6-f7++ next move, as black’s rook trapped the king’s only escape square. So …Rc7 saves the rook, allowing the king to protect it from Rg7+ with Kd8, while escaping to d7 if Rgf8. But that doesn’t work either, because white’s bish covers c6! So 1 Rf6 Rc7? 2 Rgf8 and once again it’s mate in one. Ouch!
So either black can try a queen move or simply take the bish. First the queen move:
1 Rf6 Qd4 (looks like the best try)
2 Rg7+ Ke8 (Kd8?? Rf8++)
Now not RxR but throw in the bish check zwischenzug (I love that term):
3 Bc6+ and ouch! if …Kd8 Rf8++, so black has to interpose rook or queen.
3 … Rd7
4 BxR+ is winning, as if Kd8, white is up a rook, and then wins the queen with
4 … Kd8
5 Rf8+ Kc7
6 Bxb5+ Kb6 (or Qd7 losing the queen immediately to RxQ)
7 Rb8 Ka5 (or Kc5 — doesn’t matter)
8 Nb3+ with a crushing royal fork, winning the queen.
Other queen moves aren’t any better:
1 Rf6 Qb4 (covering the f8 square and attacking the knight)
2 Rg7+ Ke8
3 Bc6+ Kd8
4 RxR and black is toast, as white will play Rxh3 and Rh1++, and after …Qf4+ Kh1, white’s knight blocks the queen from the c1 square so there are no perpetual checks.
Hence, black simply must take the bish and give up the rook to the skewer:
1 Rf6 PxB
2 Rg7+ Ke8 (again Kd8?? Rf8++)
3 RxR Qd4
4 Rxe6+ Kf8 (Kd8? Rd6+ winning the queen)
5 Ree7 (doubled rooks on the 7th rank are always monsters)
5 …QxN (what else is there to do?)
And now if white plays the obvious Reb7, with the back rank mate threat that should win the queen, black weasels out with …Qf4+ with perpetual checks. Grrrrr. That had me stumped for a bit. But a slightly different finesse with this plan destroys all chance for perpetuals:
6 Red7!! with the triple usefulness of threats of RxQ and Rd8++ (or Ra8++) mate if the queen moves away, as well as the defensive protection of d2, so that after …Qf4+, g3, the queen can’t check again on d2 and is stuck. Whew who!
White can’t both avoid mate and save the queen, and must trade the queen off for a rook, leaving white a rook up with a winning game.
TvTom tx .