White to move. Can you find a way for White to hold this game?
7q/7k/7n/8/7P/3K4/8/R6B w – – 0 2
Chess Daily News from Susan Polgar
- About Us
- Chess Improvement
- Chess Puzzles
- Chess Research
- College Chess
- General News
- Home
- Major Tournaments
- News
- Polgar Events
- Privacy Policy
- Scholastic Chess
- SPICE / Webster
- Susan’s Personal Blog
- Track your order
- USA Chess
- Videos
- Women’s Chess
- Contact Us
- Daily News
- My Account
- Terms & Conditions
- Privacy Policy
1. Be4+ Kg7
2. Ra8 picks up the queen.
Only other option is 1…Nf5 for Black, but after capturing the knight and activating the rook, white should be able to hold. Black will have a hard time getting his king close enough to create mating threats.
1. Be4+ Kg7
2. Ra8 picks up the queen.
It’s true that:
2…Ng8
3.Ra7+ Kf8
… doesn’t win for Black, but is White’s path to the draw all that obvious?
Be4 Kg7, Ra8 Ng8, Ra7 Kf6, Rh7… ect
Or Kf8, Ra8 Ke7, Bh7 ect
1.Be4
1…Nf5 2.Bf5 is tablebase draw
1…Kg7 2.Ra8 Ng8 3.Ra7+ Kf8
3…Kf6 or h6 4.Rh7 wins the queen
3…Ne7 4.Re7 is tablebase draw
4.Bg6 ends all hope for a win as Rf7 will follow and the Rook will move with discovered check on the next move picking up at least the knight.
Hi,
what about
1. Be4+ Nf5
or
1. Be4+ Kg7
2. Ra8 Ng8
3. Ra7+ Ne7
I am willing to sacrifice the knight as I am not certain about the chances in Q vs R+B+P.
Please clarify,
Jakob
Jakob,
I looked it up in tablebases to make sure and that is admittedly pretty lazy. But if you have read an endgame book about Q v. R or Q v. R+P you know that these endings are very difficult to win for even the strongest players, now imagine the defending side has an extra piece.
1.Be4 Kg7
2.Ra8 Ng8
3.Ra7+ Kf8
4.Bg6
With you all the way, DK. Just to complete what some may find trivially obvious:
4…Qh6
5.Rf7+ Ke8
6.Rg7+