White to move. What is the best continuation for White?
Chess Daily News from Susan Polgar
Not so obvious chess tactic
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White to move. What is the best continuation for White?
1.Rd2 Qf8, 2. Qg4 f5, 3. ef5 Bc3 ( 3…gf5, 4. Qa4 + wins ), 4. fg wins
Rd2
1.Rd2!! should do it!.Qf8 forced
2.Bf6 keeps Black’s heavy pieces imprisoned. if say, Bxc3
3.Rd5!.Nxb3
4.Qh3!! and Black can escape mate only by losing heavy material!
On 3…Nc6!
4.Qh3!!.Rc7.
5.Qxc3!.wins back a piece with a sustained attack.
Continuing my solution, a better second move (after 1.Rd2!) will be 2.Qh3!! straightaway (instead of 2.Bf6)
One variation follows:-
1.Rd2.Qf8
2.Qh3.f5
3.Qd3.Kf7
4.Qd7+.Kg8
5.Qe6+.Kh7
6.Rd7+.Kh8
7.Bf6+.Qxf6
8.Qxf6+.Kg8
9.Qg7#!
In above
if 3…Qf7?.4.Qd8+.Rxd8.5.Rxd8#!
if 3…Rc7.4.Qd8+.Kf7.5.Qxc7+.Kg8
6.Rd8.Qxd8
7.Qxd8+.Kf7
8.Qf6+.Kg8
9.Bh6.Bxc3
10.Qg7#
1. Rd2! Qf8 2. Qg4! f5
(2. …Rb8?? 3. Qd7#; 2. …Rc7?? 3. Rd8#)
3. exf5 Bxc3
(3. …gxf5? 4. Qh5+! [4. Qa4+? Nc6! 5. Qxa1 +/=] 4. …Qf7 5. Qh8+ Qf8 6. Qxe5+ Kf7 7. Qf6+ Kg8 [7. …Ke8?? 8. Qe6+ +-] 8. Qg6+! Qg7 [8. …Kh8?? 9. Bf6+ +-] 9. Qe6+ Qf7 [9. …Kh8 10. Bf6 +-; 9. …Kh7 10. Rd7 +-; 9. …Kf8 10. Qxc8+ Kf7 11. Rd7+ +-] 10. Qxc8+ Kg7 [10. …Qf8 11. Rd8 +-] 11. Rd7 +-)
4. fxg6! +-
Going further
1. Rd2 Qf8 2. Qg4! f5
(2. …Rb8?? 3. Qd7#; 2. …Rc7?? 3. Rd8#)
3. exf5 Nc6
(3. Bxc3? 4. fxg6! +-; 3. …gxf5? 4. Qh5+! Qf7 5. Qh8+ Qf8 6. Qxe5+ Kf7 7. Qf6+ Kg8 [7. …Ke8?? 8. Qe6+ +-] 8. Qg6+! Qg7 [8. …Kh8?? 9. Bf6+ +-] 9. Qe6+ Qf7 [9. …Kh8 10. Bf6 +-; 9. …Kh7 10. Rd7 +-; 9. …Kf8 10. Qxc8+ Kf7 11. Rd7+ +-] 10. Qxc8+ Kg7 [10. …Qf8 11. Rd8 +-] 11. Rd7 +-)
4. fxg6 Rc7
(4. …Rd8?? 5. Bxd8 Nxd8 6. Qd7#)
5. Qe6+ Ne7
6. Bxe7 Qxe7
(6. Rxe7?? 7. Qc6+ Rd7 8. Qxd7#)
7. Qg8+ Qf8
8. Rd8+! Kxd8
9. Qxf8+ Kd7
10. g7 +-
Is it tactic or normal positional play?
1.Rd2 Qf8 the only move.
2.Qg4 Rc7!?
(3.Qxc8 and 3.Qd7# were threatened.)
3.Rd8#
I have avoided the analysis after black gives up Q at d2.
Any way it may be tactic but not combination.My query about extinction of the word “combination” has not been answered by anybody.
1. Rd2 threatens 2. Qh8#
Rd2 closing off the d file escape route for the King
if … Qf8; then Qg4 wins
Ra8 Qd7# if Rc7 Rd8#
so Black is compelled to give up the Q
Well, Rd2 is obvious to me, but it is the continuation after that that I found difficult. Black’s queen cannot give up the right to come to f8 if white’s rook controls the d-file because Qh8 then becomes a death sentence for black’s king.
1. Rd2 Qf8
All the other moves are just worse. Black can play Kd7 right now, but then white will first check from g4 then play Rxd6 with check followed by Qd1+ to win a queen and bishop for the rook. Otherwise, black can give up the queen immediately with Qxd2 or Nb7. He cannot play Qc7 because of Qh8#. Continuing:
2. Qh7
Took me a while to find this move. The threat is pretty obvious once you do find it- 3.Bh6 attacking the queen who has nowhere to go without leaving the king vulnerable once again to Qh8. Not really sure what is best for black here. Black can’t play f6 since white mates with Qd7. The rook has no moves off the 8th rank, and the moves on the 8th rank don’t help. Probably, best for black here is to just try to get some material in return and try to make life difficult for white. I would play…
2. ……Bc3
3. Rd5!
Keeping the same threats, and protecting the rook from further harassment. Continuing:
3. ……Nb7 (preparing Qd6)
4. Bh6 Qd6 (what better?)
5. Qg8! Kd7
6. Qf7 Kc6
7. Rd6 Nd6!
8. Qg6
And white has some mopping up, but the win from here isn’t terribly challenging.
Oops! I had made a mistake.I overlooked black’s defense 2… f5 after 2.Qg4. Definitely not so obvious.
After
1.Rd2 Qf8black’ Q has very few places to go.It can be restricted further by
2.Qh7 Now the threat of 3.Bh6 is real as 3… Qe7 is met by 4.Qh8+.
2… f5 does not help because of 3.Qd7#. Have I missed anything now ?
Some loose ends based on the other comments. I too, at one point like Qg4. While I think white keeps significant edge with that move, I eventually abandoned it in favor of 2. …Qh7 which looks more forced to me to a clearly won ending.
1. Rd2 Qf8
2. Qg4 f5
Every other move for black here looks like mate to me. From here, I couldn’t really find another good continuation for white other than to exchange at f5, though many of white’s replies can lead to draws of repetition, though I was not completely certain of them. Continuing:
3. ef5 Qf5!
4. Qh4 Bc3 (any better here?)
5. Rf2
And, I can’t quite decide if black does best to give the queen up or not for the rook. He can certainly play Qe6 here, but white can answer with Rf6:
5. ……Qe6
6. Rf6 and can black avoid giving up the queen now? I don’t think so. So, maybe Qg4 and Qh7 are basically equivalent.
I have been thinking of this problem and noted that I made in a mistake in second continuing post assuming no h3 pawn!
I realize now that the solution apart from Qh7 is
1.Rd2.Qf7.2.Qg3!!
>A-2…..Nc6.3.Qd3!!!.
>>A1-3……Rc7.4.Qd8+.Nxd8.5.Rxd8#!
>>A2-3……Nb8.4.Qd8+!.Rxd8.5.Rxd8#!
>>A3-3……Nd4.4.cxd4 and wins easily due to the Qb5+ threat!
The defense 2. …f5 after 1. Rd2 Qf8 2. Qg4 still wins for White. Game continues with 3. exf5 Qxf5 4. Qh4 Bxc3 5. Rf2 Qe6 6. Rf6 +-. It is just a matter of taste compared to 2. Qh7 Bxc3 3. Rd5 Nb7 4. Bh6 Qd6 +-, also winning for White but also requires some work to win the endgame.
Pretty complicated even with all the effort by other readers! First, I guess we all agree on 1. Rd2 after which it might be Black’s best move is to immediately give up the Queen with …Qxd2. But assuming (repeat, assuming) that’s a clear win for White, then the question is what follows after 1…Bf8.
I like the seemingly slow 2.Bf6 as Harry H initially suggested and I don’t think anyone’s found a flaw with that. However 2.Qh7 seems convincing, too.
I’m less convinced by 2.Qg4 f5, 3.exf5 although it may work out in the end. It just seems a lot more messy. I don’t even know if Black needs to immediately recapture on f5. For the moment, White’s own pawn is in his other pieces way so perhaps use the tempo to do something else. For example 3… Bxc3, 4. Rd5 Nc6 (bringing another piece to the defense of d8)
Now, after 5. f6 Rc7 covers the d7 square, removes the Rook from attack, while the Knight still prevents 6.Rd8
And 5.fxg6 allows …Qf2+ which seems very inconvenient for White.
But I haven’t looked closely and I could be missing things.
Still, assuming the “not so obvious” tactic isn’t something other than 1. Rd2, I’d vote for 2.Bf6 (avoiding all these complications after 2. Qg4 f5) or 2. Qh7 which Yancey and others discovered.
– Craigaroo
Sidenote – I think Harry H got it best with his first suggestion of 2.Bf6. Much better than an illegal move (2.Qh3!!??). Also, after a later suggestion of 2. Qg3, what if simply …f6?
– Craigaroo