A very, very good one! I think I finally found the right first move after looking at about every other possible idea first, but need to look at some of the variations.
The weak point in black’s fortress around his king is f7, and the surprising Qf5 attacks this directly:
1. Qf5 Qd7
Nothing really holds. Taking the queen is a quick mate: [1. …gf5 2.Bf3! Kh8/h6 3.Nf7#]. Also, protecting f7 with the rook won’t hold either, though this might be the best practical defense for black as it is the most complicated, and I will cover it below. Continuing:
At move 1 above, black can defend f7 with the rook immediately, but I now think this is a force mate in all lines, though it is easy to overlook something here:
The key move is 1Qf5. Q offer is not acceptable. 1… gxf5 2Bxf5+ Kh6 3Nxf7+ Kh5 4Nf6+ Kh4 5Rg4+ Kh3 6Rg5+ Kh4 7Rh5# If the offer is not accepted white has a better game. If 1… Qd8 2Qxf7+ Kh8 3Bf5 leads to devastating attack.
I initially tried 1. f5 and the computer seems to consider this move very strong. I did not see 1. Qf5 which is even stronger! The computer have taken over and humans are no match for Houdini anymore! The analysis below is done in less than 55 s with a quad-core processor that run at 1.6 GHz.
Just to help you out, I give what my computer found. After only 55 s, Deep Fritz 12 with Houdini 2.0b gives:New game r7/2qN1pkp/b1p3p1/3pN3/1b1P1PB1/1p2P3/rP3P1P/1Q4RK w – – 0 1
A very, very good one! I think I finally found the right first move after looking at about every other possible idea first, but need to look at some of the variations.
1. Qf5!! looks absolutely crushing.
The weak point in black’s fortress around his king is f7, and the surprising Qf5 attacks this directly:
1. Qf5 Qd7
Nothing really holds. Taking the queen is a quick mate: [1. …gf5 2.Bf3! Kh8/h6 3.Nf7#]. Also, protecting f7 with the rook won’t hold either, though this might be the best practical defense for black as it is the most complicated, and I will cover it below. Continuing:
2. Qd7 Rf8
3. Qc6 Bc4
4. Nc4 dc4
5. Qc4 wins with ease.
At move 1 above, black can defend f7 with the rook immediately, but I now think this is a force mate in all lines, though it is easy to overlook something here:
1. Qf5 Rf8
2. Qf6! Kg8 (Kh6 below)
3. Ng6! hg6
This or mates in 1 or 2 more moves. Continuing:
4. Be6! Bd3 (Kh7 5.Bf7)
5. Rg6! Bg6
6. Qg6 Kh8
7. Qh6 Kg8
8. Nf6#
And, finally, at move 2 in the line above, the king cannot escape to h6:
2. …..Kh6
3. Bf5 Qe5 (else 4.Nf7 comes)
4. Ne5 Be7 (all else, 5.Nf7 too)
5. Nf7 Rf7 (Kh5 6.Bg4#)
6. Rg6 with mate on the next move.
I have already seen this game sometime back.
Really nice move.
I think I’ve already seen it in a tactics book by Frank-Lohéac Ammoun. The key move is fantastic.
1.Qf5 Qxd7 (1.-gxf5? 2.Bxf5+ Kh6 (2.-Kh8 Nxf7++) 3.Nxf7+ Kh5 4.Nf6+ Kh4 5.Rg4+ Kh3 6.Ng5++) 2.Qxd7 Rf8 3.Qxc6 and White wins
The key move is 1Qf5.
Q offer is not acceptable.
1… gxf5
2Bxf5+ Kh6
3Nxf7+ Kh5
4Nf6+ Kh4
5Rg4+ Kh3
6Rg5+ Kh4
7Rh5#
If the offer is not accepted white has a better game.
If 1… Qd8 2Qxf7+ Kh8 3Bf5 leads to devastating attack.
1. Be6
if 1… fxe6
2. Nxg6 hxg6
3. Qxg6+ Kh8
4. Qh6#
otherwise 2. Bxf7 and 3. Bxg6 is threatened.
I initially tried 1. f5 and the computer seems to consider this move very strong.
I did not see 1. Qf5 which is even stronger!
The computer have taken over and humans are no match for Houdini anymore! The analysis below is done in less than 55 s with a quad-core processor that run at 1.6 GHz.
Just to help you out, I give what my computer found.
After only 55 s, Deep Fritz 12 with Houdini 2.0b gives:New game
r7/2qN1pkp/b1p3p1/3pN3/1b1P1PB1/1p2P3/rP3P1P/1Q4RK w – – 0 1
Analysis by Houdini 2.0b x64 x64:
1. +- (9.06): 1.Qb1-f5 Qc7xd7 2.Qf5xd7 Ra8-f8 3.Qd7xc6 Ba6-c4 4.Ne5xc4 d5xc4 5.Qc6xc4 Rf8-b8 6.Qc4xb3 Ra2-a6 7.Rg1-c1 Bb4-d6 8.Qb3-c4 Ra6-a7 9.Qc4-d5 Rb8-d8 10.Bg4-e2 Bd6-e7 11.Qd5-e5+ Be7-f6 12.Qe5-b5 Bf6-e7 13.Be2-f3 Be7-h4
2. +- (3.66): 1.f4-f5 Ra2xb2 2.Qb1xb2 Bb4-d6 3.f5xg6 f7xg6 4.Qb2xb3 Ba6-c8 5.h2-h3 Bc8xd7 6.Ne5xd7 Kg7-h8 7.Qb3-c2 Ra8-d8 8.Nd7-c5 Bd6xc5 9.Qc2xc5 Qc7-f7 10.Rg1-f1 h7-h5 11.Bg4-d1 Qf7-d7
3. +- (2.99): 1.Bg4-e6 Ba6-d3 2.Qb1xd3 Ra2-a1 3.Be6xf7 Bb4-d6 4.Nd7-c5 Ra1xg1+ 5.Kh1xg1 Bd6xc5 6.d4xc5 Qc7-b7 7.Kg1-g2 Kg7-f8 8.Bf7-e6 Ra8-a1 9.Qd3-d4 Kf8-e7 10.Be6-d7 Ra1-a6 11.Qd4-d1
4. +- (1.41): 1.Bg4-h5 Ba6-e2 2.Bh5xe2 Bb4-d6 3.Be2-d1 Ra2-a1 4.Qb1-d3 Ra8-d8 5.Nd7-c5 Bd6xc5 6.d4xc5 Rd8-b8 7.Bd1xb3 Ra1xg1+ 8.Kh1xg1 f7-f6 9.Ne5-f3 Qc7-d7 10.Nf3-d4 Rb8-a8 11.Qd3-d1 Ra8-a5 12.Qd1-c1
(, 12.11.2011)
Qf5
I missed out 6Ng5#