White to move. How should White proceed?
Navara, D (2633) – Hernandez, G (2549) (Chess Olympiad 2008, Dresden)
8/pp4r1/1q1B2kp/1PR2p2/4n1p1/P2Q2P1/5P1P/6K1 w – – 0 46
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R:f5 and black loses his knight or gets mate
I spent such a long time on:
Rxf5 Kxf5 Qd5+ Kg6 Qxe4+ Kh5 h3 Qxb5
I thought it was a draw and that I had it wrong, so I got frustrated and looked up the game only to find this is exactly what happened.
White apparently has a winning advantage that I failed to recognize.
Black resigned after further moves: Be5 Rg5 hxg4+ Rxg4 Qf5+ Rg5 Qh3+ Kg6 Qe6+ Kh5 Qf7+ Rg6 g4+
Silicon says that black can put up huge resistance after:
Rxf5 Kxf5 Qd5+
With Kf6 as opposed to Kg6.
It is in my opinion still a win.
Rc5xf5 best move.
Rc5xe5 best move for white.
Txf5!!
how is R.f5 ?
I must be missing something better, but I think white gains an edge with Rxf5. But it took a lot of work in the most critical line to be sure of even that (why I feel I am overlooking something):
1. Rf5 Kf5 (alternatives worse)
2. Qd5 Kf6 (alternatives worse)
3. Be5 Ke7
Or [3. …Kg6 4.Qe4 Kf7 5.Qc4 and a check from either g4 or the seventh rank is unavoidable losing the rook]. Continuing:
4. Bd4
White still needs to do something about the attack on f2. He can take the knight now. However, if white takes the knight now, I think black does best to keep the rook on the 7th rank which holds the a-pawn. Tough to be more thorough than this, unfortunately. The lines are similar at the end, but just looks better to me for black than what follows. Continuing:
4. ……Rg5 (what better?)
5. Qe4 Qe6
6. Qb7 Ke8
7. Qb8 Kf7
8. Qa7 Kg6
Can white win here? I give only white chances for a win, but there is a lot of speculation on my part.
I looked this game up before posting this, and Navara did play Rxf5 and won the game 9 moves later, but black didn’t play the defense I outlined putting the king on g6 at move 2.
So, what have I missed here?
Dear Yancey:
You didn’t miss anything. Black misplayed in the game. And you found the best defense. There is no forced win. White still has winning chances in your line, but Black may be able to hold.