- 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
Rxh7 Kxh7
Bd6 Q moves, and
Qh4
1. Rxh7 Kxh7
2. Bc1
followed by 3. Qh4+
I think Bd6 is answered by Black promoting to Queen.
Rxh7 Kxh7
Bd6 c1=Q
Qh4+ Qh6
In my earlier post, if Black Queen captures f5 after Bc1, White wins material by Bxf5+. Threats are Bxd7 followed by Qxa8 if Black captures.
Well, that doesn’t seem to work due to 2…c1=Q, 3. Qh4 Qh6
Bc1 may work…
Teeemster, there are other ways to get the queen to the h-file without opening lines for black’s queen and incipient queen, or taking white’s queen bishop’s eyes off of h6. I like
1. Rh7 Kh7
2. Qf3! and it seems black has only bad choices like Qf5, g6/g5, or simple delaying sacrifices like Qf2. I will only the first three since they cover the major themes:
2. …..g6
3. Qh3 Kg7
4. Qh6#
2. …..g5
3. Qh5 Kg7
4. Qg6 Kf8 (Kh3 5.Qh6#)
5. Qf7#
2. …..Qf5
3. Bf5 Kg8 (every move is mate)
4. Bd6 Ke8
5. Qh5 g6
6. Qg6#
Be3 looks as a good try with R sac after
Be3 and R sac it seems to work
Teeemster,
Open the path to the h-file for the white queen another way.
1. Rxh7 Kxh7
2. Be3 …
3. Qh4#
If 2. …Qxe3 then 3. fxe3 clearly, with mate to follow
With the theme of precision chess tactic, it might be of interest to see some variations of the main line that don’t work. The major was suggested by the anonymous commnenter at 5:56 PM CDT:
1. Rh7 Kh7
2. Bc1 g5! (only defense I see)
3. fg5 Kg7
4. Qh4 Rh8 and white’s attack is done. No better is
4. Bh6 Kh6
5. Qh4 Kg6 (Qh5 is ok, too)
6. Qg4 Qg5
7. Bf5 Kg6 and white’s attack has again fizzled out.
At move 3 above, nothing is accomplished by 3.Bg5, though it does give black one last chance to blunder to a draw, I think:
3. Bg5 fg5
4. f6 Kh6! (Kh8?? see below)
5. Qf3 c1(Q)
6. Qh3 Kg6
7. Qd3 Kf6 (only move, but good)
and it is over for white.
And the last thread in this line is at move 4 immediately above
4. …..Kh8??
5. Qg6! Nf6 (Qf8?? 6.Qh5Qh6 7.Qh6#)
6. Qf6 Kh7
7. Qf7 Kh6 (Kh8 ok too, I think)
8. Qf6 Kh7= and in this line, white cannot get better than the draw at move 7 with
7. Bf5 Qf5 (Kg8= too, I think)
8. Qf5 and I don’t see a way for black to escape the checks since he can never cross the e-file since that lets white’s rook get into the action with check.
After 1.Rh7, white must play 2.Qf3 to win this position.
Damn it, I knew I had forgotten something in my previous comment on what didn’t work:
1. Rh7 Kh7
2. Be3 g5 (only move)
And two lines from here. The first is pretty speculative since I have taken it fairly deep:
3. fg5 Kg7
4. Bc5 Nc5
5. Qh4 Rh8
6. Qb4 Bb8 (Ne6!? 7.Qe7 unclear?)
And white has a problem at h2- this is one reason why Bb8 was better than Ne6 above. I really don’t know who is better here. After 7.g3 or 7.h3, it gets quite complicated due to the various threats of perpetual check from white’s queen. One plausible line I worked out is
7. g3 Ne6
8. Qe7 Kg6 (Kh6 looks drawish)
9. Qe6 Ra7 (only move for edge?)
10.Qb6 and I think black has the advantage here, but his uncoordinated pieces and his somewhat exposed king are going to make progress difficult.
The other main line from move 3 above for white is
3. Bc5 Nc5
4. Qg4 Ne6 (Rh8 5.h4 drawish?)
5. Qh5 Kg8 (Kg7 6.Qg6 Kh8 7.fe6=?)
6. fe6 and this looks like a draw to me as well. I could easily be missing wins for both sides, however, since there are quite a few variations in this line that I did not look at because I judged them to be unimportant or interpolations of the lines above, but could be wrong for thinking so.
Actually after 1. Be3 Nf8 2. Bxc5 dxc5 the two extra pieces and the advanced pawns seem to give Black more than enough compensation for the Q.
Rxh7 Kxh7
Qf3 forced mate in a few moves
I thought I had spotted the solution to THIS ONE
in under 5 seconds:
1. Bd6 (clearance sacrifice) Qxd6
2. Rxh7+ Kxh7
3. Qh4#
and was all set to post that result to you
faster than I can say “Mate in 3”,
but then, before making a fool of myself,
I realized that after
1. Bd6?? c1=Q probably wins for Black
So, looking around in a more deliberate
manner, this cropped up:
1. Rxh7+ Kxh7
2. Qf3 (with obvious threat of Qh5#)
and if
2… g5
3. Qh5+ Kg7
4. Qg6+ Kf8
5. Qf7#
or
4… Kh8
5. Qh6#
or if
2… g6
3. Qh3+ Kg7
4. Bh6+ Kh7 or Kh8
5. Bf8#
So I had better learn to be patient and deliberate,
and not too hasty. After all, I can afford that:
I’m not playing against the clock!
From Lucymarie:
“After all, I can afford that:
I’m not playing against the clock!”
Indeed. If I were playing this over the board in a timed game, I would have certainly missed 2. Qf3 and played 2. Be3 as the most “obvious” continuation because I simply wouldn’t have been able to see how unclear the best line for black actually is. Since I have started to take these problems more seriously, my respect for grandmasters has only grown- how do they calculate these variations over the board, without picking up the pieces, and do it in minutes? I have no idea.