White to move and win!
The selection of “The Study of the Year” is organized by the World Federation for Chess Composition and aimed at introducing a single friendly endgame study to the general public.
The study should appeal to chess players of various levels and encourage them to pay more attention to endgame studies.
Composers were invited to submit a single study (either their own or by others) that was published (either in a magazine or in an award) during the year 2012.
In all, 24 candidate studies were considered by an international panel of endgame study experts (David Gurgenidze, Oleg Pervakov, Gady Costeff, Ilham Aliev and Harold van der Heijden), who scored the studies independently. The scores (and all studies) can be found here: http://akobiachess.gol.ge/study_2012.html
The winner was:
Yochanan Afek
J. Timman-60 Jubilee tourney 2012, Second prize
Study of the Year 2012
probly
rb7 ka8
ra7 na7
re8 nc8
rc8 ka7
bc5 rc5
ra8 kb6
f8Q ..
and white win
I was about to post a big mistake. This study was not appealing to me till move 6. I all solved this far in lightning mode. But then, I didn’t see hidden defence, paradox and pattern.
Till move six you can see it in a game. Then you must be very very clever.
A good choice!
Between this puzzle and the one Cortex posted a few days ago, I have been buried in difficult chess compositions. This one surprised me since I was looking for subtle beginnings or sacrifices instead of obvious checks. For the first comment, let’s just clear 1.Rxc8 out of the way since it was the first idea I tried out:
1. Rc8 Kc8
2. Re8
The idea is to force the black king onto a dark square so that Bd6 can be played with check allowing a new queen at f8- all of the first moves are forced:
2. …..Kc7
3. Bd6 Qd6
4. f8Q
So, white has gained a queen for a rook overall. Let’s assume black cooperates and exchanges queens for the moment (black probably can get an easier draw with a move like Rh2 forcing the king back to b1, but my purpose here is to foreclose 1.Rc8 as the solution):
4. …..Qf8
5. Rf8 d2
6. Rf1 dc1Q
7. Rc1
Pretty much all of this is forced after black’s 4th move to keep white with his edge, but here is the problem- this position after move 7 is drawn with best play, and I verified this with a Nalimov Tablebase. Now, this position would be exceedingly difficult for a player as black to draw over the board, but white cannot win with best play, so 1.Rxc8 cannot be the first move.
So, we have established 1.Rc8 cannot win for white, but there is another less direct way for white to play Re8+ and a bishop check:
1. Rb7 Ka8
2. Ra7 Na7 (Kb8 3.Reb7#)
3. Re8 Nc8 (Qb8 4.Rb8 Kb8 5.Bd6)
4. Rc8 Ka7 (Qb8 still loses)
5. Bc5 Rc5
This is forced- if black plays Ka6, white queens and protects the bishop at the same time and there simply is no counterplay for black in this position since the white king can escape checks long enough for the white pieces to bag the black king. Black needs to preserve the ability to check on the a-file. Now comes the hard part. It was tempting to write “6.f8Q and white wins”, but there is a problem:
6. f8Q? Qg2! (Qh2 ok too)
7. Ka3
Of course, 7.Ka1 allows Rxc1# and 7.Kb1 allows Rxc1 followed by Qc2#. Continuing:
7. …..Ra5!
8. Kb4 Qd2!
9. Kc4 Qc1
10.Kd4
Here, Kd3 looks risky to me as the king is denuded: [10.Kd3? Rd5 11.Ke4 Qh1 12.Qf3 (or 12.Kf4 Qh4 13.Re5 and this looks like a well known mating net to me) 12. …Rd4 13.Kd4 Qf3 and the tablebase confirms this is lost for white with best play- the king is too far away from the pawns and his rook.] Continuing:
10. ….Qb2
11.Kc4
And I am not going to continue in this line. I can’t be sure black doesn’t even win this from here, but (other king moves at 11 just look even more clearly losing to me, but at the very least the white king is never going to find shelter from the checks.
In my next comment, I will pick things up at white’s 6th move.
In my previous comment, I discussed the following line:
1. Rb7 Ka8
2. Ra7 Na7
3. Re8 Nc8
4. Rc8 Ka7
5. Bc5 Rc5
And I showed white can, at best, draw after 6.f8Q. The main issue is the inability of the white king to find shelter, but white take measures to guard the a-file with a simple maneuver:
6. Ra8 Ka8 (Kb6 is covered later)
7. f8Q Qb8!(Ka7?? 8.Qxc5+-)
8. Qc5 d2 (forced now)
9. c7
The only move that has a chance of winning for white, I think. White can retreat the queen to c2 to guard both c1 and d1 to prevent another black queen from arriving immediately, but this can’t win since black’s queen can maneuver herself down the board: [9. Qc2? Qa7! 10.Kb1! (or 10.Kb2?? Qd4-+) 10. …Qe3 11.b4 (or 11.Nd3?? Qg1-+) 11. …dc1Q 12.Qc1 Qe4 and this is clearly drawn.]. Continuing from 9.c7 above:
9. …..dc1N
Black has a difficult choice, and I will cover the alternatives later, but this is the most obvious defense to me since white can’t win if he takes the knight on move 10 since black can then safely take at c7 with a drawn Q+P ending, or a simple stalemate if white retakes at c7. Continuing from 9. …dc1N above:
10.Kb1! Qc8 (only move)
11.Qc6 Ka7 (only move)
12.Kc1
And this is won. Black can’t move the queen unless he can do so with check, so he must move the king, but the king has no legal moves- so white will get a second queen at c8.
So, we must now consider the alternatives at move 9 for black. The line from the start:
1. Rb7 Ka8
2. Ra7 Na7
3. Re8 Nc8
4. Rc8 Ka7
5. Bc5 Rc5
6. Ra8 Ka8
7. f8Q Qb8
8. Qc5 d2
9. c7 Qa7
10.Qa7 Ka7
11.c8Q d1Q
12.Ka3 and this isn’t all that difficult a win for white.
Or, at move 9:
9. …..Qc8
10.Qd5 Ka7
If 10. …Qb7, white can still just take at d2 with a won ending. Continuing:
11.Qd2 Qc7 and white again has a won ending up a piece and a pawn.
Or, at move 9:
9. …..Qc7
10.Qc7 d1Q
11.Qc6 and white again has won ending up a piece and a pawn.
And, finally, at move 9:
9. …..d1Q
10.cb8Q Kb8
11.b4 with the same basic won ending.
In my next comment, I will cover the one alternative black had at move 6.
In my last comment, I discussed the following line:
1. Rb7 Ka8
2. Ra7 Na7
3. Re8 Nc8
4. Rc7 Ka7
5. Bc5 Rc5
6. Ra8
And I showed that white wins after 6. …Kxa8. Black didn’t have to take the rook, however:
6. …..Kb6
7. f8Q Qg2 (alternatives follow)
8. Ka3 Qc6 (only move now)
9. Nd3 Qa8 (only move)
10.Qa8 Ra5
11.Qa5 Ka5
12.b4 with an easily won ending.
Now, at move 7 in this line:
7. …..Rc1
8. Qb4 Kc6 (Kc7 9.Qb8+-)
9. Rc8 Kd5
10.Rc1 Qf2
11.Kb1 with an easy win.
Or, at move 7:
7. …..Ra5
8. Ra5 Ka5
9. Qc5 Ka6
10.Qc4 Kb6
11.Nd3 with an easy win.
And, finally, at move 7:
7. …..Rc2
8. Ka3 d2
9. Qb4 Kc6(Kc7 10.Rc8 Kc8 11.Qb7)
10.Ra6 and black will either lose the queen to a fork from e2, lose the rook to a double attack from e4, or will get mated if the king strays to far from the protection of his pieces.
@Yancey Ward
In your post of Saturday, February 15, 2014 at 11:50:00 AM CST, you have seen the main line, but the solution there is incomplete.
In fact, in one of the lines, there is something subtle hidden. I will neither tell you if it is for White or Black nor in which line this is the main line, but… there’s something subtle.
My puzzle can wait, you have almost done this puzzle of the year.
Almost.
Cortex,
I know. I wasn’t going to post further comments until I had completely worked out the solution to my own satisfaction. Right now I am still trying to puzzle out how white wins after Kc7. I can see that it involves at least one underpromotion, but the details in one critical line have me a bit befuddled to put it mildly.
Sorry, Cortex, I misread your comment. Something is missing in this puzzle- I will take another look.
Damn, Cortex, you are correct! White can’t queen/rook/or bishop the c-pawn without allowing black to force a stalemate, draw by repetition, or draw by in. White must underpromote with check:
1. Rb7 Ka8
2. Ra7 Na7
3. Re8 Nc8
4. Rc8 Ka7
5. Bc5 Rc5
6. Ra8 Ka8
7. f8Q Qb8
8. Qc5 d2
9. c7 dc1N
10.Kb1 Qc8
11.Qc6 Ka7
12.Kc1 Qh3
Here, I just assumed white gets a second queen and wins, but the black queen would just check from e3 and then from b3 and stick to the king like glue never having to allow either white queen to move and always being immune herself because of the stalemate. Also, checking from c5 and then promoting to a queen with check after Kb7 is still drawn after the queens are exchanged off at c8 leaving a drawn K+P ending. This basically leaves a single underpromotion:
13.c8N Kb8
14.Nb6
Probably another only move since it is the only way to preserve both the knight and the b-pawn:
14. ….Qb3 (else the K guards b3)
15.Qc8 Ka7
16.Qa8 Kb6
17.Qb8 wins black’s queen.
@Yancey Ward
Correct answer. I didn’t get this far and… I regret it deeply. In fact, I had the six first moves very quick and then I looked the solution elsewhere.
But… have you spotted that after 13.c8N+ Kb8 Black is in another stalemate position? Thus, White can’t protect the pawn by 14.Kb2 because of 14…Qxb3+! end even if by sheer wonder White escapes the perpetual check, then the remaining material is insufficient to win in “normal” positions.
At the end of the main line, however, we do have the same material balance, but a classic, standard tactic pattern with this QN / Q ending wins; the pivotal knight who supports the queen checks and can’t been ever taken because of a skewer, helping the side with the knight either checkmating the king, permitting a skewer if taken or finally moving himself to make a deadly fork if not.
Lots of studies and a very little number of games went like this (Danielian-Grosar, Halle, 1995; more spectacularly Kozul-Shirov, Sarajevo, 2004, possibly others)
Nasty!
“But… have you spotted that after 13.c8N+ Kb8 Black is in another stalemate position?”
Yes, that one I spotted.
I remember the Kozul-Shirov game- it is the one reason I never completely dismiss a Q+N vs Q ending without at least considering the possibility it might be won.