White to move. How should White proceed?
8/4p3/1pkP3Q/5p2/1K3p2/5Pq1/8/8 w – – 0 1
Kubbel 1928, presented by Andreas
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1.dxe7+ Kd7
2.e8=Q +-
Beauty zugzwan. 1.Qe6, exd6 2.Qc8+, Kd5 3.Qxf5+, Kc6 4.Qc8+,Kd5 5.Qe8!! Zwgzwan 5…Qxf3 6.Qa8+ +-
It appears that White can at the most save th game through a draw. Black has too many threats and white too little material to mate.
1.Qe6! (threatening dxe7+ and queening to mate apart from stopping 1..Qe1+)
If A-1…exd6. 2.Qc4+.Kd7. 3.Qf7+.Kd8.4.Qf8+.Kc7.5.Qf7+!.Kc6. 6.Qc4+ with a perpetual.
If B-1…Qxf3.2.dxe7+.Kc7.3.e8=Q (and white should win with his extra queen to attack black’s denuded king. white threatens 4.Q6-c8/d7#)
If B1-Black can only check with 3….Qe4+.4.Qxe4.fxe4.5.Qxe4 busts black.
If B-2-3…Qb7 covering c8, then 4.Q6-d7#
Harry
Spent about 30 mins on this puzzle off and on and I have not found the solution.
The only way for white to win this is to mate the king or queen the d pawn. This is because even though the black queen is a bit out of the action, it is still protected so white can not just pick it up and win on material.
It really is strange that I can not find the solution as there are very few moves in the position. There are 2 moves that are intuitively jumping out at me, dxe7 and Qe6.
1.dxe7 with the discovered check and threatening to queen however after
1…Kd7 and there does not seem to be much white can do to not lose this pawn
if 2.Qf8 Qe1+
3.K anywhere Qxe7 (or perpetual check)
if 2.e8=Q Kxe8
3.Qe6+ is not mating
The other option is
1.Qe6 which protects the e1 square and adds more power to the threat of dxe7.
1…exd7 seems forced
However in this position I can not see a mate.
2.Qc8+ Kd5
3.Qc4 Ke5
I can not see how white can hold on to his advanced pawn and therefore he needs to deliver checkmate. My intuition is telling me that the correct move has to be 1.Qe6 but I have not been able to make it work.
Ok I decided to check with an engine and I was on the right track but missed the obvious.
1.Qe6 exd6
2.Qc8+ Kd5
And here is the improvement over Qc5
3.Qxf5+ Kc6
4.Qc8+ Kd5
5.Qe8 threatening mate on e4 because the f5 pawn that was defending the e4 square has been removed. Crucially, it also covers the e1 square to prevent the black queen from getting a perpetual check
5…Qxf3 attracting the queen to the f3 square and now white can just pick it up with
6.Qa8+
So my intuition was mostly right but I did not follow up accurately. In hindsight it seems so obvious that 3.Qxf5+ is the correct continuation but for some reason I has complete chess blindness. My conjecture that I could not win the queen was sort of wrong because it had to give herself up to prevent mate.
First of all I notice that white has no more checks after dxe7+? Kd7!
But black has then the resource Qe1+ and e7 pawn looks stupid, black wins.
So perhaps preventing black from checking could be the trick here, but that would give black exd6 and I can’t see how white could win.
Therefore I have to guess that this is about saving a draw. If so, dxe7 etc. might be insufficient even for that, if black escapes eternal checks by wandering to h-file and interpose queen.
Then I get the idea:
1. Qe6! exd6 (seems enforced against the dxe7+ threat)
2. Qc4+ etc.
Isn’t this eternal check?
From the fields c4, f7 and f8.
The black d6 pawn keeps black king within a restricted territory and black queen can never interfere.
1. Qe6 should win.
1. Qe6! exd6
2. Qc8+ Kd5
3. Qxf5+ Kc6
4. Qc8+ Kd5
5. Qe8 (threats Qe4#) Qxf3
6. Qa8+ and white grabs the black queen.
After much thought, a petty Q maneuver presents itself,
1. Qe6 – guards e1 and threatens de and a pawn promotion, forcing 1… ed
2. Qc8+ Kd5 (forced)
3. Q:f5+ Kc6
4. Qc8+ Kd5
5. Qe8 – threatens Qe4#, and since Black has no check, he is forced to play …Q:f3
6. Qa8+ and wins
Well worth the time.
A very nice puzzle first posted last October. It has a surprising solution, though the beginning isn’t hard to find if you understand the real problem white faces in actually winning the game.
1.Qe6guards e1 square. exd6
2.Qc8+ Kd5
3.Qxf5+ Kc6
4.Qc8+ Kd5
5.Qe8 Qxf3
There was threat 6.qe4#
6.Qa8+
1.Qe6guards e1 square. exd6
2.Qc8+ Kd5
3.Qxf5+ Kc6
4.Qc8+ Kd5
5.Qe8 Qxf3
There was threat 6.qe4#
6.Qa8+
I understand that white should win, but I still don’t see how.
At least I see a sharper looking perpetual than the one in my first post, perhaps this comes closer?
1. Qe6 exd6
2. Qc8+ Kd5
3. Qxf5+ Kc6 (Kd4 Qe4#)
4. Qc8+
Or perhaps something better from here?